The Lost World: Jurassic Park
Encyclopedia
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (also known as Jurassic Park II: The Lost World or just Jurassic Park II) is a 1997 science fiction
thriller film, directed by Steven Spielberg
. The film was produced by Bonnie Curtis
, Kathleen Kennedy, Gerald R. Molen
and Colin Wilson
. The screenplay
was penned by David Koepp
, based on the 1995 novel The Lost World by Michael Crichton
. The film stars Jeff Goldblum
, Julianne Moore
, Pete Postlethwaite
, Richard Schiff
, Vince Vaughn
, Arliss Howard
, Thomas F. Duffy
, Vanessa Lee Chester
, and Richard Attenborough
.
The film picks up four years after the events of Jurassic Park
. On a deserted island, dinosaur
s have secretly survived and been allowed to roam free. In the time between the two events, John Hammond loses control of his company, InGen
, to his nephew Peter Ludlow. Ludlow assembles a team to bring the animals back to the mainland to bring in revenue and restore the company. Hammond sees a chance to redeem himself for his past mistakes and sends an expedition led by Dr. Ian Malcolm to reach the island before InGen's team can get there. The two groups confront each other in the face of extreme danger and must team up for their own survival.
After the release of the original book and the success of the first film, Crichton was pressured not only by fans, but Spielberg himself, for a sequel novel. After the book was published in 1995, production began on a film sequel. The film received a 51% approval rating from critics at Rotten Tomatoes
and 60 out of 100 at Metacritic
. This film is much darker and arguably scarier than the predecessor. The film earned over USD$618 million at the worldwide box office, USD$300 million fewer than the predecessor. It is the most recent Crichton adaptation to be a box office success.
) has lost control of InGen
to his nephew, Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard
). Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum
) publicized the incident, but disbelief has destroyed his academic reputation. Hammond summons Malcolm to his home and tells him about Isla Sorna, known as "Site B", where the dinosaurs were engineered and nurtured for a few months, before they were moved to Isla Nublar, the location of the park. They were abandoned in "Site B", after a hurricane. Hammond asks Malcolm to join a team that will travel to "Site B" and will help him stop Ludlow from exploiting the site for InGen, and to help leave it as a nature preserve. Malcolm initially refuses, but agrees after learning that his girlfriend, paleontologist Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore
), is part of the team and is already there, while the others will meet her after three days.
Malcolm meets the team of people he will join with: vehicle engineer Eddie Carr (Richard Schiff
), and documentary producer Nick Van Owen (Vince Vaughn
). Shortly after arriving on the island, they find Sarah. Sarah attempts to take a close-up picture of a baby Stegosaurus
. Its parents attack Sarah, protecting their baby. Sarah survives, hiding in a log. At camp, they discover Kelly (Vanessa Lee Chester
), Malcolm's daughter, had stowed away on the trailer. Malcolm tries to get Kelly home, but they are interrupted by the arrival of an InGen team led by Ludlow which they spot chasing and capturing several dinosaur species such as Parasaurolophus
, Pachycephalosaurus
, Gallimimus
and Mamenchisaurus
, identified by InGen paleontologist Dr. Robert Burke (Thomas F. Duffy
). That night, Nick (who reveals to the team that he is a member of Earth First) and Sarah sneak into the InGen camp to free the dinosaurs which causes a huge commotion as a Triceratops
destroys the camp of InGen and the dinosaurs escape, leading InGen tracker Roland Tembo (Pete Postlethwaite
) to blame his second-in-command Dieter Stark (Peter Stormare
) for the failure.
Roland wishes to capture an adult male Tyrannosaurus
by luring it to the cries of its injured offspring. During the commotion caused by the fleeing dinosaurs, Nick frees the baby and takes it to the trailer so Sarah can set its broken leg, frightening Kelly, making her ask Malcolm to go into the "high hide" which is Eddie's lift that goes above trees. While Kelly, Malcolm, and Eddie are in the lift, they hear the T-rex in the distance, making Malcolm call the trailer to tell Nick and Sarah that the T-rex is near. Nick goes to answer the phone but Sarah needs his help, making him refuse to answer. Malcolm decides to head to the trailer before the T-rex gets there, which he does. Later, a scouting Eddie sees the Tyrannosaurs headed for the trailer, and heads for the camp to save the group. The team gives the adult Tyrannosaurus its child, but moments later it and its mate push one half of the double trailer over a cliff with the group inside. Eddie connects a rope to the trailer and tries to pull the trailer back up using one of the SUVs, but he is attacked and eaten by the Tyrannosaurs. The trailer falls off the cliff, and explodes, but its occupants hold on to the rope, only to be rescued by the InGen team. With the communications destroyed in the attacks, both groups team up to reach the old InGen compound's radio station. Stark dies when he is separated from the group and devoured by a pack of Compsognathus
, one of which he had tried to shock with a cattle prod earlier.
At night, the Tyrannosaurus comes across the group's camp. It pokes its head into Sarah and Kelly's tent. One of the team workers sees the Tyrannosaurus and screams, waking up the rest. As they all flee with the creature in pursuit, Carter is crushed by it and Dr. Burke is eaten by the dinosaur while Roland manages to tranquilize its mate. The fleeing team passes through a field of tall grass and are picked off by Velociraptors, leaving few survivors. Nick reaches the compound, but Malcolm, Sarah, and Kelly are attacked by raptors and go into hiding. Nick manages to call for help after reaching the radio station. After a fight with the raptors, they reunite with Nick, and fly away in a rescue helicopter that Nick had contacted earlier. Flying away, they spot the caged Tyrannosaurus and Ludlow preparing to ship it and its child back to the mainland. However, Roland quits his post after his friend Ajay's death in the raptor attack.
