Jurassic Park III Information

Jurassic Park III is a 2001 American science-fiction adventure film and the third installment in the Jurassic Park film series. The film stars Sam Neill, William H. Macy, Ta Leoni, Alessandro Nivola, Trevor Morgan, and Michael Jeter. It is the first film in the series not to have been directed by Steven Spielberg, nor based on a book by Michael Crichton (though numerous scenes in the film were ultimately taken from Crichton's novels Jurassic Park and The Lost World). The film takes place on Isla Sorna, off Central America's Pacific coast, the island featured in the previous film, where a divorced couple has tricked Dr. Alan Grant into going in order to help them find their son.

After the success of Spielberg's Jurassic Park, Joe Johnston expressed interest in directing a sequel. Spielberg instead gave Johnston permission to direct a third film in the series, if there were to be one. Production of Jurassic Park III began on August 30, 2000. Despite mixed reviews from critics, the film was successful at the box office, grossing $368 million worldwide. A sequel, Jurassic World, was released on June 12, 2015.

Plot

Ben Hildebrand and 12-year-old Eric Kirby go parasailing around the waters of Isla Sorna, tethered to a boat below. The boat crew mysteriously disappear in a brief moment obscured by fog, forcing Ben to detach the line; he and Eric drift towards the island. In the United States, Dr. Alan Grant has become famous after his involvement at Jurassic Park, while Ellie Sattler is married to a State Department employee named Mark and has two children. Grant discusses with Sattler how raptors are far more intelligent than they had previously believed. At a dig site, Grant's assistant, Billy Brennan, demonstrates how he can use a 3D printer to replicate a Velociraptor larynx.

Paul and Amanda Kirby, an apparently wealthy couple, offer Grant funding for his research if he will give them an aerial tour of Isla Sorna. Grant is desperate for research funding and reluctantly agrees. He flies there with Paul, Amanda, Billy, and the Kirbys' mercenary associates, Udesky, Cooper, and their pilot Nash. On the plane, Grant learns that the Kirbys actually plan to land on the island. When Grant opposes, he is knocked out by Cooper and wakes to discover they have landed. A Spinosaurus approaches the group, who board the plane to escape, without waiting for Cooper. The Spinosaurus devours Cooper on the runway, and the plane crashes in the forest after hitting the dinosaur. The Spinosaurus destroys the plane, stranded on a treetop, killing Nash in the process. Fleeing, the survivors briefly lose the Spinosaurus but encounter a Tyrannosaurus rex. The Spinosaurus returns, but the group escapes while the two dinosaurs fight each other, with the Spinosaurus winning by breaking the T. rex's neck.

Grant, demanding the truth from the Kirbys, learns they are actually a middle-class divorced couple, who are looking for their son Eric, and Amanda's boyfriend Ben, who have been missing on the island for eight weeks. Later, the group finds the parasail with Ben's corpse attached. The group takes the parasail, and then encounter raptor nests. They find an abandoned InGen compound, where they are chased by a raptor which eventually contacts the rest of its pack. The humans flee into a herd of Corythosaurus and Parasaurolophus, causing a stampede, separating Grant and Udesky from the others. Udesky is attacked by raptors, who leave him barely alive on the ground in an attempt to lure the others out of the tree they had climbed into. Amanda is nearly killed by the raptors when she tries to descend to help Udesky, and upon the failure of their trap, the raptors kill Udesky before departing.

Elsewhere, Grant suspects that the raptors are searching for something while observing two of them communicating. He becomes cornered by the raptors, but is rescued by Eric, who managed to survive in an overturned water truck. The next day, Grant and Eric hear Paul's satellite phone ringing and are reunited with the Kirbys and Billy. Paul explains that he gave the phone to Nash before he was devoured. The group is then chased by the Spinosaurus, the source of the ringing phone. After the group escapes, Grant discovers Billy took two raptor eggs to use for funding, which provoked the raptor attacks. Grant decides to keep the eggs to ensure the group's survival. The group unknowingly enters a large aviary used to house Pteranodons, which attack the group and fly away with Eric. Billy rescues Eric by using Ben's parasail, but is then attacked and seemingly killed by the Pteranodons. The rest of the group escapes the aviary, unintentionally leaving the door unlocked. They make their way downriver using a boat.

