Complete Jurassic Park & World Timeline Explained

Summary

• Jurassic Park and Jurassic World timelines span 65 million years, with films from 1993 to 2022.
• Spielberg’s adaptation of Crichton’s novel paved the way for the successful Jurassic franchise.
• Jurassic World: Dominion ties all movies together with an epic origin story and brings back original stars.

The Jurassic World and Jurassic Park timelines span 65 million years, but most of the action takes place in the six films from 1993 to 2022. Jurassic Park was initially created by author Michael Crichton, and his bestselling technothriller was adapted into a blockbuster film by Steven Spielberg in 1993. Spielberg’s film changed many aspects of Crichton’s novel, and every succeeding Jurassic Park movie and TV project worked from the canon established by Spielberg’s movies.

Jurassic Park‘s incredible success spawned two more sequels, in 1997 and 2001, before it was soft-rebooted as Jurassic World by Colin Trevorrow in 2015. Jurassic World began a second trilogy that continued in 2018’s Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom and a canonical animated Netflix spinoff, Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous. The Jurassic saga is often said to be “an adventure 65-million years in the making,” and Jurassic World: Dominion tied the entire epic story together.

65 Million Years Ago

The Prologue From Jurassic World: Dominion

The prologue for Jurassic World: Dominion established that 65 million years ago, a Tyrannosaurus Rex was killed by a Gigantosaurus, the largest apex predator in existence. However, a fly drank the blood of the dead T-Rex and was then encased in the amber of a tree. This was the same fly preserved in amber from which InGen scientists extracted dinosaur DNA in the early 1990s during the first Jurassic Park movie.

This also means that the T-Rex in Jurassic Park is a clone of the superpredator that was killed by the Gigantosaurus. Of course, the dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago. Still, thanks to Jurassic Park science, enough DNA was retrieved — and then remixed with amphibian DNA — to successfully clone multiple species of dinosaurs, which makes the Jurassic movies possible. This prologue ties all the movies together with the definitive origin story.

1975

John Hammond Founds InGen With Benjamin Lockwood

InGen (International Genetics Technologies, Inc.) was founded by John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) in 1975. Hammond “dreamed up” the idea of cloning prehistoric dinosaurs from DNA fossilized in Amber. Hammond set up a research group headed by Dr. Henry Wu (B.D. Wong) to put his dream into effect. The first prehistoric creature was successfully cloned in 1985, thanks to the fly they found.

Jurassic Park: Fallen Kingdom retconned InGen’s origin story to reveal that Hammond partnered with Scottish business person Sir Benjamin Lockwood (James Cromwell), his best friend, to found InGen. Lockwood also built a fully functional genetics lab beneath Lockwood Manor in Northern California. While InGen was based in Palo Alto, the dinosaur cloning operations moved to Isla Sorna (Site B) near Costa Rica. InGen also acquired Isla Nublar as the site of the dinosaur theme park destination, which they named Jurassic Park.

1993

The Events Of The Original Jurassic Park

By 1993, Jurassic Park was nearly operational and preparing to open to the public. To calm investors’ fears, Hammond recruited paleontologist Dr. Alan Grant, paleobotanist Dr. Ellie Sattler, and mathematician Dr. Ian Malcolm to tour and evaluate the feasibility of Jurassic Park as a functioning safari/zoo. However, rival genetics company BioSyn hires Jurassic Park’s programmer Dennis Nedry (Wayne Knight) to steal dinosaur embryos. Inclement weather then created a disaster that shut down the park’s electrical grid, allowing the dinosaurs to escape their paddocks.

As the dinosaurs take over Isla Nublar, Dr. Grant is trapped in the jungle with Hammond’s young grandchildren, Lex (Ariana Richards) and Tim (Joseph Mazzello). Grant keeps them safe and is able to return to Jurassic Park’s visitor center in time to evacuate the island. Realizing the disastrous implications of his Jurassic Park dream, Hammond decides the park should never open.

Post-1993

Hammond And Lockhart Fall Out

Benjamin Lockwood’s daughter was able to visit Jurassic Park sometime before its destruction in 1993, and she saw what her father planned. However, Charlotte died from a genetic disease sometime after the collapse of Isla Nublar. Before her death, she tried to have a child via cloning for her father. Hammond, who was changed from the Jurassic Park incident, discovered Lockwood’s plans and was incensed at the “unholy thing” his partner intended to do. Hammond and Lockwood had a falling out.

Left with no blood relatives, the devastated Lockwood decides to use the cloning technology in his manor to recreate his daughter through cloning instead. Benjamin ended up secluding himself in Lockwood Manor. Hammond chose, at this point, not to tamper with nature anymore, but Lockwood kept his dreams and plans, and after Hammond died in 1998, Lockwood finally had his breakthrough with human cloning.

