So… Jurassic
Park III came out in 2001, and was the first Jurassic Park film not to have the
direction of Steven Spielberg, and didn’t have a book to base it on (even one
that’s ignored) You can see the warning flags already
Joe Johnston
is directing this film and he’s not untalented, having directed Honey I Shrunk
the Kids and Jumanji and later heading into Marvel to direct Captain America:
The First Avenger. He also did Pagemaster, but you can’t get everything right.
But there
were some issues in production. The original script was rejected for being ‘too
complicated’ 5 weeks before filming was due to begin. You might not surprised
then that the eventual script was unfinished when shooting began and the ending
had to be done during reshoots as it wasn’t finished during the original
filming.
The movie
was successful, making over $350m on its $93m budget but with a budget inflated
and diminishing returns, it was clear the franchise had reached the end of its
road, for the time being. Here are some thoughts