That night, the group retrieves the ringing phone, buried in the feces of the Spinosaurus. As rain falls, Grant tries to contact Sattler, but the Spinosaurus attacks the boat. Grant sets the boat's fuel on fire and burns the Spinosaurus, causing it to flee. The next day, the group makes their way towards the shoreline, but are surrounded by the raptors. The eggs are surrendered to the raptors, while Grant uses the replicated raptor larynx to confuse the pack, who run off with the eggs. The humans flee to the coast and find that Sattler had called in the U.S. Marine Corps and the U.S. Navy to rescue them. They discover that Billy, while seriously injured, is still alive and has also been rescued. As they leave the island, they see the Pteranodons flying free, and Grant muses they are "looking for new nesting grounds."

Cast

See List of Jurassic Park characters for more information

Creatures on screen

See List of cloned animals in Jurassic Park for more information

In a deviation from the previous films, the Spinosaurus is considered the primary antagonist: Johnston stated, "A lot of dinosaurs have a very similar silhouette to the T-Rex ... and we wanted the audience to instantly recognize this as something else." The silhouette of the Spinosaurus is also on the poster behind the Pteranodon, taking the place of the Tyrannosaurus which had been used in the previous films' posters. Baryonyx was originally considered to be the "big bad" before Spinosaurus was chosen, and early concept posters reflected this. Within film dialogue, Billy interprets the animal encountered as a Baryonyx or Suchomimus, but Dr. Grant corrects his analysis based on its size and its sail.

Due to new discoveries and theories in the field of paleontology, the portrayal of several dinosaurs differed from that of the previous films. Discoveries suggesting that Velociraptor were feathered prompted the addition of quill-like structures on the head and neck of the males in the film. "We've found evidence that Velociraptors had feathers, or feather-like structures, and we've incorporated that into the new look of the raptor", said paleontologist Jack Horner, the film's technical adviser.

Spielberg insisted to Johnston that he include Pteranodons in the film, after they had ultimately been cut from the previous films for budget reasons. An aquatic reptile was also featured in the first draft, but was ultimately removed from the final script. The special effects used for the creatures were a mixture of animatronics and CGI. The following creatures appear in the film:

Production

Early development

Joe Johnston had been interested in directing the sequel to Jurassic Park and approached Spielberg, a friend of his, about the project. While Spielberg wanted to direct the first sequel, he agreed that if there was ever a third film, Johnston could direct. The second film, entitled The Lost World: Jurassic Park, included the scene of the Tyrannosaurus rampaging through San Diego. Spielberg had initially wanted the scene to be saved for a third film, but later decided to add it into the second film after realizing that he would probably not direct another film in the series. After the release of the second film in May 1997, Spielberg was busy with other projects and was asked about the possibility of a third Jurassic Park film; he responded, "It would give me a tremendous Advil headache just to think about it."

Pre-production

Universal Pictures announced the film on June 29, 1998, with Spielberg acting as a producer. Michael Crichton was reportedly going to collaborate with Spielberg to create a storyline and write a script. The film was set for release in summer 2000. Spielberg initially devised a story idea that involved Dr. Alan Grant, who was discovered to have been living on one of InGen's islands. According to Johnston, "He'd snuck in, after not being allowed in to research the dinosaurs, and was living in a tree like Robinson Crusoe. But I couldn't imagine this guy wanting to get back on any island that had dinosaurs in it after the first movie."

In June 1999, Craig Rosenberg began writing the first draft of the script, which involved teenagers who get marooned on Isla Sorna. Johnston was announced as the film's director in August 1999, with Rosenberg still attached. Production was expected to begin in early 2000. Rosenberg's draft about teenagers on Isla Sorna was rejected in September 1999. Although Johnston felt that it was "not a badly written script," he also said, "It read like a bad episode of Friends". By December 1999, new writers had been hired to devise a better story for the film.

The film's second script involved Pteranodon escaping from Isla Sorna and causing a spate of mysterious killings on the mainland, which was to be investigated by Alan Grant and a number of other characters including Billy Brennan, a naturalist named Simone, a tough military attach, wealthy Paul Roby, and Roby's teenage son Miles. Grant's group crash-lands on the island, while a parallel investigation is being carried out on the mainland. The aviary sequence and laboratory set piece were initially much longer and more complex, including Velociraptor stealthily entering the hatchery as the team spends the night there. Sets, costumes, and props were built for this version.

In February 2000, filming was reportedly set to begin in Fiordland, New Zealand around the end of the month. Scenes were originally planned to be filmed there for The Lost World: Jurassic Park. In March 2000, Maui, Hawaii was reportedly chosen instead of New Zealand. Sam Neill signed on to the project in June 2000, with 18 weeks of filming expected to begin by August 2000, for a release in July 2001. Macy originally turned down his role due to scheduling conflicts. Trevor Morgan and Ta Leoni were cast in August 2000, with Utah's Dinosaur National Monument and an Oahu military base being considered as possible filming locations. During the pre-production phase, concept artists created advertising for the film using a number of working titles including Jurassic Park: Extinction and Jurassic Park: Breakout.

