Jurassic Park, created through the imaginative writing of novelist Michael Crichton and the filmmaking magic of Steven Spielberg, was one of the most beloved and successful movies of the ‘90s. Two sequels and two decades later, the Jurassic World trilogy returned the franchise to relevance and, across three additional movies, added $4 billion USD to its collective box office haul.
With both trilogies now complete and a new film in production, we’ve created a guide to help you navigate the series’ story. Scroll down to find out how to watch the Jurassic Park movies in order, by narrative chronologically or release date.
How Many Jurassic Park Movies Are There?
There are six feature-length Jurassic movies — three Jurassic Park films and three Jurassic World films. The canon also includes two short films and an animated Netflix series, which we’ve included in the chronology below.
Jurassic Park Movies in Chronological Order
These blurbs contain mild spoilers, including characters, settings, and broad plot points.
1. Jurassic Park (1993)
The Jurassic Park chronology is largely straightforward as the feature films’ release order lines up with their chronological order — only the short films and Netflix series may require a bit of guidance.
Jurassic Park adapts the Michael Chrichton novel of the same name and sets up the series’ narrative conceit: Dinosaurs have been cloned by extracting DNA from prehistoric mosquitoes preserved in amber and a reckless entrepreneur (Richard Attenborough) is using the clones to fill a theme park on the fictitious island Isla Nublar.
Paleontologist Alan Grant (Sam Neill), paleobotanist Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern), and mathematician/chaotician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) arrive on the island to assess the safety of the park. They’re joined on their tour by Lex and Tim Murphy, the grandchildren of Jurassic Park founder John Hammond.
A tropical storm lands on the island and a saboteur kills the power to steal corporate secrets, resulting in a deactivated security system. With the dinosaurs now unrestrained, the island tour turns into a deadly escape mission against velociraptors and a Tyrannosaurus rex.
Read IGN’s Jurassic Park review or preorder the 4K Edition of Jurrassic Park.
2. The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
Set and released four years after Jurassic Park, The Lost World brings back Goldblum’s Ian Malcolm and Attenborough’s John Hammond to star alongside Julianne Moore’s paleontologist Sarah Harding.
The Lost World is set on a second island, Isla Sorna, where Hammond also cloned dinosaurs. The island was ultimately abandoned and the dinosaurs were left to fend for themselves. A power struggle for control of Hammnod’s company, InGen, leads two opposing factions to Isla Sorna.
One faction, led by Hammond’s nephew Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard), wants to again try exploiting the dinosaurs for profit, while Hammond, Malcolm, and Harding aim to turn the island into a nature preserve where the creatures can be studied away from human interference.
The two sides struggle against the backdrop of uncaged, territorial dinosaurs, once again resulting in frenetic chase sequences and occasional death. The exploiters are successful in capturing a T-Rex to transport to a new park in San Diego, which escapes captivity and wreaks havoc on the city. Malcolm and Harding attempt to capture it nonlethally.
Read IGN’s The Lost World: Jurassic Park review.
3. Jurassic Park 3 (2001)
Sam Neill reprises his role as Alan Grant for the series’ third film, with Laura Dern’s Ellie Sattler returning as well, albeit for a much smaller role. Another four years have passed between The Lost World and Jurassic Park 3 — both in the real world and in-universe chronology.
Jurassic Park 3 is once again set on Isla Sorna, where a man and a boy have gone missing. Grant, in need of money for his continued dinosaur research, accepts to give a helicopter tour of the island in exchange for funding. We learn the tour is actually a rescue mission chartered by the missing boy’s parents.
As expected, the dinosaurs welcome the humans with hostility. The group is pitted against a pack of velociraptors, which they must outsmart and outmaneuver while searching for the missing persons. Grant eventually contacts Settler to coordinate a rescue mission.
The end of Jurassic Park 3 began a 14-year hiatus for the franchise.
Read IGN’s Jurassic Park 3 review.
4. Jurassic World (2015)
Set and released 22 years after the original Jurassic Park, Jurassic World quickly became one of the highest grossing movies of all time after it's release. The film takes viewers back to Isla Nublar, where a new dinosaur theme park has opened. Jurassic World stars Chris Pratt as animal behavioralist/velociraptor trainer Owen Grady and Bryce Dallas Howard as Jurassic World operations manager Claire Dearing.
Claire’s two nephews venture off on their own to explore the park, while a genetically modified mega-dinosaur, the Indominus rex, escapes captivity. Claire and Owen venture out to save the boys as the situation escalates and more dinosaurs join the fray.
With the boys safe, the action turns toward subduing the Indominus rex. Owen is tasked with confronting the beast with his trained velociraptors, which does not go according to plan. The climax of the film is an epic showdown between the Indominus and a T-Rex. The surviving humans flee and the great dinosaur theme park experiment is once again shuttered.
