Jurassic Park III

Jurassic Park III
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Joe Johnston
Written by	Peter Buchman Alexander Payne Jim Taylor
Based on	Characters by Michael Crichton
Produced by	Kathleen Kennedy Larry Franco
Starring	Sam Neill William H. Macy Téa Leoni Alessandro Nivola Trevor Morgan Michael Jeter
Cinematography	Shelly Johnson
Edited by	Robert Dalva
Music by	Don Davis
Production company	Amblin Entertainment
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	July 16, 2001 (2001-07-16) (Universal Amphitheater) July 18, 2001 (2001-07-18) (United States)
Running time	92 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$93 million[2]
Box office	$368.8 million[2]

Jurassic Park III is a 2001 American science fiction action film^[3] directed by Joe Johnston and written by Peter Buchman, Alexander Payne, and Jim Taylor. It is the third installment in the Jurassic Park franchise and the final film in the original Jurassic Park trilogy, following The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997). It is also the first film in the franchise not to be directed by Steven Spielberg, as well as the first not to be based on a novel by Michael Crichton; however, the film features characters and ideas by Crichton. It stars Sam Neill, William H. Macy, Téa Leoni, Alessandro Nivola, Trevor Morgan and Michael Jeter, with brief appearances by Laura Dern. Neill and Dern reprise their roles from the first film as Alan Grant and Ellie Sattler. The plot involves a divorced couple who, via subterfuge, enlist the help of paleontologist Dr. Grant to find their son, who has gone missing on Isla Sorna.

After the release of Spielberg's Jurassic Park (1993), Johnston expressed interest in directing a sequel. Universal Pictures announced the third film in June 1998, and Johnston was announced as director the following year. A draft written by Buchman was rejected five weeks ahead of filming in favor of a simpler story idea suggested by David Koepp, the writer of the previous two films. Payne and Taylor were hired to rewrite the earlier script by Buchman, who made further revisions to their draft. Filming lasted five months, beginning in Hawaii in August 2000, before moving to California. A final draft of the script was never completed during production, a circumstance Johnston considered quitting over. Jurassic Park III features a combination of computer-generated and animatronic dinosaurs. A Spinosaurus replaces the Tyrannosaurus from the previous two films as the main antagonist.

Jurassic Park III premiered on July 16, 2001, and was theatrically released on July 18. Despite receiving mixed reviews from critics, the film was a box-office success, grossing $368.8 million worldwide against a $93 million budget, becoming the eighth highest-grossing film of 2001; however, it is the lowest-grossing installment in the franchise. In 2015, it was followed by Jurassic World, which would start the sequel trilogy of the same name. Neill and Dern would reprise their roles in Jurassic World Dominion (2022).