Five weeks before filming began, Johnston and Spielberg rejected the entire script as they were dissatisfied with it; $18 million had already been spent on the film at that time. Johnston felt that the script's story was too complicated. The simpler "rescue mission" plot, which had been suggested by David Koepp, was used for the film instead. Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor began rewriting the script in July 2000.

Filming

Johnston said that the script was never finished during production: "We shot pages that eventually went into the final script but we didn't have a document". Principal photography began on August 30, 2000, at Dillingham Airfield in Mokul?ia, Hawaii. Macy, commenting on the slow pace of filming the script, said "we would do a quarter-page-some days, an eighth of a page. And that would be a full 12-hour day."

Filming continued on Oahu until September 9. Aerial footage of Molokai's North Shore cliffs was then shot over the next two days, followed by a week of filming in Kauai. Filming concluded in Hawaii on September 20, 2000. Production then moved to California. John August was hired to do uncredited work on the script in September 2000. Scenes were filmed at Occidental College in Los Angeles on October 10, 2000.

Scenes were filmed at Center Bay Studios in Los Angeles at the end of October. Other filming locations in California included South Pasadena and a rock quarry in Irwindale. Filming also took place at Universal Studios' backlot in Los Angeles. Production returned to Hawaii in January 2001, to film the movie's ending, which had yet to be written during the previous Hawaiian shoot. The ending was filmed on Kauai's Pila'a Beach.

The storyline contains minor scenes from Crichton's Jurassic Park and The Lost World novels that were ultimately not featured in the film versions, such as the Pteranodon aviary and the use of the boat. Laura Dern's cameo was shot in a day. In an earlier draft, Neill and Dern's characters were a couple in the process of splitting up. Johnston said, "I didn't want to see them as a couple anymore. For one thing, I don't think they look like a couple. It would be uncomfortable to still see them together. And Laura Dern doesn't look like she's aged for the past fifteen years!" The film's longest rough cut was approximately 96 minutes, without credits. According to Johnston, "We lost maybe 8 minutes, so it was never really that long."

Music

See Jurassic Park III (film score) for more information Given John Williams was busy writing the music for Spielberg's own A.I. Artificial Intelligence, he recommended Don Davis to write the Jurassic Park III score. Williams' original themes were integrated into the score as well as several new ones, such as one for the Spinosaurus that focused on low sounds, with tubas, trombones and timpani. The fight between the Spinosaurus and the Tyrannosaurus, compared by Davis to King Kong fighting a dinosaur in the 1933 film, had a juxtaposition of the Spinosaurus theme with the one Williams wrote for the T. rex. In addition, "Big Hat, No Cattle", a song by Randy Newman, was used in a restaurant scene.

Release

Jurassic Park III premiered at the Universal Amphitheater in Los Angeles, California, on July 16, 2001, followed two days later by a release in the United States and other countries. The film earned $181,171,875 in the United States and $368,780,809 worldwide, making it the eighth-highest-grossing film of the year worldwide but it is the lowest grossing Jurassic Park film in the entire series. The soundtrack was released in July 2001.

Home media

The film was released on VHS and DVD on December 11, 2001. It was re-released with both sequels in December 2001 as the Jurassic Park Trilogy, and as the Jurassic Park Adventure Pack in November 2005. The film has also been released as a two-disc DVD set alongside Hulk. In 2011, the film was released on Blu-ray as part of the Jurassic Park: Ultimate Trilogy Blu-ray collection. Jurassic Park III is also included in the Jurassic Park 4K UHD Blu-Ray collection, which was released on May 22, 2018.

Reception

Jurassic Park III has received mixed reviews from critics and fans alike. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 50% rating based on 162 reviews, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The site's consensus states: "Jurassic Park III is darker and faster than its predecessors, but that doesn't quite compensate for the franchise's continuing creative decline." It also has a 42 out of 100 on Metacritic, indicating "mixed or average reviews". On both sites, it is the lowest rated film out of the Jurassic Park franchise.

