Jurassic Park & World Movies in Order (Including Dominion)
The Jurassic Park and World movies are a series of fiction-adventure films based on the novel of the same name, written by Michael Crichton. The plot of the movie centers around the disastrous attempts of creating a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. The films and novels are so iconic they continue to spur comics, short films, video games, and even theme parks worldwide. In this article, we’ll see how many Jurassic Park movies are there and what is the best order to watch them.
How many Jurassic Park & World movies are there?
There are currently six Jurassic Park and World movies. Three Jurassic Park and currently three Jurassic World movies.
Jurassic Park & World Movies in order at a glance:
Starting with 1993 incredibly successful Jurassic Park has been released, it was a kickstart for one of the most successful media franchises in the world. The following are Jurassic Park & World movies in order:
- Jurassic Park (1993)
- The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
- Jurassic Park III (2001)
- Jurassic World (2015)
- Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
- Jurassic World: Dominion (2022)
What is the best way to watch Jurassic Park & World movies?
The best way to watch Jurassic movies is in order of their release date. Their release order coincides with a straightforward chronological timeline that all movies follow. In order to follow the story in the best manner, you can watch all movies in the franchise using our recommended watch order.
Jurassic Park & World movies in order of release date
1. Jurassic Park (1993)
Jurassic Park released in 1993 starts off with an accident involving InGen Employee and a Velociraptor. Park owner and CEO of InGen, John Hammond, bring in a group of experts into the park in order to reassure investors. Jurassic Park is located on Isla Nublar, a remote island near Costa Rica. Among the invited experts are paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant, paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler, mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm and investor’s lawyer Donald Gennaro. The group is also joined by Hammond’s grandchildren, Lex and Tim.
Hammond gives the group a tour and educates them on the process of harvesting and cloning dinosaur DNA. The group learns that the DNA of dinosaurs was taken from the mosquitoes that feasted on dinosaur blood and spliced with frog DNAs to complete the genetic code. Hammond explains that the park only cloned female dinosaurs, eliminating any source of uncontrolled breeding of the dinosaurs. InGen scientist showcases the birth of an infant Velociraptor to the group.
The tour is interrupted when a tropical cyclone hits the island. Disgruntled InGen employee Dennis Nedry, has been bribed by Biosyn (InGen’s rival) to steal the dinosaur embryos. Nedry sabotages the park by the power, allowing the Tyrannosaurus rex to escape and hunt the group, while Nedry himself is eventually killed by a Dilophosaurus.
Grant, Tim, and Lex discover broken shells of dinosaur eggs. Grant deduced that the dinosaurs have been breeding. With the help of their frog DNA, they may undergo sex change that allows them to breed in the park. Hammond and chief engineer Ray Arnold are unable to re-activate the park’s security system, prompting them to shut down the park’s grid and retreat to an emergency bunker.
Arnold heads to a maintenance shed to initialize the rebooting process but fails to return. Sattler and game warden, Robert Muldoon, head to the shed to complete the process. There they discover that the shutdown had deactivated the remaining fences and released the Velociraptors. As Sattler turns the power back on, Muldoon is killed by the raptors.
Grant drops off Tim and Lex at the visitor center and heads out in search of Sattler. Tim and Lex are pursued by a group of velociraptors, forcing them to hide in the kitchen. They are able to escape and reunite with Grant and Sattler when they return. The group arrives at the control room, where Lex uses a computer to restore the park’s power. This allows Hammond to phone for help.
As the group exit via the park entrance, they are cornered by a group of raptors. A Tyrannosaurus suddenly appears, prompting the raptors to fight the Tyrannosaurus instead. Using the distraction, the group is able to board a helicopter to leave the island. In the chopper, Grant and Hammond agree in deciding not to endorse the park.
2. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)is set 4 years after the events of Jurassic Park (1993). A wealthy British family holidays on Isla Sorna (an island not too far from Isla Nublar), where they survive an encounter with a pack of Compsognathus dinosaurs. The incident lead to a lawsuit that prompted InGen CEO John Hammond to resign. Hammond’s nephew, Peter Ludlow, now takes control of the company.
Hammond reunites with Dr. Ian Malcolm and calls for his help, where Malcolm learns that Isla Sorna is the original island, where the initial cloning process took place. The island is filled with dinosaurs roaming freely after a hurricane had forced an evacuation of all human personnel. Ludlow persuades InGen’s investors of creating a dinosaur theme park by capturing the dinosaurs in Isla Sorna and transporting them to Jurassic Park stadium in San Diego.
