The Lost World: Jurassic Park is a 1997 American science fiction action film directed by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by David Koepp. It is the second film in the Jurassic Park franchise and the original Jurassic Park trilogy, and is loosely based on Michael Crichton's 1995 novel The Lost World. Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Joseph Mazzello and Ariana Richards reprise their roles from the original film with Julianne Moore, Pete Postlethwaite, Vince Vaughn and Arliss Howard joining the cast.
Four years after the original film, John Hammond (Attenborough) loses control of his company InGen to his nephew, Peter Ludlow (Howard). On the verge of bankruptcy, Ludlow intends to exploit dinosaurs from InGen's second island, Isla Sorna with plans for a new dinosaur theme park in San Diego. Hammond sends a team, led by the eccentric chaos theorist and mathematician Ian Malcolm (Goldblum), to the island to document the dinosaurs and encourage non-interference, although the two groups eventually come into conflict.
After the original novel's release and the first film's success, fans pressured Crichton for a sequel. Following the book's publication in 1995, production began on a film sequel. Filming took place from September to December 1996, primarily in California with a shoot in Kauai, Hawaii, where the first film was shot. The Lost Worlds plot and imagery is substantially darker than Jurassic Park. It makes more extensive use of CGI to depict the dinosaurs, along with life-sized animatronics.
Among the most anticipated films of the year, The Lost World was accompanied by a $250 million marketing campaign, which included video games, comic books, and toys. Released on May 23, 1997 by Universal Pictures, the film received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the action set pieces and visual effects but criticized the character development and the film, ever since its original 1997 release, has been compared unfavorably with many other Spielberg-directed films (including the 1993 original film) with a small number of critics even believing it to be Spielberg's worst film effort as a director. Spielberg also expressed disappointment with the film, stating he had become increasingly disenchanted with it during production. It grossed $618.6 million worldwide, becoming the second-highest-grossing film of 1997 (behind Titanic) and was nominated for numerous awards, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects but lost the award to Titanic. A sequel, Jurassic Park III, was released in 2001. Goldblum later reprised his role as Malcolm in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022).
Plot
Four years after the events on Isla Nublar, a British family anchors their yacht off a beach on Isla Sorna and comes ashore, unaware of the genetically engineered dinosaurs on the island. Their daughter, Cathy Bowman, wanders off and is attacked by a pack of Compsognathus but survives the encounter.
Peter Ludlow, nephew of Dr. John Hammond, uses the incident to oust Hammond and gain control of InGen. The company's second facility, "Site B" on Isla Sorna, was where the dinosaurs were cloned before moving them to the park in Nublar, but the island was abandoned during a hurricane several years earlier. Ludlow plans to exploit Isla Sorna's dinosaurs to save InGen, prompting Hammond to request Dr. Ian Malcolm's help in documenting the creatures to promote a non-interference policy. Ian's girlfriend, paleontologist Dr. Sarah Harding, is already on Isla Sorna, leading Ian to reluctantly agree to go, but only to retrieve her. Ian travels to Isla Sorna with equipment specialist and engineer Eddie Carr and video documentarian and activist Nick Van Owen. They find Sarah and discover that Ian's daughter Kelly has stowed away in their research trailer. Ludlow and a mercenary team arrive on the island to capture dinosaurs, with help from big-game hunters Roland Tembo and Ajay Sidhu.
Ian's group realizes that Ludlow intends to ship the captured specimens to San Diego for a new Jurassic Park, using a nearly finished amphitheater that Hammond abandoned in favor of the Isla Nublar site. Nick and Sarah free the captured dinosaurs, and the animals wreak havoc on the InGen team's camp. On the way back to the trailer, Nick rescues an injured Tyrannosaurus rex infant that Roland used as bait to hunt its father. Knowing this will bring the baby's parents to them, Ian takes Kelly to safety and returns to the trailer to warn Sarah and Nick. They successfully treat the infant, but the parents arrive, having tracked the infant's scent. The adult Tyrannosaurs reclaim their infant and destroy the trailer by overturning and pushing it partially over the cliff before leaving the area. Eddie arrives with a rope to rescue them and attempts to pull the trailer back up with his SUV, but the engine noise attracts the attention of both Tyrannosaur adults again, where they tear Eddie's SUV apart, and devour him.
Ian, Sarah, and Nick are rescued by Ludlow's team and forced to work together since both groups lost all their communication equipment in separate attacks. They decide to travel to an abandoned InGen base to call for help. After the team sets up a camp, they are ambushed by the Tyrannosaurus adults, who were led to the camp by the scent of the infant tyrannosaurus' blood on Sarah's jacket. The party flees into a field of long grass where a pack of Velociraptors ambush them, killing Ajay and most of the team. Ian's group reaches the InGen base, fights off the Velociraptors, and successfully radios for helicopter extraction. Nick reveals that he stole Roland's bullets to prevent him from killing his trophy. However, Roland has sedated the male Tyrannosaurus with tranquilizers. As InGen personnel arrive to secure the male and infant, Roland declines Ludlow's job offer at the San Diego park, reflecting on Ajay's death and the morality of Ludlow's scheme.
