Why Steven Spielberg Didn't Direct More Jurassic Park Movies

If you're a filmmaker in 1993 having one of the best years in your entire career, then congratulations, because your name must be Steven Spielberg. On top of winning over seven Academy Awards for the highly acclaimed WWII historical drama "Schindler's List," Spielberg was also one of many faces behind adapting Michael Crichton's "Jurassic Park" for the big screen. The film not only won three Oscars in the very same ceremony, but it also cemented itself as the pinnacle of CGI wizardry that visual effects artists still look up to. Of course, Spielberg was already a Hollywood staple at this point, having previously pioneered the modern blockbuster as we know it with 1975's "Jaws." All the same, the filmmaker was about to show audiences something they had never seen before, much like Richard Attenborough's ambitious dinosaur mogul John Hammond.

"Jurassic Park" simply doesn't happen without VFX artists Dennis Muren, Phil Tippett, and Stan Winston pooling their talents to herald Industrial Light & Magic into a new age under Spielberg's watchful eye. A mix of large scale animatronics and groundbreaking technological breakthroughs in CGI, dinosaurs became the movie spectacle to beat. We all know that 1997's "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" would be Spielberg's next cinematic venture at the time, and I contend it's not as bad as a lot of folks would make it out to be. I'm not fully onboard with /Film's Danielle Ryan's assertion that "The Lost World" is the best "Jurassic Park" movie, but they have the right idea.

The success of "Jurassic Park" was overwhelming to the point that it would've been strange if Universal never tried to capitalize on it, and not having Spielberg return to the director's chair would have been an equally baffling move. But why didn't he come back for "Jurassic Park III?" Well, there's a pretty simple answer to that one.

When it came time to direct "Jurassic Park III," Spielberg handed the reins over to Joe Johnston. The latter had been campaigning to make a sequel since the release of the first "Jurassic Park," and he seemed like a natural fit. Not only was Johnston well versed in the world of visual effects, having won an Academy Award for his work on "Raiders of the Lost Ark," but he had already directed VFX-heavy movies such as "The Rocketeer" and "Jumanji" by that point as well.

Around the time the "Jurassic Park" threequel hit theaters in 2001, Johnston revealed that he'd gotten his chance to play with dinosaurs because Spielberg was seemingly too exhausted to take the helm himself. "Spielberg called me up and said, `You know, these movies are hard. I have too many kids now. So, if you want to do a 'Jurassic Park' movie, how about No. 3,'" Johnston explained (per the Chicago Tribune).

A general rule of thumb when it comes to the entertainment industry is if a movie is described as a groundbreaking achievement, that almost always means its creation was an exhausting endeavor. You don't get the best-looking screen dinosaurs of all time on a whim, and it appears Spielberg had enough dabbling in that world. I just think it's amusing that the blockbuster filmmaker was already well into working on the effects-heavy "A.I. Artificial Intelligence" by then, yet took one look at what Johnston was doing and seemed relieved that it wasn't his responsibility anymore.

"Steven stopped by the first time we did a shot for our first big [special effects] sequence, and he left saying, `Boy, I'm glad I don't have to do this," Johnston recalled.

Spielberg has built a career out of doing the impossible, but it's easy to forget that he's only human. He would never fully leave the "Jurassic Park" franchise, though, as he receives executive producer credits on each film. Indeed, if any new movie has even a tangential connection to Spielberg's early '90s blockbuster mega-hit, then he receives a big fat check in the mail. It's not too dissimilar to Spielberg passing on directing "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" after hitting a wall with "Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." Don't you just love it when you can reap the benefits of your previous work and wait for people to send you money?

Still, for as much as he didn't want to take on the responsibility of directing the third film in the franchise, the filmmaker sure loved visiting the "Jurassic Park III" set. Cinematographer Shelly Johnson even spotted Spielberg giving some advice on how to make a shot look more dynamic, funnily enough. The man just can't help himself.

Regardless, hiring Johnston to direct the film turned out to be a great decision in spite of all the chaos throughout production. Although "Jurassic Park III" can't touch the magic of the original film, it's a really fun and silly 90 minute B-movie that just so happens to have A+ level effects to its name. It's also leagues better than the best sequence in any of the "Jurassic World" movies.