When the ship carrying the dinosaur arrives in San Diego, it crashes into the dock. Ludlow and some guards investigate the boat and find the entire crew dead. A guard opens the cargo hold, thinking there might be some crew members below (despite Malcolm's warnings), inadvertently releasing the Tyrannosaurus, which escapes into the neighborhood, then into the city, and creates havoc. Realizing that the creature will likely come for its infant, Malcolm and Sarah ask Ludlow where the infant is. He reveals to them that it is hidden in the Jurassic Park amphitheater. They rush to the amphitheater to get the baby. They lure the adult with the baby and run back to the boat. Ludlow tries to intervene, but is trapped in the cargo hold and devoured by the Tyrannosaurus. Malcolm and Sarah manage to tranquilize the adult before it can escape again and seal it in the hold. By morning, Kelly watches television reports of the cargo ship on its way back to Site B, surrounded by a convoy of naval vessels. The program breaks away to an interview of restored InGen Chairman John Hammond, who explains that the island will now be left alone as a natural reserve so the dinosaurs can live free of human interference, and says "Life will find a way" (Malcolm had used this sentence in the first film).
David Koepp
cameos as a citizen of San Diego who gets killed by the Tyrannosaurus during its rampage. Steven Spielberg
makes a cameo at the end of the film, appearing in the reflection of the TV as the T-rex is transported back to Isla Sorna.
The Lost World was filmed in Eureka
, San Diego
, Burbank
, and Kauai. Although the ending takes place in San Diego, only one sequence is actually shot there, where the InGen helicopter flies over the wharf and banks towards the city. The other sequences were all shot in Burbank.
Spielberg suggested the Tyrannosaurus rex attack through San Diego be added to the film story, inspired by a similar attack scene of a Brontosaurus
in London in the 1925 film adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World.
Many elements from the original Jurassic Park novel that were not in the first film were used for The Lost World. The opening sequence of a vacationing family's young daughter being attacked in Costa Rica
by a group of Compsognathus
was similar to the opening scene in the original novel, and Dieter Stark's death is analogous to John Hammond's compy-related death in the novel. Also, Nick, Sarah, Kelly, and Burke being trapped behind a waterfall by the female T. rex is taken from the first novel, where Tim and Lex are trapped behind a man-made waterfall with the T. rex attempting to eat them, and Roland Tembo shoots the T. rex with tranquilizer in the same way that Robert Muldoon did in the first book.
According to Jack Horner
, part of the waterfall scene was written in as a favor for him by Spielberg. Burke greatly resembles Horner's rival Robert Bakker. In real life Bakker argues for a predatory Tyrannosaurus rex while Horner views it as primarily a scavenger. So Spielberg wrote Burke into this part to have him killed by the Tyrannosaurus rex as a favor for Horner. After the film came out Bakker, who recognized himself in Burke and loved it, actually sent Horner a message saying "See, I told you T. rex was a hunter!".
and LaserDisc
debut on November 4, 1997. The DVD, first released on October 10, 2000, includes deleted scenes that were incorporated into the Fox broadcast television premiere of the film. However, the deleted scenes are included separate of the actual movie, and are of lesser quality than the corresponding scenes from the broadcast version, despite being released some time after the broadcast. Universal Home Video, Amblin Entertainment
and director Steven Spielberg
have all declined comment on the matter, and it is unknown if the scenes will be reintegrated into the actual film for a later Blu-Ray release.
The film was also released in a package with Jurassic Park
. The DVD has also been re-released with both sequels on December 11, 2001 as the Jurassic Park Trilogy and as the Jurassic Park Adventure Pack on November 29, 2005. The soundtrack was released on May 20, 1997. On the same day it was first released to DVD, a deluxe limited edition
box set was released that included Jurassic Park and The Lost World: Jurassic Park, soundtracks for both films with packaging made exclusively for the set, two lenticular
s, eight 8x10 stills (4 from each film), and a certificate of authenticity signed by all three producers of the set, all inside a collector case.
Following four years of growing anticipation and hype, The Lost World: Jurassic Park broke many box office
records upon its release. It took in $72,132,785 on its opening weekend ($92.6 million for the four-day Memorial Day holiday) in the U.S., which was the biggest opening weekend at the time, surpassing the previous record-holder Batman Forever
at $52.8 million. It held onto this record for four and a half years, until the release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in November 2001. The Lost World took the record for highest single-day box office take of $26,083,950 on May 25, a record held until the release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
. It also became the fastest film to pass the $100 million mark, achieving the feat in just six days. However, its total U.S. box office gross fell below the total of the original film. With grossing $229,086,679 domestically and $389,552,320 internationally, the film ended up grossing $618,638,999 worldwide, becoming the second highest grossing film of 1997 behind Titanic
.
