The Lost World: Jurassic Park (Exclusive) (HBO Max)

*** Continuing on with giving each of the other 'Jurassic' movies another look! And don't forget to check out 'Jurassic World: Dominion' now playing at the Dietrich Theater!!***

Initial release date: May 23, 1997

Studios: Universal Pictures/Amblin Entertainment

Tagline: Something has survived …

Plot: John Hammand summons chaos theorist Ian Malcolm to his home with some startling information - while nearly everything at his Jurassic Park had been destroyed, his engineers happened to have a second site where other dinosaurs were kept in hiding. It seems the dinosaurs on the second island are alive and well and even breeding; and Hammond wants Malcolm to observe and document them before Hammond’s financiers can get to them.

Cast

Jeff Goldblum - Ian Malcolm

Julianne Moore - Sarah Harding

Pete Postlethwaite - Roland Tembo

Arliss Howard - Peter Ludlow

Richard Attenborough - John Hammond

Vince Vaughn - Nick Van Owen

Vanessa Chester - Kelly Curtis

Peter Stormane - Dieter Stark

Harvey Jason - Ajay Sidhu

Richard Schiff - Eddie Carr

Joseph Mazzello - Tim

Ariana Richards - Lex

Writer: David Koepp (HBO’s Kimi; You Should Have Left; The Mummy)

Michael Crichton (novel)

Director: Steven Spielberg

Rated PG-13 for intense sci-fi terror and violence (129 minutes)

The ‘Jurassic’ saga continues on with the 1997 movie ‘The Lost World: Jurassic Park.’

Granted, the reaction to the first ‘Jurassic Park’ sequel was heavily mixed. Yeah, there are a few parts that were a bit on the campy side and the T-Rex/San Diego dinosaur conclusion could have worked a little bit differently. In my opinion, even though that San Diego sequence definitely needed some work, it was really cool to see!

‘The Lost World’ is definitely the most underrated entry of the entire franchise. Yea, it’s not nearly as exciting as the first movie. But, honestly, there’s never going to be a ‘Jurassic’ movie that will be nearly as exciting as the 1993 original. This sequel is still loads of fun and has a few tense action moments.

‘The Lost World’ can currently be streamed on the HBO Max streaming platform, along with ‘Jurassic Park’ and ‘Jurassic Park III.’

Here are some interesting tidbits for ‘The Lost World’:

• Julianne Moore admitted that she did this movie to pay off a divorce settlement, and to work with Spielberg.

• Spielberg had to attend an early screening of the 1996 comedy ‘Swingers’ in order to give approval for the use of the ‘Jaws’ theme. He was so impressed with Vince Vaughn that he offered him a part in this movie.

• After the twin hits of ‘Jurassic Park’ and ‘Schindler’s List,’ Spielberg took a rare sabbatical, and didn’t return to the director’s chair until this movie.

• Joe Johnston lobbied for the director’s job, but schedule problems with the ‘Jumanji’ production forced him out. Spielberg was also adamant to direct this sequel himself, promising Johnston the director’s chair for a third movie, which he did direct.

• As of 2022, this is the only sequel that Spielberg has directed that isn’t related to the ‘Indiana Jones’ franchise.

• The Japanese tourists running from the rampaging T-Rex in the San Diego sequence (an obvious homage to the ‘Godzilla’ movies) are saying in Japanese, ‘I left Japan to get away from this!’.

• In the ‘Jurassic Park’ novel, the John Hammond and Ian Malcolm characters died (though Malcolm returns in the ‘Lost World’ novel, explaining that “The doctors did excellent work”). In the movie version, however, both characters survived, allowing them to return to this movie.

• After the release of the ‘Jurassic Park’ novel in 1990, Crichton was pressured by fans for a sequel. Having never written one, he initially refused.

• Talk of a potential sequel began after the 1993 release. The production schedule for a second film was dependent on whether Crichton would write a sequel to the novel.

• Weeks before filming began, Spielberg decided to change the ending to have the T-Rex rampage through San Diego. He was interested in seeing dinosaurs attacking the mainland, and he believed that audiences would enjoy the San Diego rampage.

• The sequel opened on May 23, 1997 and received the widest release for a film to date, opening in 3,281 theaters.

• ‘The Lost World’ took in $72.1 million on its opening weekend ($92.7 million for the four day Memorial Day weekend). This made it the first film to reach the $70 million mark during an opening weekend.

• It ultimately grossed $229.1 million in the US and $289.5 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $618.6 million.

https://youtu.be/E6Xf65X0JB8