The Correct Order To Watch The Jurassic Park And Jurassic World Movies
For 30 years, the "Jurassic Park" films have helped keep prehistoric beasts on the big screen, dating back to Steven Spielberg's original, groundbreaking blockbuster. Ever since, this has pretty much been the only game in town as far as dinosaurs go. Sure, other movies have tried to do dino action on a large scale, such as the recent Adam Driver sci-fi flick "65," but nothing ever seems to truly click with audiences in a meaningful way. At least not nearly on the level that these movies have for three decades.
Across three decades and spanning six films, the franchise has come a long way. For anyone looking to revisit the series, or perhaps anyone who fell off at some point and wishes to get back on board to see what John Hammond's dream of uniting dinosaurs and mankind together after 65 million years resulted in, we've got you covered. So, here is the proper order to watch the "Jurassic Park" and the "Jurassic World" movies, as well as some context and recommended additional viewing. Let's dive in.
The proper viewing order for the Jurassic Park movies
Fortunately, Universal Pictures has managed to keep things pretty tidy when it comes to the Jurassic films and viewing them in order is incredibly straightforward. Other franchises, with "Halloween" serving as a great example, have multiple timeliness, reboots, and other continuity issues to contend with. That's not a problem here, as going in order of release is truly the best way to watch the movies. The six films, in order of release, are as follows:
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"Jurassic Park" (1993)
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"The Lost World: Jurassic Park" (1997)
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"Jurassic Park III" (2001)
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"Jurassic World" (2015)
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"Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" (2018)
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"Jurassic World Dominion" (2022)
Steven Spielberg directed "Jurassic Park," which wound up becoming the highest-grossing movie in history up to that point, and its follow-up "The Lost World." Spielberg then stepped aside in a producer role, paving the way for Joe Johnston, of "The Rocketeer" fame, to helm the third installment, "Jurassic Park III." The series then took a very long break, in no small part because the third film was a critical and commercial disappointment, relative to the first two entries.
Be that as it may, various versions of "Jurassic Park 4" entered development in the years that followed, with many abandoned scripts and pitches coming and going for more than a decade. Some of them were, admittedly, pretty wild. Eventually though, Universal cracked the code with "Jurassic World." Directed by Colin Trevorrow, it served as a "legacy sequel," taking place in the continuity of the original films, while introducing a new cast of characters for a new generation. That kicked off the second trilogy, with director J.A. Bayona's "Fallen Kingdom" and Trevorrow's "Dominion" rounding things out by letting dinosaurs loose out in the world amongst humans.
What about Camp Cretaceous and Battle at Big Rock?
For completionists out there, the franchise has expanded a bit beyond the big screen in recent years. First and foremost, Netflix aired five seasons of an animated series titled "Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous," with the series wrapping up its run in 2022. While the show was largely aimed at younger viewers, there is much to enjoy for hardcore fans. It largely takes place after the events of 2015's "Jurassic World. For those who would like to watch this as well, it would probably serve best sandwiched between the first "Jurassic World" and "Fallen Kingdom." But it could also work well as dessert, so to speak, after one finishes all of the movies.
The other bit of extra viewing that fans might want to add into the mix is the 2019 live-action short film "Battle at Big Rock." Directed by Colin Trevorrow, it sort of serves as a little taste of what would come in "Jurassic World Dominion," showing us just how chaotic life becomes when dinosaurs are out in the world. It's a very effective, impressively produced short and fits perfectly between "Fallen Kingdom" and "Dominion." It's also readily available to watch for free on YouTube, making it very easy to add into the viewing order.