, the film has a 51% "rotten" rating with 31 out of 61 reviewers giving it a positive review. It also has a 59% on Metacritic
. It received much of the same criticism as the original Jurassic Park, with praise for the special effects but accusations of flat characterization. Roger Ebert
said, "It can be said that the creatures in this film transcend any visible signs of special effects and seem to walk the earth, but the same realism isn't brought to the human characters, who are bound by plot conventions and action formulas." Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times
saw improved character development over the original, saying, "It seemed such a mistake in Jurassic Park to sideline early on its most interesting character, the brilliant, free-thinking and outspoken theorist Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum
) with a broken leg, but in its most inspired stroke, The Lost World brings back Malcolm and places him front and center," calling it "a pleasure to watch such wily pros as Goldblum and Attenborough spar with each other with wit and assurance." The dinosaurs were even more developed as characters, with Stephen Holden of the New York Times saying, "The Lost World, unlike Jurassic Park, humanizes its monsters in a way that E.T. would understand." Entertainment Weekly
remarked in 2008, "Mr. T-Rex was cool in the first Spielberg flick, sure, but it wasn't until [it was in] San Diego that things got crazy-cool. It's the old 'tree falling in the woods' conundrum: Unless your giant monster is causing massive property damage, can you really call it a giant monster?"
The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Visual Effects
and for "Best Action Sequence" in the MTV Movie Awards 1998
for the T. rex rampage through San Diego. It was also nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film, Best Director, Best Young Actress for Vanessa Lee Chester
, Best Special Effects, and Best Supporting Actor for Pete Postlethwaite
. However, it was also nominated for three Golden Raspberry Awards
, including Worst Screenplay, Worst Remake or Sequel and Worst Reckless Disregard for Human Life and Public Property, but failed to win any of those prizes.
Science fiction film
Science fiction film is a film genre that uses science fiction: speculative, science-based depictions of phenomena that are not necessarily accepted by mainstream science, such as extraterrestrial life forms, alien worlds, extrasensory perception, and time travel, often along with futuristic...
thriller film, directed by Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
. The film was produced by Bonnie Curtis
Bonnie Curtis
Bonnie Kathleen Curtis is an American film producer whose credits include Saving Private Ryan, A.I., Minority Report, and The Lost World: Jurassic Park, directed by Steven Spielberg. Her first solo project was the 2005 release The Chumscrubber...
, Kathleen Kennedy, Gerald R. Molen
Gerald R. Molen
Gerald Robert Molen is a high profile American film producer. He works very closely with Steven Spielberg, having produced five of his films, and won an Academy Award for co-producing Schindler's List...
and Colin Wilson
Colin Wilson
Colin Henry Wilson is a prolific English writer who first came to prominence as a philosopher and novelist. Wilson has since written widely on true crime, mysticism and other topics. He prefers calling his philosophy new existentialism or phenomenological existentialism.- Early biography:Born and...
. The screenplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
was penned by David Koepp
David Koepp
-Career:As a writer, Koepp has worked on such blockbuster Hollywood films as Jurassic Park, Mission Impossible, and Spider-Man. Koepp had a cameo as the "Unlucky Bastard" in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, in which he was serving as Writer and Second Unit Director.His work as a director has not had...
, based on the 1995 novel The Lost World by Michael Crichton
Michael Crichton
John Michael Crichton , best known as Michael Crichton, was an American best-selling author, producer, director, and screenwriter, best known for his work in the science fiction, medical fiction, and thriller genres. His books have sold over 200 million copies worldwide, and many have been adapted...
. The film stars Jeff Goldblum
Jeff Goldblum
Jeffrey Lynn "Jeff" Goldblum is an American actor. His career began in the mid-1970s and he has appeared in major box-office successes including The Fly, Jurassic Park and its sequel Jurassic Park: The Lost World, and Independence Day...
, Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore is an American actress and a children's book author. Throughout her career, she has been nominated for four Oscars, six Golden Globes, three BAFTAs and nine Screen Actors Guild Awards....
, Pete Postlethwaite
Pete Postlethwaite
Peter William "Pete" Postlethwaite, OBE, was an English stage, film and television actor.After minor television appearances including in The Professionals, Postlethwaite's first success came with the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He played a mysterious lawyer, Mr...
, Richard Schiff
Richard Schiff
Richard Schiff is an American actor. He is best known for playing Toby Ziegler on the NBC television drama The West Wing, a role for which he received an Emmy Award...
, Vince Vaughn
Vince Vaughn
Vincent Anthony "Vince" Vaughn is an American film actor, screenwriter, producer and comedian. He began acting in the late 1980s, appearing in minor television roles before attaining wider recognition with the 1996 movie Swingers...
, Arliss Howard
Arliss Howard
Arliss Howard is an American actor, writer and film director.-Life and career:Howard was born in Independence, Missouri in 1954, and graduated from Truman High School and Columbia College at Columbia, Missouri. Howard established his career with stand-out roles in Full Metal Jacket and Ruby...
, Thomas F. Duffy
Thomas F. Duffy
Thomas Francis Duffy is a versatile American character actor, writer, musician, and athlete. He is best known for playing hippie Paleontologist Dr. Robert Burke in The Lost World: Jurassic Park and as Sam Moxon, the football loving dad in Varsity Blues.-Early life:Thomas was born in Newark, New...
, Vanessa Lee Chester
Vanessa Lee Chester
Vanessa Lee Chester is an American television and film actress. She has worked on a variety of projects, most notable for her roles as Kelly in Steven Spielberg's The Lost World: Jurassic Park , and as Becky in Alfonso Cuarón's A Little Princess...
, and Richard Attenborough
Richard Attenborough
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...
.
The film picks up four years after the events of Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park (film)
Jurassic Park is a 1993 American science fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. It stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Martin Ferrero, and Bob Peck...
. On a deserted island, dinosaur
Dinosaur
Dinosaurs are a diverse group of animals of the clade and superorder Dinosauria. They were the dominant terrestrial vertebrates for over 160 million years, from the late Triassic period until the end of the Cretaceous , when the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event led to the extinction of...
s have secretly survived and been allowed to roam free. In the time between the two events, John Hammond loses control of his company, InGen
InGen
InGen is a fictional genetic engineering company appearing in the Jurassic Park franchise of novels, films and other media.-Narrative:...
