35 Incredible Behind the Scenes Photos From the Making of ‘Jurassic Park’ (1993)

Jurassic Park hype was inescapable in 1993. The success of the campaign combined saturation with secrecy – over 1,000 products were licensed (everything from computer games to toiletry kits!) so that the film’s iconic logo was everywhere, although the dinosaurs themselves were kept under wraps. Inspired by the success of his own film Jaws, which omitted the shark from advertising, most trailers kept audiences guessing what the ‘stars’ – such as Tyrannosaurus rex and raptors – would look like. It was a master stroke, with several films over the years making the most of that anticipation.

Steven Spielberg had invented the concept of the summer blockbuster with 1975’s Jaws, and he would reinvent the genre nearly 20 years later. With Jurassic Park, the idea of a film that was bigger than anything you’d ever seen was now possible in a way it hadn’t been before. It has happened organically with Star Wars, but the notion of a movie as an all-consuming summer juggernaut was perfected by this adaptation of Michael Crichton’s book. Everything in the film’s promotion was part of the experience, leading you to believe you were attending the event of the summer. Nowadays, there’s an “event movie” practically every week of the year, with the Marvel and Star Wars universes pushing the envelope to try and create something you’ve never seen before, but for Jurassic Park, that wasn’t just spin.

While he has arguably made more cinematic films, Jurassic Park surely has to go down as the high point of Steven Spielberg’s career, marking the point where the director was at his most creative. Incredibly, Jurassic Park overlapped with his Oscar-winning Schindler’s List, with post-production on the former taking place at the same time as shooting began on the latter. The process took its toll on Spielberg, who would take a four-year hiatus from movie-making after the release of the films, but artistically it was worth the effort. Making two exceptional films is one thing, to do it at the same time is the mark of a master.