Entertainment Weeklys Owen Gleiberman, who praised both the previous Jurassic Park films, awarded the third film only a C grade, writing "Jurassic Park III has no pretensions to be anything more than a goose-bumpy fantasy theme-park ride for kids, but it's such a routine ride. Spielberg's wizardry is gone, and his balletic light touch as well, and that gives too much of this 90-minute movie over to the duller-than-dull characters." Derek Elley of Variety Reviews felt likewise, calling the film "an all-action, helter-skelter, don't-forget-to-buy-the-computer-game ride that makes the two previous installments look like models of classic filmmaking". Ben Varkontine of PopMatters called it "not as good a ride as the first", but "better than the second." Much of the criticism was leveled at the plot as simply a chase movie with no character development; Apollo Movie Guide panned the film as being "almost the same as the first movie" with "no need for new ideas or even a script". Empire magazine gave the film 3 stars out of 5, calling it "short, scrappy and intermittently scary."

On Ebert and Roeper, Richard Roeper gave it a Thumbs Down, while Roger Ebert awarded a Thumbs Up. In a subsequent review, Ebert called it "the best blockbuster of the Summer". In his written review, Ebert gave the film three stars and wrote that while the film was not as awe-inspiring as the first film or as elaborate as the second, "it's a nice little thrill machine. [...] I can't praise it for its art, but I must not neglect its craft..."

Early pioneer of the dinosaur-bird connection Robert T. Bakker has quipped that the feathery quills added to the Velociraptor for Jurassic Park III "looked like a roadrunner's toupee." However, he conceded that feathers are difficult subjects for computer animation and speculated that Jurassic Park IV's raptors would have more realistic through plumage. As of 2002, Crichton said he had not seen the film.

Awards and nominations

Award	Subject	Nominee	Result
Saturn Awards	Best Science Fiction Film
	Best Special Effects	Jim Mitchell, Stan Winston (uncredited), Danny Gordon Taylor, Donald R. Elliott, John Rosengrant
Satellite Awards	Best Visual Effects
	Best Sound Mixing	Howell Gibbens
Golden Trailer Awards	Best Horror/Thriller Film
Golden Reel Awards	Best Sound Editing - Effects & Foley	Howell Gibbens, Christopher Boyes, James Likowski, Frank E. Eulner and Ken Fischer
Sierra Awards	Best DVD
BMI Film Awards	Best Music	Don Davis and John Williams
Golden Raspberry Awards	Worst Remake or Sequel
Stinkers Bad Movie Awards	Worst Actress	Tea Leoni
	Worst Screenplay for a Film Grossing More Than $100 Million Worldwide Using Hollywood Math	Peter Buchman, Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor, based on the book by Michael Crichton
	Worst Sequel

Marketing and merchandise

A teaser trailer was released online in September 2000. Universal avoided excessive early marketing to prevent possible backlash, as it believed that awareness of the film was high enough. Marketing began in April 2001, three months before the film's release. The first footage from the film was aired during the second-season finale of Survivor in May 2001. Promotional partners included Kodak and The Coca-Cola Company. No fast-food promotions took place in the United States, although kids' meal toys based on the film were offered in Canadian Burger Kings.

Seven video games were released to coincide with the film, as well as a novelization by Scott Ciencin that was aimed at young children. Ciencin also wrote three children's books to tie in with the film's events: Jurassic Park Adventures: Survivor, the first book, detailed the eight weeks Eric spent alone on Isla Sorna; Jurassic Park Adventures: Prey had Eric and Alan returning to Isla Sorna to rescue a group of teenage filmmakers; Jurassic Park Adventures: Flyers involved Eric and Alan leading the Pteranodon home after they nest in a Universal Studios theme park.

Hasbro released a line of 3.75" action figures in the spring of 2001 to coincide with the release, including electronic dinosaurs, humans, and vehicles. The figures were scaled down from the original Kenner action figures from the pre-Jurassic Park III toy lines. A line of toys were also released through the Lego Studios brand. Playskool released a line of toys aimed at younger children, called Jurassic Park Junior. A smaller die-cast line of toys was also produced, along with clothes. In November 2001, to promote the film's upcoming home media release, Universal launched a viral marketing website for Isla Travel, a fictional Isla Sorna travel agency.

Cell phone promotion

For the film's home media release, Universal and cell-phone company Hop-On partnered to produce "the world's first-disposable cell phone", available through an in-package offer upon purchase of the film. The phones were to be delivered for free to customers who responded to a winning promotional card that came with select copies of the film. Approximately 5,000 copies of the film contained a winning promotional card; approximately 1,000 of them were redeemed.

However, the promotion was cancelled when the cell phones could not be finished on time. An investigation by the San Francisco Chronicle revealed that sample versions of Hop-On's cell phones were actually modified Nokia cell phones, as Hop-On was having problems with its own design. Customers who were to receive the cell phones instead received a $30 check and a free DVD.

See also

• List of American films of 2001
• List of characters in Jurassic Park
• List of extinct genera in Jurassic Park
• List of films featuring dinosaurs