30 Interesting Jurassic Park Facts You Can Sink Your Teeth In
When Jurassic Park roared into theaters in 1993, it had an unshakable grip on audiences everywhere. It wasn't just a movie; it was a cultural event. The groundbreaking special effects, the thrilling suspense, the towering dinosaurs—it was like nothing anyone had ever seen. Even more than 30 years later, and despite numerous sequels, the original Jurassic Park still holds up as one of the best sci-fi thrillers ever made. Its impact lingers not just because of the nostalgia, but because it was—and still is—a masterclass in storytelling, innovation, and pure cinematic magic.
If you're as fascinated by Jurassic Park as I am, you'll love these 30 interesting facts about the movie that you can sink your teeth into. From behind-the-scenes secrets to little-known details about the dinosaurs and their creation, this list will take you right back to Isla Nublar and remind you why we all fell in love with this prehistoric masterpiece.
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1
A final message
At The End Of Jurassic Park When The Remaining Crew Is About To Get Into The Helicopter, The JP Logo Is Covered With Mud To Read "Your Ass Park". Condemning The Park In A Hilariously Brilliant Move
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2
T. Rex Occasionally Malfunctioned, Due To The Rain
"The T. Rex went into the heebie-jeebies sometimes. Scared the crap out of us. We'd be, like, eating lunch, and all of a sudden a T. rex would come alive. At first, we didn't know what was happening, and then we realized it was the rain. You'd hear people start screaming."
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3
The Lost World Had An Intentional Godzilla Moment
The Japanese tourists running from the rampaging T. rex in the San Diego scene (an obvious homage to Godzilla movies) are saying, in Japanese, "I left Japan to get away from this?!"
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4
Goonies never die
Dennis Nedry From Jurassic Park Wearing Similar Outfits To Characters In The Goonies. Kathleen Kennedy Was The Producer On Both
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5
Movie mistake
In Jurassic Park (1993), The Insect Trapped In Amber (Copal) Is An Elephant Mosquito, The Only Mosquito That Doesn't Suck Blood; Therefore, It Couldn't Contain Any Dino DNA
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6
Eww
In Jurassic Park III, Mr. Kirby Pees Upstream From Where Billy Is Drinking
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7
Genuine screams
In Jurassic Park When The T. Rex Comes Through The Glass Roof Of The Van In The First Attack, The Glass Was Not Meant To Break. It's No Wonder Those Kids' Screams Sounded So Genuine
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8
Jack Horner
Alan Grant, from the original Jurassic Park, was based on paleontologist Jack Horner (pictured), who both Michael Crichton and Steven Spielberg consulted about dinosaur behavior. For The Lost World, the character Robert Burke is based on rival paleontologist Robert Bakker, with whom Horner has a friendly feud. Their major disagreement is over the behavior of Tyrannosaurus rex. Horner argues that T. Rex was a scavenger, while Bakker insists that T. Rex must have been a predator. Horner reportedly asked to have Burke eaten by the T. Rex in The Lost World. Bakker was apparently flattered, and wrote back to Horner, saying "I told you T. rex was a hunter!"
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9
Ariana Richards
To cast Hammond's granddaughter, Lex, Spielberg auditioned a number of girls and asked them to record their screams. Ariana Richards recalled that she won the role because she was the only one whose taped scream was loud enough to awaken a sleeping Kate Capshaw (Spielberg's wife) and send her scurrying down the hall to see if her children were all right.
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10
T. Rex Roar
The Tyrannosaurus's Roars Were A Combination Of Dog, Penguin, Tiger, Alligator, And Elephant Sounds
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11
Real Excavation
The Establishing Wide Shot Of The Dig Site In Jurassic Park III Was Actual Footage Of Jack Horner's Excavation, Filmed In Early Summer 2001. The Site Contained Several Large Fossils Of Tyrannosaurs And Some Hadrosaurs
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12
The T-Rex In Jurassic World Is The Same T-Rex From Jurassic Park
We can see this from its scars on its neck where the velociraptors attacked it in Jurassic Park
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13
Unlucky
In "The Lost World: Jurassic Park", The Random Citizen Who Gets Eaten By The T-Rex Is Named "Unlucky Bastard" In The Credits
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14
The Crew Had To Have Safety Meetings About The T. Rex
The T. rex weighed 12,000 pounds and was extremely powerful. To alert the crew when the T. rex would come on, they used flashing lights because if someone stood next to it and the head went by at speed, it felt like a bus going by.
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15
Raptor Model
All Of The Cast Members Were Given A Raptor Model Signed By Steven Spielberg As A Gift Once The Film Had Wrapped It looked very frightening, and Ariana Richards has it in her house to shock anyone coming in. "It's pretty big, maybe five feet long, maybe two feet high in a glass case," she said.