Hammond seeks Malcolm’s help in stopping Ludlow’s efforts. Malcolm also learns that his girlfriend, Dr. Sarah Harding is on the island by herself. Hammond puts up a team known as “the Gatherers” consisting of engineer Eddie Carr, wildlife documentarian Nick Owen and also Malcolm’s daughter Kelly Curtis. They arrive on the island where Harding joins them.
There they witness InGen’s hunters arriving to capture the dinosaurs. InGen’s men consist of big game hunter Roland Tembo, his hunting partner Ajay Sidhu, paleontologist Dr. Robert Burke and Ludlow himself, who is supervising the mission. The hunters are able to capture several species of dinosaurs. Tembo and Sidhu capture a T.Rex infant intending to bait adult Rexes.
Owen, who is secretly a member of a radical environmental advocacy group, wishes to carry out Hammond’s wish by disrupting Ludlow’s plans. Together with Harding, they sneak into the camp to cut the fuel lines in their vehicles and release the dinosaurs. Owen discovers the captured infant T. Rex and brings it back to the group to tend to its wounds. The adult Rexes arrive in the compound in search of their infant. Upon seeing their injured infant, the Rexes wreck havoc, attacking the Gatherers and killing Carr.
Barely able to survive the attack, the rest of the Gatherers are saved by InGen hunters, forcing them to join forces. They resort to camping in an abandoned InGen base. The team is ambushed by the Rexes where Burke is killed. As chaos ensues, Sidhu and several members are killed by a pack of Velociraptors. The remaining Gatherers are able to successfully radio for help. While leaving the island via helicopter, the group notices Tembo sedating a male T-Rex.
In San Diego, Malcolm and Harding attempt to confront Ludlow and prevent him from unveiling the attraction. However, the ship carrying the male T-Rex crashes, allowing the dinosaur to escape and roam freely through the city. Malcolm and Harding were able to use the infant Rex to lure the male back to the compound. In an attempt to capture the infant from the duo, Ludlow is killed by the male. Harding then uses a tranquilizer gun to sedate the male.
The captured dinosaurs are transported back to Isla Sorna. Malcolm, Harding, and Curtis watch as Hammond announces that the island is declared a nature preserve.
3. Jurassic Park III (2001)
Once again four years after the events of the second movie, Jurassic Park III (2001) continues where Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) left off. Isla Sorna is now prohibited from human visitors. Dinosaur enthusiasts, Eric Kirby and Ben Hildebrand illegally parasail above the island. However, their crew is attacked by reptiles, forcing Eric and Ben to drift toward the island.
Meanwhile, Dr. Alan Grant and Dr. Ellie Sattler have continued their paleontological work separately. While Sattler is married with kids, Grant has made amazing discoveries in his work. Together with his protege, Billy Brennan, they have been studying velociraptors and even produced a replica of the dinosaur’s voice box.
Paul and Amanda Kirby, a wealthy couple, offer to fund Grant’s research if he agrees to give them an aerial tour of the island. Grant, Billy, the Kirbys, and their mercenaries (Cooper, Nash, and Udesky), fly to Isla Sorna by plane. When Grant realizes that they intend to land on the island, he is knocked unconscious. He wakes up seeing Amanda shouting someone’s name through a megaphone. Her actions attract a Spinosaurus. The mercenaries who were checking the island perimeter, run back to the group, urging them to leave immediately.
The group boards the plane to escape and Cooper is devoured by the dinosaur as he runs to the plane. The plane tries to take off but hits the Spinosaurus and crashes into the forest. The dinosaur destroys the plane, devouring Nash and his satellite phone as well. The group is able to escape but comes across a Tyrannosaurus rex. Grant tells the group to remain calm and not move, to avoid agitating the dinosaur. However, they panic and flee but manage to lure the Tyrannosaurus to the Spinosaurus. The ferocious fight between the two dinosaurs gives the group enough time to escape. The Tyrannosaurus is eventually killed by the Spinosaurus.
