Jurassic Park (1993)
While filmmaking technology is evolving all the time, a movie comes along once in a while that represents a giant leap forward. In terms of children’s movies, Jurassic Park is one of the most significant and groundbreaking. Based on the 1990 Michael Crichton novel of the same name, and adapted for the screen by Crichton and screenwriter David Koepp, the film follows the consequences that play out on the fictional island of Isla Nublar, when a billionaire leads an elite team of genetic scientists to clone dinosaurs and create a wildlife park as an exclusive tourist attraction.
Jurassic Park was brought to glorious realization by director Steven Spielberg, using a combination of computer generated imagery by ILM, and life-sized animatronic dinosaurs, built by Stan Winston’s studio. The Tyrannosaurus Rex – unarguably the star of the film – was the largest sculpture ever built by the legendary special effects studio, standing at 20 feet tall, 40 feet long and weighing in at 17,500 pounds. The Tyrannosaur roar was created by combining the sound of a tiger, an alligator and a baby elephant, and its distinctive footsteps were created using the noise of sequoias crashing to the ground.
The sound of Jurassic Park was groundbreaking in itself, as Spielberg invested in the creation of DTS, specializing in digital surround sound formats. The film debuted the sound format in theatres, and its LaserDisc release in 1997 was the first home video release to feature the technology. The pushing of the boundaries of both visual and sound effects in film paid off – helping Jurassic Park become the highest grossing film of all time, until it was surpassed by Titanic in 1997.
