The Jurassic Park franchise has seen numerous installments including features, short films, and TV shows, but their viewing order is not necessarily clear. One of the highest-grossing film franchises ever, Jurassic Park is worth returning to again and again due to its endlessly appealing concept and its compelling central characters. The completist ought to see all six Jurassic Park movies, which are bundled into two trilogies, as well as the two canon short films and the animated Netflix series executive produced by the franchise’s two main directors, Steven Spielberg and Colin Trevorrow.
The Jurassic Park timeline is tricky given the lack of numbered sequels, the chronologically confusing TV series, and the stopgap short films. There are also two Lego Jurassic World projects: the two-part animated TV special Lego Jurassic World: The Secret Exhibit and its miniseries follow-up, Lego Jurassic World: Legend of Isla Nublar. While these Lego projects feature Jurassic World characters, they are not considered canon and thus aren’t counted in the official timeline. The Jurassic Park movies all exist in one continuity, with the in-universe time gaps aligning with the real-world time gaps between the films. Despite a couple of side-project timeline discrepancies, the Jurassic Park order is fairly straightforward.
Jurassic Park (1993)
The first film in the Jurassic Park franchise was based on Michael Crichton’s book of the same name. It follows paleontologist Alan Grant (Sam Neill), paleobotanist Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) as they are invited to the island of Isla Nublar off the Pacific Coast by businessman John Hammond (Richard Attenborough). He welcomes the trio to see his park of de-extinct dinosaurs, but they find themselves fighting for their lives when the dinosaurs escape. The film was co-written by Crichton and directed by Steven Spielberg. It took home three Oscars, including one for Best Visual Effects.
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
The second Jurassic Park film takes place four years after the events of the first. The Lost World: Jurassic Park is also directed by Steven Spielberg and loosely based on a sequel novel by Michael Crichton. The film sees John Hammond recruit Ian Malcolm for a second dinosaur outing, this time to the secret second island of Isla Sorna, which was used for dinosaur breeding by Hammond’s company, InGen. The sequel picked up an Oscar nomination for Best Visual Effects, but critical reception was mixed (via Rotten Tomatoes).
Jurassic Park III (2001)
The first film in the Jurassic Park franchise that was not directed by Steven Spielberg nor based on a book by Michael Crichton, this second sequel saw the return of the original film’s scientists, Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler. In Jurassic Park III, Dr. Grant is lured to Isla Sorna under false pretenses and asked to act as a guide to two parents searching for their lost son on the dinosaur-infested island. Despite earning $368 million at the box office, it is the lowest-grossing film in the franchise. Running only 95 minutes, it is also the shortest Jurassic Park feature film by a wide margin.
Jurassic World (2015)
Jurassic World takes place 22 years after the events of the first film, on the same island of Isla Nubar. The film takes a similar angle to the original film, following a day at the now fully-operational park, which goes catastrophically wrong when one of the park’s genetically mutated dinosaurs escapes. The film sees the first appearance of park operations manager Claire Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Velociraptor wrangler Owen Grady (Chris Pratt). Dr. Henry Wu (BD Wong), the dinosaur geneticist from the original film, reappears as chief geneticist for InGen in Jurassic World. The film is the highest-grossing of the franchise and the eighth-highest-grossing movie of all time.
Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous (2020-2022)
The animated Netflix series Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous takes place simultaneously with Jurassic Park‘s sequel trilogy, with the events of season 1 overlapping with the plot of Jurassic World. The family-friendly series follows a group of teenagers given the opportunity to visit Jurassic World on the day that the Indominus Rex plunges the park into havoc. The primary antagonist of the series is Dr. Henry Wu. While the series is canon, it is not essential to watch to understand the timeline of the Jurassic Park franchise, as the plot does not have ramifications for the wider franchise.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
The fourth film in the Jurassic Park franchise and the second in the sequel trilogy, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is set three years after the events of Jurassic World. In the movie, Isla Nublar is being destroyed by a volcano, so Claire Dearing enlists the help of Owen Grady to save the dinosaurs on the island from a second extinction. The dinosaurs are then released onto the mainland, ushering in a new era in which human beings and dinosaurs must coexist. The film sees the first appearance of Ian Malcolm since The Lost World: Jurassic Park. While Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom received brutal reviews, it was another massive commercial success.
Battle At Big Rock (2019)
This short film from Jurassic World director Colin Trevorrow is set shortly after the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Battle at Big Rock takes place at the fictional national park of Big Rock, 20 miles from the point where the dinosaurs were first released in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. It depicts the first major open-world confrontation between human beings and dinosaurs, focusing on a camping family who finds themselves in the middle of a battle between a Nasutoceratops and an Allosaurus.
Jurassic World Dominion: The Prologue (2021)
Due to time constraints, the first five minutes of Jurassic World Dominion were cut from the film and released independently. The prologue begins in prehistoric times, depicting a battle between a Tyrannosaurus and a Gigantosaurus, with the loser’s blood being sucked by one of the prehistoric mosquitoes that would eventually provide the genetic material necessary for the cloning of dinosaurs. The prologue also features a modern-day segment in which a Tyrannosaurus wreaks havoc on a drive-in movie theater.
Jurassic World Dominion (2022)
The most recent film in the franchise and the final installment of the sequel trilogy, Jurassic World Dominion takes place four years after the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The film sees the reappearance of Claire Dearing and Owen Grady, as well as the returns of Alan Grant, Ian Malcolm, and Ellie Sattler, reunited for the first time since Jurassic Park. The film also sees the return of Dr. Henry Wu, now working for InGen’s rival, BioSyn. Jurassic World Dominion was another installment that was poorly received critically but a massive commercial hit at the box office, registering as one of the highest-grossing movies of 2022.
The Jurassic Park Movies In Order Of Release Date
It makes little difference whether the Jurassic Park movies are watched in order of release date or chronologically, since the only distinction is where Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous lands in the order. However, it can be a fun exercise to watch Camp Cretaceous directly after Jurassic World to see how the two timelines sync up. For the completist, it can also be rewarding to watch the franchise by release date, in order to catch the Easter eggs and references hidden in the later seasons of Camp Cretaceous that can only be caught with the knowledge of future installments. The Jurassic Park franchise release order is listed below:
- Jurassic Park (1993)
- The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
- Jurassic Park III (2001)
- Jurassic World (2015)
- Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
- Battle at Big Rock (2019)
- Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous season 1 (2020)
- Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous season 2 (2021)
- Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous season 3 (2021)
- Jurassic World Dominion: The Prologue (2021)
- Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous season 4 (2021)
- Jurassic World Dominion (2022)
- Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous season 5 (2022)
- Jurassic World Camp Cretaceous season 6 special (2022)