1997

The Events Of The Lost World: Jurassic Park

By 1997, the ailing John Hammond was near death and had been replaced as InGen’s CEO by his nephew, Peter Ludlow (Arliss Howard). Hammond invites Ian Malcolm to join a team to travel to Isla Sorna and document the dinosaurs there, which have been released into the wild following a hurricane. At Site B, where the dinosaurs were bred, Malcolm learns that Ludlow hired mercenaries to capture the dinosaurs in order to bring them back as attractions in Jurassic Park San Diego.

Ludlow’s mercs capture a fully-grown T-rex and an infant and prepare it for transport to the United States. The ship carrying the T-Rex accidentally crashes into the docks, and the super predator is let loose to rampage throughout San Diego. Malcolm and Dr. Sarah Harding (Julianne Moore) use the infant T-Rex to lead the adult back to the docks and seal it in the ship. The T-Rexes are then transported back to Isla Sorna, which the United States and Costa Rican governments name as a nature preserve.

2001

The Events Of Jurassic Park III

In 2001, a 12-year-old boy named Eric Kirby (Trevor Morgan) went missing while vacationing near Isla Sorna. Soon afterward, his parents, Paul (William H. Macy) and Amanda Kirby (Tea Leoni), hire Dr. Alan Grant, under false circumstances, to lead a team to Isla Sorna and rescue Eric. The Kirbys’ plane crashes after being attacked by the island’s super predator, the Spinosaurus. Grant locates Eric, who has survived on the island, and they attempt to reach the shore.

Although the rest of their team is killed by attacks from Velociraptors, Pteranodons, and the Spinosaurus, Grant successfully leads the Kirbys to the beach, where they are met by the US Navy. By the end of the movie, the carnivores are still alive on the island with their eggs, and as the helicopter leaves the island, the Pteranodons fly by, looking for a new place to nest. This was also Alan’s last appearance until he returned for Jurassic World: Dominion.

1997-2005

Masrani Global Corporation Opens Jurassic World

By the time of his death in 1998, John Hammond had converted from an industrialist and capitalist seeking to profit from his cloned dinosaurs into a naturalist who wanted his creations left alone on their islands. That same year, Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan), the CEO of Masrani Global Corporation, acquired InGen with an eye on fulfilling Hammond’s initial dream of opening Jurassic Park on Isla Nublar.

Seven years after purchasing InGen, Masrani Global Corporation opened the rebranded Jurassic World on Isla Nublar. Claire Dearing came aboard as Jurassic World’s Senior Assets Manager, while Owen Grady was hired as the park’s animal behaviorist/Velociraptor trainer. Jurassic World contained elements of a biological preserve, a zoo, a theme park, and a luxury resort with hotels, restaurants, nightlife, and a golf course.

Masrani expanded upon Hammond’s initial Jurassic Park dream with more dinosaur attractions, including the Mosasaurus in the Jurassic World Lagoon. Jurassic World operated successfully for ten years. However, Masrani also learned that the public’s fascination with dinosaurs was waning, which led to the company pressuring Dr. Henry Wu to create hybrid dinosaurs like the Indominus Rex as new attractions for the park.

2015

The Events Of Jurassic World

In 2015, after ten years of Jurassic World operating without incident, disaster struck that doomed Masrani’s dinosaur park. The Indominus Rex escaped its paddock and wreaked havoc on the island. The Indominus’ rampage created a domino effect, such as the Pteranodons escaping their enclosure, which led to the death of Simon Masrani when the dinosaurs attacked his helicopter. Jurassic World was evacuated while Owen Grady and Claire Dearing teamed up to stop the Indominus Rex.

Grady weaponized the three Velociraptors he trained, led by Blue, to help him hunt the Indominus. Dearing set loose the original T-Rex from Jurassic Park, which had been living on Isla Nublar since the fall of Hammond’s park in 1993, to fight the Indominus. The hybrid super-predator was eventually defeated and eaten by the Mosasaurus. Owen and Claire evacuated Jurassic World, which was permanently shut down as the remaining dinosaurs escaped and took over Isla Nublar once again.

2015-2018

The Events Of Camp Cretaceous

Netflix’s animated Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous, which ran for five seasons, began during the events of Jurassic World and continued past the prologue of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. At the start of Camp Cretaceous, six teenagers are brought to the island as the inaugural group of Campers, and they witness the fall of Jurassic World. Trapped on the island, the kids are forced to survive, encountering the dinosaurs now roaming free throughout Isla Nublar.