The Kirbys come clean that they are actually a divorced couple, looking for their son Eric and Amanda’s boyfriend Ben. To their dismay, Grant reveals that his expertise is limited to Isla Nublar, not Isla Sorna, as he has never been on the island before. The group comes across Ben’s parasail, with his body attached to it. They also stumble on an abandoned InGen compound, where a stampede of dinosaurs separates Grant and Udesky from the others. Udesky is killed by the raptors. Meanwhile, Grant watches as the raptors communicate and suspects that they are in search of something.
Grant is rescued by Eric, who has been hiding in an overturned supply truck. They are reunited with the group. Grant discovers that Billy has taken two raptor eggs which have provoked the raptor attacks. The group is attacked by Pteranodons in an aviary housing them, which seemingly kills Billy. The rest of the group is able to escape, unknowingly leaving the door to the aviary unlocked.
That night, the group retrieves Nash’s satellite phone from the feces of the Spinosaurus. Grant contacts Ellie Sattler, telling her their location. The next morning, the group is surrounded by the raptors as they try to leave by the coast. Grant lays the eggs in front of the raptors and uses a replica raptor larynx he made to confuse the pack, making them run off with the eggs instead of attacking them.
The group reaches the coast where they are rescued by the Navy that Ellie had called. They are also reunited with Billy, who is alive but seriously injured. As they leave the island, they see a group of Pteranodons fly by.
4. Jurassic World (2015)
Jurassic World (2015) is the first movie in the second Jurassic Trilogy. Zach and his brother, Gray Mitchell are on a visit to the dinosaur theme park on Isla Nublar, Jurassic World. Their aunt, Claire is the operations manager. Busy entertaining guests, she assigns her assistant, Zara, to look after the boys.
Meanwhile, former Navy Owen Grady has been training a group of Velociraptors (consisting of Blue, Echo, Delta, and Charlie). Head of InGen security Vic Hoskins intends to weaponize the raptors as they are able to follow commands, an idea that Owen opposes. The park’s newest attraction is a transgenic dinosaur, the Indominus Rex. It is a highly intelligent dinosaur created by geneticist Dr. Henry Wu.
When the Indominus seemingly escapes its compound, Owen investigates its enclosure. The Indominus is able to camouflage itself and hide its heat signature, attacking the workers by surprise. Owen is barely able to survive the encounter. Owen advises the park owner, Simon Masrani to terminate the Indominus. However, Masrani sends a special unit intending to re-capture it with non-lethal weaponry. The unit ends up being slaughtered by the Indominus, prompting Claire to lock down and evacuate part of the island.
Zach and Gray who have evaded Zara’s supervision had found themselves stranded in a restricted area of the park. Their ride is destroyed by the Indominus, prompting them to repair an old park jeep and drive back to the park resort. Masrani and his troopers hunt down the Indominus via helicopter. However, the chopper breaks the park’s aviary, releasing the aviary’s pterosaurs that crash the helicopter, killing its passengers. The pterosaurs converge on the resort, attacking its guests. Zara is killed in this incident.
Gray and Zach are reunited with Owen and Claire at the park resort. Hoskins assumes command of the raptors and uses them to track the Indominus, forcing Owen to comply and lead the raptors. Owens loses the command of his raptors as the Indominus has Velociraptor DNA, establishing itself as the pack’s leader. As the raptors attack Hoskin’s men, Charlie is killed.
Wu evacuates with the remainder of his research and dinosaur embryos. As Hoskins salvages what he could at the lab, Delta breaks in and kills him. Owen re-establishes his bond with the remaining raptors. The raptors attack The Indominus when it appears. Delta and Echo are killed in the process, and Blue is knocked unconscious. Claire boldly releases the Tyrannosaurus rex from the park, allowing it to chase her and luring it to battle the Indominus.
The Indominus dominates the Tyrannosaurus in the fight. When Blue recovers, the duo overpowers the Indominus and corners it to the edge of the park lagoon, where the Mosasaurus drags it underwater. The remaining survivors are evacuated and the island is abandoned once again, where the dinosaurs roam freely.
5. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)is set mere months after the events of Jurassic World. A small specialized unit arrives at the abandoned Jurassic World park to collect the remains of the Indominus rex, lying at the bottom of the lagoon. The team barely escapes the island as they are attacked by both the Mosasaurus and the Tyrannosaurus rex.