, to his nephew Peter Ludlow. Ludlow assembles a team to bring the animals back to the mainland to bring in revenue and restore the company. Hammond sees a chance to redeem himself for his past mistakes and sends an expedition led by Dr. Ian Malcolm to reach the island before InGen's team can get there. The two groups confront each other in the face of extreme danger and must team up for their own survival.
After the release of the original book and the success of the first film, Crichton was pressured not only by fans, but Spielberg himself, for a sequel novel. After the book was published in 1995, production began on a film sequel. The film received a 51% approval rating from critics at Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
and 60 out of 100 at Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. This film is much darker and arguably scarier than the predecessor. The film earned over USD$618 million at the worldwide box office, USD$300 million fewer than the predecessor. It is the most recent Crichton adaptation to be a box office success.
Plot
Four years after the incident at Jurassic Park, John Hammond (Richard AttenboroughRichard Attenborough
Richard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...
) has lost control of InGen
InGen
InGen is a fictional genetic engineering company appearing in the Jurassic Park franchise of novels, films and other media.-Narrative:...
to his nephew, Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard
Arliss Howard
Arliss Howard is an American actor, writer and film director.-Life and career:Howard was born in Independence, Missouri in 1954, and graduated from Truman High School and Columbia College at Columbia, Missouri. Howard established his career with stand-out roles in Full Metal Jacket and Ruby...
). Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum
Jeff Goldblum
Jeffrey Lynn "Jeff" Goldblum is an American actor. His career began in the mid-1970s and he has appeared in major box-office successes including The Fly, Jurassic Park and its sequel Jurassic Park: The Lost World, and Independence Day...
) publicized the incident, but disbelief has destroyed his academic reputation. Hammond summons Malcolm to his home and tells him about Isla Sorna, known as "Site B", where the dinosaurs were engineered and nurtured for a few months, before they were moved to Isla Nublar, the location of the park. They were abandoned in "Site B", after a hurricane. Hammond asks Malcolm to join a team that will travel to "Site B" and will help him stop Ludlow from exploiting the site for InGen, and to help leave it as a nature preserve. Malcolm initially refuses, but agrees after learning that his girlfriend, paleontologist Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore
Julianne Moore is an American actress and a children's book author. Throughout her career, she has been nominated for four Oscars, six Golden Globes, three BAFTAs and nine Screen Actors Guild Awards....
), is part of the team and is already there, while the others will meet her after three days.
Malcolm meets the team of people he will join with: vehicle engineer Eddie Carr (Richard Schiff
Richard Schiff
Richard Schiff is an American actor. He is best known for playing Toby Ziegler on the NBC television drama The West Wing, a role for which he received an Emmy Award...
), and documentary producer Nick Van Owen (Vince Vaughn
Vince Vaughn
Vincent Anthony "Vince" Vaughn is an American film actor, screenwriter, producer and comedian. He began acting in the late 1980s, appearing in minor television roles before attaining wider recognition with the 1996 movie Swingers...
). Shortly after arriving on the island, they find Sarah. Sarah attempts to take a close-up picture of a baby Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus
Stegosaurus is a genus of armored stegosaurid dinosaur. They lived during the Late Jurassic period , some 155 to 150 million years ago in what is now western North America. In 2006, a specimen of Stegosaurus was announced from Portugal, showing that they were present in Europe as well...
. Its parents attack Sarah, protecting their baby. Sarah survives, hiding in a log. At camp, they discover Kelly (Vanessa Lee Chester
Vanessa Lee Chester
Vanessa Lee Chester is an American television and film actress. She has worked on a variety of projects, most notable for her roles as Kelly in Steven Spielberg's The Lost World: Jurassic Park , and as Becky in Alfonso Cuarón's A Little Princess...
), Malcolm's daughter, had stowed away on the trailer. Malcolm tries to get Kelly home, but they are interrupted by the arrival of an InGen team led by Ludlow which they spot chasing and capturing several dinosaur species such as Parasaurolophus
Parasaurolophus
Parasaurolophus is a genus of ornithopod dinosaur that lived in what is now North America during the Late Cretaceous Period, about 76.5–73 million years ago. It was an herbivore that walked both as a biped and a quadruped. Three species are recognized: P. walkeri , P. tubicen, and the...
, Pachycephalosaurus
Pachycephalosaurus
Pachycephalosaurus is a genus of pachycephalosaurid dinosaur. It lived during the Late Cretaceous Period of what is now North America. Remains have been excavated in Montana, South Dakota, and Wyoming. It was an herbivorous or omnivorous creature which is only known from a single skull and a few...
, Gallimimus
Gallimimus
Gallimimus is a genus of ornithomimid theropod dinosaur from the late Cretaceous period Nemegt Formation of Mongolia. With individuals as long as , it was one of the largest ornithomimosaurs...
and Mamenchisaurus
Mamenchisaurus
Mamenchisaurus was a plant-eating four-legged dinosaur, known for its remarkably long neck which made up half its total length. It is known from numerous species which ranged in time from 160 to 145 million years ago, from the Oxfordian to Tithonian ages of the late Jurassic Period of...
, identified by InGen paleontologist Dr. Robert Burke (Thomas F. Duffy
Thomas F. Duffy
Thomas Francis Duffy is a versatile American character actor, writer, musician, and athlete. He is best known for playing hippie Paleontologist Dr. Robert Burke in The Lost World: Jurassic Park and as Sam Moxon, the football loving dad in Varsity Blues.-Early life:Thomas was born in Newark, New...