At the Port of San Diego, Ian and Sarah attempt to convince Ludlow to abandon his plans, but the ship carrying the male Tyrannosaurus suddenly crashes into the docks. The crew is found dead, and the adult is accidentally released and rampages throughout the city. Ian and Sarah locate the infant at the planned park and use it to lure the adult back into the cargo hold of the ship that brought him. Ludlow tries to retrieve the infant but the male incapacitates him and gives him to the infant to be its first kill. Sarah uses a tranquilizer gun to sedate the male and Ian closes the hold's doors.
In the aftermath, the dinosaurs are shipped back to Isla Sorna accompanied by the U.S. Navy. Ian, Sarah, and Kelly watch Hammond in a televised interview announcing that the American and Costa Rican governments have declared the island a nature reserve. The Rex family is seen reunited, with the parents grazing with their infant in an open field.
Cast
Production
After the release of the novel Jurassic Park in 1990, author Michael Crichton was pressured by fans for a sequel. Having never written one, he initially refused. While shooting the novel's 1993 film adaptation, director Steven Spielberg believed that if a sequel film were made, it would involve the retrieval of a canister that contained dinosaur DNA lost during the events of the first film. Talk of a sequel began after the release of the first film, which was a financial success. Spielberg held discussions with David Koepp and Crichton, who both wrote the previous film, to talk about possible ideas for a sequel. The production schedule for a second Jurassic Park film was dependent on whether Crichton would write a sequel to the first novel.
In March 1994, Crichton said he had a story idea for another book, which would then be adapted into a film. At the time, Spielberg had not committed to directing the new novel's film adaptation, as he planned to take a year off from directing. In March 1995, Crichton was nearly finished writing the second novel, scheduled for release later that year. Spielberg had signed on to produce the film adaptation, with filming to begin in 1996 for release the following year. Spielberg was busy with his new DreamWorks studio and had not decided if he would direct the film, saying, "I'd love to direct it, but I just have to see. My life is changing".
A production team was assembled by mid-1995, as Crichton was finishing the second novel, titled The Lost World; simultaneously, Spielberg and Koepp were developing their own ideas for the screenplay. Crichton's novel was published that September, and Spielberg was announced as director two months later. Spielberg and Crichton agreed to forego upfront fees for a share of the back-end. Koepp's deal was said to be the most lucrative for an adaptation at the time, with a fee in the region of $1.5 to $2 million. Joe Johnston had offered to direct the film, and eventually helmed the 2001 sequel Jurassic Park III.
The storyboarding process had begun in June 1995. Like with previous Spielberg films, storyboards were heavily utilized early on to help develop sequences as well as the overall plot. As the year went on, Spielberg continued to brainstorm ideas and made rough sketches to help illustrate his vision. The Lost World: Jurassic Park had nearly 1,500 storyboards, which aided in the precise planning needed to shoot scenes involving action, dinosaurs, and special effects. The pre-production process began in January 1996. Within three months, the scenes represented in storyboards were numerous enough to create a four-hour film, necessitating the need for cuts. The InGen village on Isla Sorna was among elements of the film that underwent many design changes early on.
Writing
After the film adaptation of The Lost World was announced, Koepp received letters of advice from interested children. According to Koepp, one letter read: "As long as you have the T. rex and the Velociraptor, everything else is fine. But, whatever you do, don't have a long boring part at the beginning that has nothing to do with the island". Koepp retained the letter as "sort of a reminder". He also took a suggestion from the letter to add Stegosaurus into the script. Koepp began writing the screenplay in September 1995, after wrapping principal photography on his directorial debut, the 1996 film The Trigger Effect. He proceeded to work in post-production on that film while simultaneously writing The Lost World, completing the first draft in January 1996.
Koepp noted that the first Jurassic Park film was philosophical about bringing dinosaurs back to life and how they would impact humanity: "We had thoroughly explored those questions in the first movie, so I didn't want to return to them. The Lost World is less philosophical and more about basic survival". During an early meeting with Koepp, Spielberg noted that the original film provided a contrast between herbivorous and carnivorous dinosaurs. Spielberg determined that the new sequel should additionally focus on humans who are "gatherers" (observers of the dinosaurs) and "hunters" (who capture the dinosaurs for a zoo). Koepp said the plot of the 1962 film Hatari! – about African animals being captured for zoos – had "a big influence" on The Lost Worlds script.
The character of Robert Burke is based on paleontologist Robert Bakker, who believes that T. rex was a predator. Rival paleontologist Jack Horner, the film's technical advisor, viewed the dinosaur as being protective and not inherently aggressive. Horner requested that the character of Burke be eaten by the T. rex, although Bakker enjoyed the scene and believed that it vindicated his theory that T. rex was a predator.