Read IGN’s Jurassic World review.
4a. Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (TV Series - 2020)
Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous is a canonical, family-friendly animated Netflix series. It’s not essential viewing but we’re including it for those who want the complete Jurassic Park experience.
Camp Cretaceous ran for five seasons and takes place during the events of the Jurassic World trilogy. The show follows six kids who attend Camp Cretaceous on Isla Nublar. The dinosaurs break free and the kids are left to survive on their own.
The show offers tons of references and connections to the films throughout — many of which have been chronicled by SYFY. Overall, Camp Cretaceous is less about moving the overall Jurassic World plot forward and more about experiencing the trilogy’s events from a different perspective.
Read IGN’s Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous review.
5. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
As you may have noticed by now, the real-life time gaps between Jurassic films aligns with the in-universe time gaps. As such, Falling Kingdom is set three years after Jurassic World. Fallen Kingdom continues to explore the dangers of exploiting dinosaurs for the sake of profit. Jeff Goldblum reprises his role as Ian Malcolm.
A volcanic eruption threatens the lives of the dinosaurs of Isla Nublar. Malcolm promotes correcting for the unnatural creation of present-day dinosaurs by letting them die in the eruption; Claire Dearing lobbies to save the creatures through her Dinosaur Protection Group. When the U.S. Senate votes to let the dinosaurs die, Claire teams up with Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell) to save them. She recruits Owen Grady to support the cause.
We learn of ulterior motives within the rescue group and discover the series’ cloning technology has not been limited to dinosaurs. The film ends with many of the dinosaurs set free and humanity entering a new era – one in which the two species must co-exist.
Read IGN’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom review.
6. Battle at Big Rock (Short Film - 2019)
Co-written and directed by Jurassic World’s Colin Trevorrow, Battle at Big Rock is a 10-minute short film set between Fallen Kingdom and Dominion, specifically one year after Fallen Kingdom. It shows the first major confrontation between dinosaurs and humans following the events of Fallen Kingdom.
The 10-minute short ends with clips of other early human-dinosaur encounters.
7. Jurassic World Dominion: The Prologue (Short Film - 2021)
Originally shot as the beginning of Jurassic World Dominion, The Prologue is a five-minute short that was edited out and made into an IMAX preview. It’s now available to view online as a standalone short film or as part of the Jurassic World Dominion extended edition.
The short opens 65 million years ago, showing creatures of the Cretaceous. A Giganotosaurus does battle with a T-Rex, and the loser has its blood sucked by a mosquito…. The back half of the short is set in the present day, where a helicopter pursues a loose T-Rex at a drive-in movie theater.
8. Jurassic World Dominion (2022)
Given the recency of Dominion’s release, this plot synopsis is especially vague to avoid spoilers.
The last movie in the Jurassic World trilogy, Dominion explores the premise set up by Fallen Kingdom: a world in which humans and dinosaurs co-exist. It’s set four years after Fallen Kingdom and unites the most recognizable characters from the franchise’s two trilogies: Owen Grady (Pratt), Claire Dearing (Howard), Ian Malcolm (Goldblum), Alan Grant (Neill), and Ellie Sattler (Dern).
The integration of dinosaurs into nature had great ecological effects and led to great ethical dilemmas. Claire and Owen work on behalf of the dinosaurs’ well-being, while genetics company Biosyn exploits the animals for profit. Elsewhere, giant locusts are destroying crops across the U.S. Ellie and Alan work together to find the locusts’ link to Biosyn.
Read IGN’s Jurassic World Dominion review.
How to Watch the Jurassic Park Movies By Release Date
- Jurassic Park (1993)
- The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
- Jurassic Park 3 (2001)
- Jurassic World (2015)
- Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
- Battle at Big Rock (2019 – short film)
- Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous (2020 – TV series)
- Jurassic World Dominion: The Prologue (2021 – short film)
- Jurassic World Dominion (2022)
- Jurassic World: Chaos Theory (2024)
Future Jurassic Park Movies
Universal Pictures has confirmed they are working on another Jurassic Park film that, despite being referred to as "Jurassic World 4," will inaugurate a "new era" for the franchise. Gareth Edwards has reportedly taken over the reins as director from David Leitch, with veterans David Koepp set to write and Steven Spielberg on board as an executive producer. The Hollywood Reporter has suggested the film will have a 2025 release, though details have yet to be confirmed.
Until then, Netflix announced a new animated series called Jurassic World: Chaos Theory during Geek Week. Set for release on May 24, the series will supposedly take place after Jurassic Park has closed, making it seem like it could potentially take place after Fallen Kingdom but before Dominion.
Jordan covers games, shows, and movies as a freelance writer for IGN.