). That night, Nick (who reveals to the team that he is a member of Earth First) and Sarah sneak into the InGen camp to free the dinosaurs which causes a huge commotion as a Triceratops
Triceratops
Triceratops is a genus of herbivorous ceratopsid dinosaur which lived during the late Maastrichtian stage of the Late Cretaceous Period, around 68 to 65 million years ago in what is now North America. It was one of the last dinosaur genera to appear before the great Cretaceous–Paleogene...
destroys the camp of InGen and the dinosaurs escape, leading InGen tracker Roland Tembo (Pete Postlethwaite
Pete Postlethwaite
Peter William "Pete" Postlethwaite, OBE, was an English stage, film and television actor.After minor television appearances including in The Professionals, Postlethwaite's first success came with the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He played a mysterious lawyer, Mr...
) to blame his second-in-command Dieter Stark (Peter Stormare
Peter Stormare
is a Swedish film, stage, voice and television actor as well as a theatrical director, playwright and musician.- Early life :...
) for the failure.
Roland wishes to capture an adult male Tyrannosaurus
Tyrannosaurus
Tyrannosaurus meaning "tyrant," and sauros meaning "lizard") is a genus of coelurosaurian theropod dinosaur. The species Tyrannosaurus rex , commonly abbreviated to T. rex, is a fixture in popular culture. It lived throughout what is now western North America, with a much wider range than other...
by luring it to the cries of its injured offspring. During the commotion caused by the fleeing dinosaurs, Nick frees the baby and takes it to the trailer so Sarah can set its broken leg, frightening Kelly, making her ask Malcolm to go into the "high hide" which is Eddie's lift that goes above trees. While Kelly, Malcolm, and Eddie are in the lift, they hear the T-rex in the distance, making Malcolm call the trailer to tell Nick and Sarah that the T-rex is near. Nick goes to answer the phone but Sarah needs his help, making him refuse to answer. Malcolm decides to head to the trailer before the T-rex gets there, which he does. Later, a scouting Eddie sees the Tyrannosaurs headed for the trailer, and heads for the camp to save the group. The team gives the adult Tyrannosaurus its child, but moments later it and its mate push one half of the double trailer over a cliff with the group inside. Eddie connects a rope to the trailer and tries to pull the trailer back up using one of the SUVs, but he is attacked and eaten by the Tyrannosaurs. The trailer falls off the cliff, and explodes, but its occupants hold on to the rope, only to be rescued by the InGen team. With the communications destroyed in the attacks, both groups team up to reach the old InGen compound's radio station. Stark dies when he is separated from the group and devoured by a pack of Compsognathus
Compsognathus
Compsognathus was a small, bipedal, carnivorous theropod dinosaur. The animal was the size of a turkey and lived around 150 million years ago, the early Tithonian stage of the late Jurassic Period, in what is now Europe. Paleontologists have found two well-preserved fossils, one in Germany...
, one of which he had tried to shock with a cattle prod earlier.
At night, the Tyrannosaurus comes across the group's camp. It pokes its head into Sarah and Kelly's tent. One of the team workers sees the Tyrannosaurus and screams, waking up the rest. As they all flee with the creature in pursuit, Carter is crushed by it and Dr. Burke is eaten by the dinosaur while Roland manages to tranquilize its mate. The fleeing team passes through a field of tall grass and are picked off by Velociraptors, leaving few survivors. Nick reaches the compound, but Malcolm, Sarah, and Kelly are attacked by raptors and go into hiding. Nick manages to call for help after reaching the radio station. After a fight with the raptors, they reunite with Nick, and fly away in a rescue helicopter that Nick had contacted earlier. Flying away, they spot the caged Tyrannosaurus and Ludlow preparing to ship it and its child back to the mainland. However, Roland quits his post after his friend Ajay's death in the raptor attack.
When the ship carrying the dinosaur arrives in San Diego, it crashes into the dock. Ludlow and some guards investigate the boat and find the entire crew dead. A guard opens the cargo hold, thinking there might be some crew members below (despite Malcolm's warnings), inadvertently releasing the Tyrannosaurus, which escapes into the neighborhood, then into the city, and creates havoc. Realizing that the creature will likely come for its infant, Malcolm and Sarah ask Ludlow where the infant is. He reveals to them that it is hidden in the Jurassic Park amphitheater. They rush to the amphitheater to get the baby. They lure the adult with the baby and run back to the boat. Ludlow tries to intervene, but is trapped in the cargo hold and devoured by the Tyrannosaurus. Malcolm and Sarah manage to tranquilize the adult before it can escape again and seal it in the hold. By morning, Kelly watches television reports of the cargo ship on its way back to Site B, surrounded by a convoy of naval vessels. The program breaks away to an interview of restored InGen Chairman John Hammond, who explains that the island will now be left alone as a natural reserve so the dinosaurs can live free of human interference, and says "Life will find a way" (Malcolm had used this sentence in the first film).
