Where Was ‘Jurassic Park’ Shot? All Filming Locations

‘Jurassic Park‘ is an American science fiction film released in 1993 and directed by Steven Spielberg. It was based on the book by Michael Crichton also named ‘Jurassic Park‘. The movie is the first in the trilogy. It stars Sam Neill, Jeff Goldblum, Laura Dern, Richard Attenborough, Samuel L Jackson, Ariana Richards, and Bob Peck. The book initiated a bidding war among studios before Universal Pictures won the rights.

The movie was made with a budget of $63 million and grossed $914 million during its original theater run. It became the highest-grossing film of all time during its release, a record that was later broken by ‘Titanic‘ in 1997. The film also won three Academy Awards at the 66^th Academy Awards and also won a BAFTA award. The ‘Jurassic Park‘ movie was followed by five sequels, which went on to become the one of the most popular franchises.

‘Jurassic Park’ Shoot Details

The movie’s plot takes place on the island of Isla Nublar which is located near Costa Rica in the Pacific Ocean. The actual filming took place on the island of Kauai in Hawaii. The shooting of the movie took almost three weeks. Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic were considered but Spielberg chose to work in a familiar setting where he had previously worked. During the shooting of the movie, Hurricane Iniki struck Hawaii and some scenes of the storm hitting the island of Isla Nublar were actually filmed during the hurricane.

Manawaiopuna Falls on Kauai Island appears many times during the movie. The impact of the movie was so huge that the waterfall was renamed ‘Jurassic Falls’. Kualoa Ranch is part of the island where the major chunk of the film has been filmed. It is the place where scientists saw the rebirthed dinosaurs for the first time. The giant gate of Jurassic Park was made and filmed at Waikoko Forest on Kauai Island.

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Additional Filming Locations

The iconic T-Rex attack scene in 'Jurassic Park' — The iconic T-Rex attack scene in ‘Jurassic Park’

Many scenes involving the dinosaurs were shot in California at the Universal Studio Lot at Stage 23 and Stage 24. The T-Rex’s attack on the cars and SUVs was filmed on Stage 16. The Dilophosaurus scenes were filmed at Stage 27. The shoot ended in Studio 12 with scenes involved in the climax. Specialized stages and setups were made to film many forest scenes as well as lab scenes. The scenes involving most of the dinosaurs were filmed in the Universal Studios lot in California as they needed to be edited for realistic-looking dinosaurs.

Some other locations where filming took place are Allerton Garden and National Tropical Botanical Garden on Kauai Island, Pilaa Beach on Kaua’i Island, Makai Research Pier on Oahu Island, and Na Pali Coast on Kaua’i Island. These locations were also featured in other sequels in the ‘Jurassic Park‘ franchise.