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16
Spelling is hard
Although The Scientists In Jurassic Park, 1993 Were Skilled Geneticists, They Misspelled Stegosaurus And Tyrannosaurus On The Cryogenic Storage Containers
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17
Jurassic Park Became The Permanent Perception Of What Many Dinosaurs Looked Like
The Dilophosaurus's venom-spitting and neck-frill became so iconic that almost every other appearance of the animal in popular media, as well as most of the Dilophosaurus children's toys advertise at least one or both of these aspects. Some even leave out the dinosaur's striking double-crests. In reality, however, the spitting ability was made up by Michael Crichton, while adding the frill was Spielberg's idea. Real Dilophosaurus possessed neither of these traits, with the twin crests and its thin jaws (the latter of which isn't very evident in the movie's design) being its real discerning features.
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18
Erasing Data
In Jurassic Park, You Can See Dr. Wu Erasing A Data Sheet In The Lab. Erasing lab data is highly improper and unethical in scientific settings, hinting at Dr. Wu's corrupt nature in later films.
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19
Spinosaurus
The Spinosaurus was the largest animatronic ever built. It weighed 12 tons and was operated by hydraulics, which allowed it to operate while completely submerged in water. According to an interview with William H. Macy, the film's animatronic Spinosaurus had a 1,000-horsepower motor and could turn its head at twice the force of gravity, with the tip of its nose moving at a speed of more than 100 miles per hour.
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20
Movie Magic
In Jurassic Park, The Dinosaur Is Heard Through Roars And Most Memorably, A Plastic Cup Of Water, Which Vibrates As The Predator Stomps Along To create the shot they fed a guitar string through the car, down to the ground, and then had a guy lay under the car and pluck the guitar string
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21
Jaws
Shortly after Nedry makes his first appearance in the control room, during his argument with Hammond, one can clearly see Jaws playing in a small video window on one of Nedry's computer screens. That movie was, of course, also directed by Steven Spielberg.
In Jurassic World, The great white shark being eaten in Jurassic World is also a clear homage to Jaws.
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22
The Sick Triceratops
The Guests' Encounter With The Sick Triceratops Ends Without Any Clear Explanation As To Why The Animal Is Sick. Michael Crichton's Original Novel And The Screenplay, However, Includes An Explanation. The Triceratops lacked suitable teeth for grinding food and so, like birds, would swallow rocks and use them as gizzard stones. In the digestive tract, these rocks would grind the food to aid in digestion. After six weeks, the rocks would become too smooth to be useful, and the animal would regurgitate them. When finding and eating new rocks to use, the animal would also swallow West Indian Lilac berries. The fact that the berries and stones are regurgitated explains why Dr. Ellie Sattler never finds traces of them in the animal's excrement.
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23
The Same Jeep
In Jurassic World The Jeep Used To Escape Was The Same Jeep That Brought People In Jurassic Park
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24
King Kong Reference
In The Lost World: Jurassic Park, The Ship That Brings The T-Rex To San Diego Is Called The S.s Venture, Which Is A Reference To King Kong, In Which A Ship Called The S.s Venture Brought King Kong To New York
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25
Jeff Goldblum Is More Heroic Than Dr. Ian Malcolm
In the shooting script, it was written that during the Tyrannosaur's escape, Dr. Ian Malcolm would simply get out of the car and run away, much as Donald Gennaro had done moments before. In fact, this is how Dr. Malcolm behaves in the scene as written in the book. When the time came to film the scene, it was Jeff Goldblum's idea to make his flight more heroic, by having him distract the Tyrannosaur so Dr. Grant could save the children.
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26
Bryce and Laura
In Jurassic World When Bryce Dallas Howard Rolls Up Her Sleeves And Ties Her Shirt At The Bottom To Say "I'm Ready", She's Wearing It The Same Way Laura Dern Did In Jurassic Park
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27
Utahraptors
Steven Spielberg Wanted The Velociraptors To Be About 10 Feet Tall, Which Was Taller Than They Were Known To Be. However, During Filming, Paleontologists Uncovered 10-Foot-Tall Specimens Of Raptors Called Utahraptors
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28
Breaking All Of Records
The film opened on Friday, June 11, 1993, and broke box office records its first weekend, bringing in $47 million. It eventually went on to make more than $900 million worldwide. Screenwriter David Koepp remembers the day it opened: "I was in New York and I walked to the Ziegfeld [Theatre] to see how it was doing. The guy comes out and announces to the big line, 'Ladies and gentlemen, the 7 o'clock show of Jurassic Park is sold out.' And people go, 'Oooh.' And he goes, 'Also the 10 o'clock show is sold out.' And they went, 'Ooooooh.' 'And also Saturday night's 7 and 10 o'clock shows are also sold out.' And I was like, 'I'm not an expert, but I think this is very good.'"
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29
Life finds a way
Grant Fashioning A Functioning Seat-Belt With Only Two Latches And No Latch Plate Foreshadows A Later Scene Where The Dinosaurs Are Suddenly Able To Breed, Despite That They Were All Originally Female
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30
Spared no expence
In Jurassic Park, Hammond Says Multiple Times He "Spared No Expense", Dennis Nedry (Newman) Is The Only Part Of The Park That Was Underpaid And Was The Reason The Park Failed
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