Dinos to roar again!

"I was so inspired by ‘King Kong’ (1933) movie that it was one of the reasons, I think, I wanted to make ‘Jurassic Park’" - Steven Spielberg This year marks the silver jubilee of magnum opus ‘Jurassic Park’, which was released in 1993. Shattering many records and introducing jaw-dropping graphics, the movie introduced the indescribable life of dinosaurs to the world, which left everybody in awe.

The Universal Studios is bringing the fifth edition directed by JA Bayona 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’, will hit the theatres on June 22. Film aficionados are waiting with anticipation for the release of the fifth instalment of the franchise to witness the kingdom of dinosaurs yet again.

Dinosaurs have always thrilled the audience with their ferocity and their gigantic structure, but with time and enhancement of technology the viewer’s expectations have also taken a hike.

Steven Spielberg had dreamt to show dinosaurs as larger-than-life species on screen and to drag the audience to a new world of gigantic creatures, which existed a billion years ago. With ‘Jurassic Park’, Steven Spielberg showcased the largest creatures that ruled the planet in various shades and lights.

According to scientists and studies, dinosaurs had survived for 165 million years. The story of the epic movie-series started with the view of a prehistoric reign when the dinosaurs came to a mysterious end with their secrets buried under the depths of soil. Then in the 19th century, they were suddenly unveiled.

Spielberg in an interview said that he was inspired by the movie ‘King Kong’ (1933) and added that the ‘King Kong’ set the highest benchmark of special effects at that time.

‘Jurassic Park’ was released on June 23, 1993, worldwide, however, in India, it was released on April 15, 1994. The scientific fiction adventure movie was based on the 1990 novel of the same name authored by Michael Crichton.

‘Jurassic Park’ was a huge success and received appreciation from everyone. The film received a lot of critical acclaims and even went on to win several awards. This was the first English movie, which was released officially in more theatres in India.

School managements took children to theatres to witness the gigantic creatures on the silver screen. ‘Jurassic Park’ grossed over $914 million worldwide in its original theatrical run and become the highest grossing film ever at that time, a record held until the 1997 release of ‘Titanic’.

This movie became the 17th film to surpass $1 billion in a ticket sale. The budget of the film was $65 million and it collected $ 1.029 billion at the box office. ‘Jurassic Park’ had bagged three Academy Awards in three categories – Visual Effects, Sound, and Sound Editing. Here we should mention the producers of the movie Kathleen Kennedy and Gerald R Molen, who believed in the story and Spielberg and gave a nod to the project. If they would not have dared to take this step the world would not have witnessed this classic movie and the dinosaurs, of course.

‘Jurassic Park’s biggest impact on subsequent films was a result of its computer-generated visual effects. Peter Jackson of ‘King Kong’ (2005) said in an interview that he was inspired by the ‘Jurassic Park’ movie and attempted to recreate the dinosaur to tackle the King Kong. The film just did not only inspired Peter Jackson it also inspired many upcoming directors to think differently and give fresh experience to the people.

After the huge success of the movie, similar movies hit the big screens, but nothing reached the mark set by ‘Jurassic Park’. The movie mania or rather the dino-mania still continues with video games, apps and Jurassic Theme Parks.

The Universal Studios started the theme park ‘Jurassic Park: The Ride’ in 1996 to give the public an experience of dinosaur kingdom. Apart from the breathtaking visuals, the background score needs a special mention here.

John Williams had done brilliant work for the movie and his compositions gave goosebumps to the audience as it takes the viewers on another paradigm of movie watching.

First and second instalments of ‘Jurassic Park’ were directed by Steven Spielberg and rest were directed by other directors. ‘Jurassic Park III’ is the first film in the series not to had been directed by Stevenson Spielberg, nor based on the book by Michael Crichton. This film was directed by Joe Johnston.

The fourth instalment ‘Jurassic World’ was released in 2015. And it featured Irrfan Khan in a pivotal role as the owner of the park Simon Masrani.

The timeline of ‘Jurassic World’ is after 22 years after the events of Jurassic Park. This film is also set in the same Isla Nublar. Colin Trevorrow donned the director’s hat for this film. Internationally, ‘Jurassic World’ became the first movie to cross $500 million in a single weekend. In India, it had taken the third highest opening of 2015 after ‘Fast and Furious 7’.

By: Sheker Shivarathri