Cast
- Jeff GoldblumJeff GoldblumJeffrey Lynn "Jeff" Goldblum is an American actor. His career began in the mid-1970s and he has appeared in major box-office successes including The Fly, Jurassic Park and its sequel Jurassic Park: The Lost World, and Independence Day...
as Dr. Ian Malcolm: a mathematicianMathematicianA mathematician is a person whose primary area of study is the field of mathematics. Mathematicians are concerned with quantity, structure, space, and change....
and chaos theorist. After barely surviving the Incident on Isla Nublar, Malcolm is even more cynical and jaded as a result of his experience. - Julianne MooreJulianne MooreJulianne Moore is an American actress and a children's book author. Throughout her career, she has been nominated for four Oscars, six Golden Globes, three BAFTAs and nine Screen Actors Guild Awards....
as Dr. Sarah Harding: a behavioral paleontologist who is said to be at the top of her profession, Sarah is head strong and independent. - Vanessa Lee ChesterVanessa Lee ChesterVanessa Lee Chester is an American television and film actress. She has worked on a variety of projects, most notable for her roles as Kelly in Steven Spielberg's The Lost World: Jurassic Park , and as Becky in Alfonso Cuarón's A Little Princess...
as Kelly Curtis Malcolm: Malcolm's teenage daughter from a failed marriage, Kelly often feels estranged and alienated from her father. - Pete PostlethwaitePete PostlethwaitePeter William "Pete" Postlethwaite, OBE, was an English stage, film and television actor.After minor television appearances including in The Professionals, Postlethwaite's first success came with the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He played a mysterious lawyer, Mr...
as Roland Tembo: a big-game hunter from Africa. His goal in the film is to hunt and kill the male Tyrannosaurus to assert humanity's position as the dominant predator on Earth. Although sometimes violent, he adheres to his own strict moral code. He also dislikes Ludlow and even resigns after the capture of the male Tyrannosaurus. - Arliss HowardArliss HowardArliss Howard is an American actor, writer and film director.-Life and career:Howard was born in Independence, Missouri in 1954, and graduated from Truman High School and Columbia College at Columbia, Missouri. Howard established his career with stand-out roles in Full Metal Jacket and Ruby...
as Peter Ludlow: Hammond's conniving nephew; a greedy and manipulative businessman. - Richard AttenboroughRichard AttenboroughRichard Samuel Attenborough, Baron Attenborough , CBE is a British actor, director, producer and entrepreneur. As director and producer he won two Academy Awards for the 1982 film Gandhi...
as John Hammond: former CEO of InGen, a repentant Hammond takes steps to redeem himself and preserve Isla Sorna. - Vince VaughnVince VaughnVincent Anthony "Vince" Vaughn is an American film actor, screenwriter, producer and comedian. He began acting in the late 1980s, appearing in minor television roles before attaining wider recognition with the 1996 movie Swingers...
as Nick Van Owen: a well-traveled and experienced documentarian and environmentalist. - Peter StormarePeter Stormareis a Swedish film, stage, voice and television actor as well as a theatrical director, playwright and musician.- Early life :...
as Dieter Stark: The second-in-command of the InGen team under Roland Tembo, but failed and was kicked out of command. - Harvey JasonHarvey JasonHarvey Albert Jason is an English actor and the co-owner of Mystery Pier Books, an independent book store that sells first editions.Jason was born in London, the son of Marie Goldblatt and actor Alec Jason...
as Ajay Sidhu: Roland's immensely loyal and long-time hunting partner from India. - Richard SchiffRichard SchiffRichard Schiff is an American actor. He is best known for playing Toby Ziegler on the NBC television drama The West Wing, a role for which he received an Emmy Award...
as Eddie Carr: a timid and sardonic "Field Equipment Expert." - Thomas F. DuffyThomas F. DuffyThomas Francis Duffy is a versatile American character actor, writer, musician, and athlete. He is best known for playing hippie Paleontologist Dr. Robert Burke in The Lost World: Jurassic Park and as Sam Moxon, the football loving dad in Varsity Blues.-Early life:Thomas was born in Newark, New...
as Dr. Robert Burke: a paleontologist. - Thomas Rosales Jr. as Carter: Dieter's only friend.
- Ariana RichardsAriana RichardsAriana Clarice Richards is an American actress and professional painter. She is best known for her roles as Mindy Sterngood in Tremors, Lex Murphy in the film Jurassic Park, and as Carol Wetherby in the film Prancer....
as Lex Murphy: Hammond's granddaughter and a survivor of the Isla Nublar fiasco. - Joseph MazzelloJoseph MazzelloJoseph Francis Mazzello III is an American actor who is best known for his roles as Tim Murphy in Jurassic Park, Eugene Sledge in the HBO miniseries The Pacific, and Dustin Moskovitz in The Social Network....
as Tim Murphy: Lex's younger brother, who also survived the events on Isla Nublar. - Camilla BelleCamilla BelleCamilla Belle is an American actress. Her works include The Lost World: Jurassic Park, When a Stranger Calls, 10,000 BC, The Quiet, Push and Speedy Singhs.- Early life :...
as Cathy Bowman: A young girl who is attacked, when her family stumbles upon Site B during a yacht cruise. - Cyd Strittmatter as Deirdre Bowman: Cathy's mother, a constant worrier who fears for her daughter's safety.