Meanwhile, a US senate hearing in Washington considers whether the dinosaurs left on Isla Nublar should be saved from an impending volcanic eruption. Mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm testifies that the dinosaurs should not be saved, correcting the wrongful cloning done by John Hammond in the past. The Senate eventually rules that the dinosaurs are not to be rescued.
Hammond’s former partner, Sir Benjamin Lockwood summons Claire Dearing to his estate. Lockwood and his assistant, Eli Mills reveal a plan to rescue and relocate the dinosaurs. Claire recruits Owen Grady, to help in their plan.
On Isla Nublar, Claire and former park employee Franklin Webb reactivate the online tracking system. Owen, veterinarian Zia Rodriguez, and Ken Wheatley with his mercenaries track and find Blue. Upon encountering Blue, Blue is shot and Wheatley tranquilizes Owen. Wheatley abandons Owen, Claire, and Franklin on the island and takes Zia hostage to treat Blue on their ship. As the volcano starts to erupt, the mercenary ship filled with captured dinosaurs leaves the island. Claire, Franklin, and Owen sneak onto the ship, where Zia treats Blue by transfusing it with Tyrannosaurus blood.
The dinosaurs are sent to Lockwood’s estate, where Lockwood’s granddaughter Maisie, overhears Mill’s plan to secretly auction the dinosaurs in a black market. They also plan to introduce the Indoraptor, a highly intelligent dinosaur, created and weaponized by geneticist Dr. Henry Wu, made from Indominus rex and Velociraptor DNA. Lockwood confronts Mills about the auction, prompting Mills to murder him when the former threatened to call the police.
The auction takes place and the dinosaurs are immediately shipped out to their respective buyer’s possession. Owen and Claire encounter Maisie and learn that the Indoraptor is part of the auction. Owen disrupts the auction by freeing a Stygimoloch into the room, causing chaos. Wheatley tranquilizes the Indoraptor and extracts a tooth from it as a trophy. However, merely feigning unconsciousness, the highly intelligent raptor kills Wheatley and his men as it escapes.
The Indoraptor preys on Owen, Claire, and Maisie throughout the mansion. Zia releases Blue, who fights the Indoraptor. Both dinosaurs crash through a high glass roof, killing the Indoraptor and leaving Blue unharmed. When a hydrogen cyanide gas leaks throughout the mansion, threatening the caged dinosaurs, Maisie frees them. As Mills tries to flee with the Indominus rex bone, the Tyrannosaurus rex kills him, destroying the bone in the process. The group escapes, while Blue and the other dinosaurs flee the estate grounds, with nothing stopping them.
In a new US Senate hearing, Dr. Malcolm declares the beginning of a neo-Jurassic Age, where humans and dinosaurs co-exist together. At the end of the film, dinosaurs can be seen freely roaming the wilderness, close to urban areas.
6. Jurassic World: Dominion (2022)
Jurassic World: Dominion (2022) continues where the Fallen Kingdom has left off. Dinosaurs are now wreaking ecological havoc all over the world. The place of these creatures in the human world is questioned. Several animals are poached and captured by several malicious companies. When Blue’s baby is kidnapped by poachers, Owen, Claire, and Maisie race to rescue her from a dinosaur sanctuary run by a corporation with sinister intentions, which Alan Grant and Ellie Sattle are also investigating.
Do you need to watch the Jurassic Park & World movies in order?
Since the movies are connected and have a linear timeline, you should watch all Jurassic Park and World movies in order of release date. Younger audiences who choose to ignore the Jurassic Park trilogy might miss out on plotlines, story backgrounds, and even returning characters.
Are Jurassic Park & World movies connected?
Yes, Jurassic Park & Jurassic World movies are connected despite being two separate trilogies. Although the naming of the trilogy of movies (“Park” or “World”) differ, they refer to the naming of the dinosaur theme parks. The movies follow a linear timeline, where the Jurassic World trilogy takes place 22 years after the Jurassic Park trilogy. Plotlines are passed down throughout the films. Jurassic World movies also reference characters from the Jurassic Park movies and even feature some recurring characters as well.
Will there be more Jurassic Park or World movies?
We can’t say for certain whether there will be more Jurassic World movies. With the release of Jurassic World: Dominion the second trilogy is official over. The story of the second, as well as the first trilogy, is officially over but that does not rule future movies. Frank Marshal himself stated that he is unsure of the future of the franchise which does not rule out any possible future trilogies set in the same universe.
