Did You Know That 'The Lost World: Jurassic Park' Is Actually a Remake?

The Jurassic Park franchise has enjoyed enormous success over the decades. And now, Jurassic World Dominion (2022) continues to climb towards $1 billion at the box office. But many people forget where it all started, and it wasn’t Steven Spielberg’s ground-breaking 1993 classic.

It was actually the best-seller “Jurassic Park” (1990) by Michael Crichton on which the film is based. Following the success of the film, Crichton was asked to pen a sequel, and “The Lost World” (1995) was also translated to film, giving fans their first sequel to Spielberg’s masterpiece.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997) grossed $618 million worldwide, and while it opened to mixed reviews, it has become one of the most beloved entries in the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World series, perhaps because of the solid source material in its foundations, something lacking in every single sequel thereafter.

But while much of the success of that film is owed to the late author Michael Crichton (as is the fact that we ended up with a number of Jurassic Park/Jurassic World sequels as a result of “The Lost World” novel), what inspired the book itself besides its own predecessor?

Eddie Carr The Lost World Jurassic Park — Credit: Universal Studios

While The Lost World: Jurassic Park is of course a sequel to Jurassic Park (1993), technically speaking, it’s also a remake of a much older film, which also happens to be based on a novel. But before we get into that, here’s the synopsis for The Lost World: Jurassic Park as per Wikipedia:

Four years after the original film, John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) sends a team, led by Malcolm, to Isla Sorna, the second island Hammond’s company InGen used to make the dinosaurs, to study the animals while coming into conflict with a team led by InGen to bring some of the dinosaurs back to the United States.

The Lost World Vince Vaughn Nick Van Owen — Credit: Universal Studios

In a nutshell, The Lost World: Jurassic Park revolves around the concept of dinosaurs having “survived” in a “lost world”. The film’s marketing relied heavily on this angle, with the tagline “Something Has Survived” appearing on movie posters and in magazines.

The novel upon which the film is based plays into this concept even more, with characters Dr. Ian Malcolm and Dr. Richard Levine framing a number of possibilities in which dinosaurs might have survived in some remote region on Earth for tens of millions of years.

raptor the lost world jurassic park — Credit: Universal Studios

Of course, as we know, whether book or film, the dinosaurs have survived as a result of having been cloned by InGen. “Site B”, known also as Isla Sorna, was previously a breeding ground for Isla Nublar’s Jurassic Park, but has long since abandoned after a hurricane destroyed its facility.

As such, its scientists were forced to release the dinosaurs and leave them to their own devices. Nevertheless, regardless of the history, The Lost World: Jurassic Park is about dinosaurs having survived, and man discovering them in what has become their natural habitat.

t-rex the lost world jurassic park — Credit: Universal Studios

Sound familiar? Well, if the premise doesn’t, perhaps the title itself does. Yes, The Lost World is not an original title — it was first used by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle way back in his novel “The Lost World” (1912), which was also adapted to the silver screen in 1925.

Doyle’s story revolves around a team of scientists discovering an entire ecosystem of prehistoric creatures living on a remote plateau deep in the Amazon basin of South America. While the story is of course vastly different, the bare bones are very much the same.

Dieter Stark The Lost World Jurassic Park — Credit: Universal Studios

During the third act of The Lost World: Jurassic Park, a t-rex goes on a feeding frenzy in the streets of San Diego, which is almost identical to a sequence in The Lost World (1925), in which a brontosaurus rampages through the city of London.

In the case of The Lost World: Jurassic Park, however, this sequence remains a bone of contention among fans. Not only is it played mostly for goofy humor, but many feel that the idea of dinosaurs on the mainland was always a bit of a cop-out.

But the truth is that this was always a natural progression for the Jurassic Park franchise. In the original 1990 novel, Crichton positions this issue from the get-go, as some of the smaller dinosaurs frequently make it to the mainland and cause all sorts of problems for the locals.

“The Lost World” even continues this thread, with dinosaur carcasses being found on beaches in Central America — although, unlike its silver screen counterpart, it does not feature in any shape or form a third act in which a dinosaur rampages through an urban environment.

Now, 25 years after the release of The Lost World: Jurassic Park, this idea has been utilized to its full potential, as Jurassic World Dominion (2022) realizes it in its entirety, with dinosaurs populating in North America and beyond.

As per the Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment website, here’s the official synopsis for Colin Trevorrow’s Jurassic World Dominion:

Dominion takes place four years after Isla Nublar has been destroyed. Dinosaurs now live — and hunt — alongside humans all over the world. This fragile balance will reshape the future and determine, once and for all, whether human beings are to remain the apex predators on a planet they now share with history’s most fearsome creatures.

So, The Lost World: Jurassic Park is technically a remake, which means that its foundations are a lot more solid than we first thought. Let’s just hope that none of the Jurassic Park movies ever get remade — or should we say “cloned”.

The Lost World: Jurassic Park stars Jeff Goldblum (Dr Ian Malcolm), Julianne Moore (Dr Sarah Harding), Vince Vaughn (Nick Van Owen), Vanessa Lee Chester (Kelly Curtis), Arliss Howard (Peter Ludlow), Peter Stormare (Dieter Stark), Thomas F Duffy (Dr Robert Burke), Pete Postlethwaite (Roland Tembo), Richard Attenborough (John Hammond), Richard Schiff (Eddie Carr), Joseph Mazzello (Tim Murphy), and Ariana Richards (Lex Murphy).

The Lost World Jurassic Park Ian Malcolm — Credit: Universal Studios

Jurassic World Dominion is directed by Colin Trevorrow and stars Bryce Dallas Howard (Claire Dearing), Chris Pratt (Owen Grady), Mamoudou Athie (Ramsay Cole), Isabella Sermon (Maisie Lockwood), Omar Sy (Barry Sembène), BD Wong (Henry Wu), Campbell Scott (Lewis Dodgson), DeWanda Wise (Kayla), Jeff Goldblum (Dr. Ian Malcolm), Sam Neill (Dr. Alan Grant), and Laura Dern (Dr. Ellie Sattler).

In light of the success of Jurassic World Dominion, with the film having grossed almost $1 billion worldwide so far, it’s entirely possible that Jurassic World 4 will happen. While the film has been confirmed to be the end of the Jurassic World series, producer Frank Marshall won’t rule out the possibility of future installments.

Jurassic World Dominion is currently available on demand.

Did you know that The Lost World: Jurassic Park is a remake? And what did you think of Jurassic World Dominion? Let us know in the comments down below!