- Robin SachsRobin SachsRobin David Sachs is an English actor.Sachs was born in London, the son of actors Leonard Sachs and Eleanor Summerfield...
as Paul Bowman: The patriarch of the Bowman family. - Geno SilvaGeno SilvaGeno Silva is a Mexican American actor. He is best known for his role as The Skull in Scarface.Silva has also appeared in films such as 1941, Tequila Sunrise, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Amistad, Mulholland Dr. and A Man Apart.Despite a popular misconception, he is not related to either Henry...
as Carlos: Captain of the Costa Rican barge Mar del Plata. - Colton JamesColton JamesColton James is an American actor, best known for his appearance in The Lost World: Jurassic Park as well as his role of T-Bone in the WB Television Network, 7th Heaven...
as Benjamin: Citizen of San Diego. - Bernard ShawBernard Shaw (journalist)Bernard Shaw is a retired American journalist and former news anchor for CNN from 1980 until his retirement in March 2001.-Early years:...
as himself: a news anchor for CNN. - Frank WelkerFrank WelkerFranklin Wendell "Frank" Welker is an American actor who specializes in voice acting and has contributed character voices and other vocal effects to American television and motion pictures.-Acting career:...
as Vocal Dinosaur effects (uncredited)
David Koepp
David Koepp
-Career:As a writer, Koepp has worked on such blockbuster Hollywood films as Jurassic Park, Mission Impossible, and Spider-Man. Koepp had a cameo as the "Unlucky Bastard" in The Lost World: Jurassic Park, in which he was serving as Writer and Second Unit Director.His work as a director has not had...
cameos as a citizen of San Diego who gets killed by the Tyrannosaurus during its rampage. Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
makes a cameo at the end of the film, appearing in the reflection of the TV as the T-rex is transported back to Isla Sorna.
Production
After the release of the novel Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton was pressured by fans for a sequel novel. Having never written a sequel, he initially refused, until the success of the first film prompted Steven Spielberg himself to request one. After the book was published in 1995, production on the sequel film began in September 1996.Eureka, California
Eureka is the principal city and the county seat of Humboldt County, California, United States. Its population was 27,191 at the 2010 census, up from 26,128 at the 2000 census....
, San Diego
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
, Burbank
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
, and Kauai. Although the ending takes place in San Diego, only one sequence is actually shot there, where the InGen helicopter flies over the wharf and banks towards the city. The other sequences were all shot in Burbank.
Spielberg suggested the Tyrannosaurus rex attack through San Diego be added to the film story, inspired by a similar attack scene of a Brontosaurus
Apatosaurus
Apatosaurus , also known by the popular but scientifically deprecated synonym Brontosaurus, is a genus of sauropod dinosaur that lived from about 154 to 150 million years ago, during the Jurassic Period . It was one of the largest land animals that ever existed, with an average length of and a...
in London in the 1925 film adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World.
Many elements from the original Jurassic Park novel that were not in the first film were used for The Lost World. The opening sequence of a vacationing family's young daughter being attacked in Costa Rica
Costa Rica
Costa Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
by a group of Compsognathus
Compsognathus
Compsognathus was a small, bipedal, carnivorous theropod dinosaur. The animal was the size of a turkey and lived around 150 million years ago, the early Tithonian stage of the late Jurassic Period, in what is now Europe. Paleontologists have found two well-preserved fossils, one in Germany...
was similar to the opening scene in the original novel, and Dieter Stark's death is analogous to John Hammond's compy-related death in the novel. Also, Nick, Sarah, Kelly, and Burke being trapped behind a waterfall by the female T. rex is taken from the first novel, where Tim and Lex are trapped behind a man-made waterfall with the T. rex attempting to eat them, and Roland Tembo shoots the T. rex with tranquilizer in the same way that Robert Muldoon did in the first book.
According to Jack Horner
Jack Horner (paleontologist)
John "Jack" R. Horner is an American paleontologist who discovered and named Maiasaura, providing the first clear evidence that some dinosaurs cared for their young. He is one of the best-known paleontologists in the United States...
, part of the waterfall scene was written in as a favor for him by Spielberg. Burke greatly resembles Horner's rival Robert Bakker. In real life Bakker argues for a predatory Tyrannosaurus rex while Horner views it as primarily a scavenger. So Spielberg wrote Burke into this part to have him killed by the Tyrannosaurus rex as a favor for Horner. After the film came out Bakker, who recognized himself in Burke and loved it, actually sent Horner a message saying "See, I told you T. rex was a hunter!".
Distribution
The Lost World: Jurassic Park was released on May 23, 1997. The film made its VHSVHS
The Video Home System is a consumer-level analog recording videocassette standard developed by Victor Company of Japan ....
and LaserDisc
Laserdisc
LaserDisc was a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium. Initially licensed, sold, and marketed as MCA DiscoVision in North America in 1978, the technology was previously referred to interally as Optical Videodisc System, Reflective Optical Videodisc, Laser Optical...
debut on November 4, 1997. The DVD, first released on October 10, 2000, includes deleted scenes that were incorporated into the Fox broadcast television premiere of the film. However, the deleted scenes are included separate of the actual movie, and are of lesser quality than the corresponding scenes from the broadcast version, despite being released some time after the broadcast. Universal Home Video, Amblin Entertainment
Amblin Entertainment
Amblin Entertainment is an American film and television production company founded by director and producer Steven Spielberg and film producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall in 1981. Amblin is only a production company, and has never distributed its own movies, nor has it fully financed its...
and director Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg
Steven Allan Spielberg KBE is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, video game designer, and studio entrepreneur. In a career of more than four decades, Spielberg's films have covered many themes and genres. Spielberg's early science-fiction and adventure films were seen as an...
have all declined comment on the matter, and it is unknown if the scenes will be reintegrated into the actual film for a later Blu-Ray release.
The film was also released in a package with Jurassic Park
Jurassic Park (film)
Jurassic Park is a 1993 American science fiction adventure film directed by Steven Spielberg. The film is based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. It stars Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough, Martin Ferrero, and Bob Peck...
. The DVD has also been re-released with both sequels on December 11, 2001 as the Jurassic Park Trilogy and as the Jurassic Park Adventure Pack on November 29, 2005. The soundtrack was released on May 20, 1997. On the same day it was first released to DVD, a deluxe limited edition
Special edition
The terms special edition, limited edition and variants such as deluxe edition, collector's edition and others, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints or recorded music and films, but now including...
box set was released that included Jurassic Park and The Lost World: Jurassic Park, soundtracks for both films with packaging made exclusively for the set, two lenticular
Lenticular printing
Lenticular printing is a technology in which a lenticular lens is used to produce images with an illusion of depth, or the ability to change or move as the image is viewed from different angles...
s, eight 8x10 stills (4 from each film), and a certificate of authenticity signed by all three producers of the set, all inside a collector case.
Box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
records upon its release. It took in $72,132,785 on its opening weekend ($92.6 million for the four-day Memorial Day holiday) in the U.S., which was the biggest opening weekend at the time, surpassing the previous record-holder Batman Forever
Batman Forever
Batman Forever is a 1995 American superhero film directed by Joel Schumacher and produced by Tim Burton. Based on the DC Comics character Batman, the film is a sequel to Batman Returns , with Val Kilmer replacing Michael Keaton as Batman...
at $52.8 million. It held onto this record for four and a half years, until the release of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in November 2001. The Lost World took the record for highest single-day box office take of $26,083,950 on May 25, a record held until the release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace
Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace is a 1999 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the fourth film to be released in the Star Wars saga, as the first of a three-part prequel to the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as the first film in the saga in terms...
. It also became the fastest film to pass the $100 million mark, achieving the feat in just six days. However, its total U.S. box office gross fell below the total of the original film. With grossing $229,086,679 domestically and $389,552,320 internationally, the film ended up grossing $618,638,999 worldwide, becoming the second highest grossing film of 1997 behind Titanic
Titanic (1997 film)
Titanic is a 1997 American epic romance and disaster film directed, written, co-produced, and co-edited by James Cameron. A fictionalized account of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, it stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Jack Dawson, Kate Winslet as Rose DeWitt Bukater and Billy Zane as Rose's fiancé, Cal...
.
Critical reception
The Lost World received mixed reviews. On the film aggregator website, Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, the film has a 51% "rotten" rating with 31 out of 61 reviewers giving it a positive review. It also has a 59% on Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. It received much of the same criticism as the original Jurassic Park, with praise for the special effects but accusations of flat characterization. Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
said, "It can be said that the creatures in this film transcend any visible signs of special effects and seem to walk the earth, but the same realism isn't brought to the human characters, who are bound by plot conventions and action formulas." Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
saw improved character development over the original, saying, "It seemed such a mistake in Jurassic Park to sideline early on its most interesting character, the brilliant, free-thinking and outspoken theorist Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum
Jeff Goldblum
Jeffrey Lynn "Jeff" Goldblum is an American actor. His career began in the mid-1970s and he has appeared in major box-office successes including The Fly, Jurassic Park and its sequel Jurassic Park: The Lost World, and Independence Day...
) with a broken leg, but in its most inspired stroke, The Lost World brings back Malcolm and places him front and center," calling it "a pleasure to watch such wily pros as Goldblum and Attenborough spar with each other with wit and assurance." The dinosaurs were even more developed as characters, with Stephen Holden of the New York Times saying, "The Lost World, unlike Jurassic Park, humanizes its monsters in a way that E.T. would understand." Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
remarked in 2008, "Mr. T-Rex was cool in the first Spielberg flick, sure, but it wasn't until [it was in] San Diego that things got crazy-cool. It's the old 'tree falling in the woods' conundrum: Unless your giant monster is causing massive property damage, can you really call it a giant monster?"
The movie was nominated for the Academy Award for Visual Effects
Academy Award for Visual Effects
The Academy Award for Visual Effects is an Academy Award given for the best achievement in visual effects.-History of the award:The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences first recognized the technical contributions of special effects to movies at its inaugural dinner in 1928, presenting a...
and for "Best Action Sequence" in the MTV Movie Awards 1998
MTV Movie Awards 1998
-Performers:*Natalie Imbruglia — "Torn"*Wallflowers — "Heroes"*Brandy featuring Ma$e — "Top of the World"- Best Movie :Titanic*Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery*Face/Off*Good Will Hunting*Men in Black...
for the T. rex rampage through San Diego. It was also nominated for a Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film, Best Director, Best Young Actress for Vanessa Lee Chester
Vanessa Lee Chester
Vanessa Lee Chester is an American television and film actress. She has worked on a variety of projects, most notable for her roles as Kelly in Steven Spielberg's The Lost World: Jurassic Park , and as Becky in Alfonso Cuarón's A Little Princess...
, Best Special Effects, and Best Supporting Actor for Pete Postlethwaite
Pete Postlethwaite
Peter William "Pete" Postlethwaite, OBE, was an English stage, film and television actor.After minor television appearances including in The Professionals, Postlethwaite's first success came with the film Distant Voices, Still Lives in 1988. He played a mysterious lawyer, Mr...
. However, it was also nominated for three Golden Raspberry Awards
Golden Raspberry Awards
A Golden Raspberry Award, or Razzie for short, is an award presented in recognition of the worst in movies. Founded by American copywriter and publicist John J.B. Wilson in 1981, the annual Razzie Awards ceremony in Los Angeles precedes the corresponding Academy Awards ceremony by one day...
, including Worst Screenplay, Worst Remake or Sequel and Worst Reckless Disregard for Human Life and Public Property, but failed to win any of those prizes.