The Campers also encounter enemy big game hunters and a new hybrid predator created by Dr. Henry Wu, the Scorpios Rex. In addition, the Campers witnessed the acquisition of the Indominus Rex’s DNA from the Mosasaurus, which led to the creation of the Indoraptor. By the start of Camp Cretaceous season 4, the Campers escape Isla Nublar.

Still, they are stranded on a new island owned by Mantah Corp that contains not just dinosaurs like the Spinosaurus making its post-Jurassic Park III comeback, but also other prehistoric creatures like sabretooth tigers, as well as robotic enforcers. The teens learn Mantah Corp cloned their own dinosaurs and has genetically manipulated their creatures to fight each other for their investors. Kenji (Ryan Potter), the oldest of the Campers, also discovers that his father is Mantah Corp’s CEO.

The good news is that the kids were saved and reunited with their families. Surviving these adventures makes them famous and known as the Nublar Six. The first season takes place at the same time as Jurassic World, and the second season is the aftermath of the dinosaurs taking over the island. Season three takes place during the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. The fourth and fifth seasons take place after the kids escape Isla Nublar after the volcano, and their story ends before Jurassic World: Dominion begins.

2017-2018

The Events Of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom

In the aftermath of Jurassic World’s fall, Claire Dearing and several of the park’s employees felt responsible for the dinosaurs. When Isla Nublar’s volcano, Mt. Sibo, suddenly becomes active again after remaining dormant for 500 years, Claire founded the Dinosaur Protection Group to secure funding and rescue the dinosaurs. Two of Claire’s key DPG hires were systems analyst Franklin Webb (Justice Smith) and paleo veterinarian Zia Rodriguez (Daniella Pineda).

This organization was the first of its kind to fight against the mistreatment of dinosaurs, although they ran into many opponents along the way. The DPG aims to find a way for both species to coexist while ensuring the dinosaurs experience limited human intrusion. Claire learns that Benjamin Lockwood and Eli Mills (Rafe Spall), who runs Lockwood’s business affairs, have funded an operation to rescue the dinosaurs from Isla Nublar before Mt. Sibo’s eruption destroys the island.

Claire recruits Owen Grady, who joins the expedition to rescue Blue, his pet Velociraptor. After they reach Isla Nublar, Grady is betrayed by Wheatley (Ted Levine), the mercenary leading the mission. Lockwood’s mercs capture multiple dinosaur species and leave the rest to die on the island. Owen, Claire, and their friends survive the volcanic eruption and stow away on the ships, with the dinosaurs returning to Lockwood Manor.

Owen and Claire discover that the dinosaurs are being sold at a secret auction. Further, Dr. Henry Wu created a new hybrid superpredator, the Indoraptor, bred from the Indominus Rex’s DNA. Another shocker is the fact that Lockwood’s young niece, Maisie, is a perfect human clone of Benjamin’s deceased daughter, Charlotte. After Owen, Claire, and Grady survive an encounter with the Indoraptor, Maisie frees the captured dinosaurs, and they flee throughout Northern California and spread across the globe.

2019

Battle At Little Big Rock

Jurassic World: Battle at Little Big Rock is set one year after the events of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Battle at Little Big Rock centers on a blended family on vacation faced with the reality of rampaging dinosaurs in their midst when an Allosaurus and a Nasutoceratops fight in their campground. After assaulting the other dinosaurs, it heads to the campers to attack the humans. Luckily, the humans survive thanks to some quick thinking, but this shows how dangerous the dinosaurs are in the real world.

Battle at Little Big Rock also ends with a montage of other dinosaurs spreading throughout the world and terrorizing civilization, setting up the events of Jurassic World: Dominion. Directed by Colin Trevorrow, the short film premiered on FX in 2019 before being released online. It was also shown as a small part of Dominion and is a warning sign to people in the fictional universe, telling them never to take these giant creatures lightly and to beware of any dangers around them.

2022

The Events Of Jurassic World: Dominion

Four years after the dinosaurs were let loose in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, they proliferated throughout the world. Owen Grady discovers Blue the Velociraptor has managed to breed. Also, the worldwide spread of the dinosaurs has also become a crisis that requires the expertise of Dr. Alan Grant, Dr. Ellie Sattler, and Dr. Ian Malcolm. This offers the franchise a chance to bring back the stars of Jurassic Park and have them team with the Jurassic World stars to tie it all together.

Dominion also sees the return of Lewis Dodgson (Campbell Scott), the CEO of BioSyn, who last appeared in Jurassic Park (and was played by Cameron Thor). Further, the Jurassic heroes encounter a new clone of the Gigantosaurus, the largest predator ever to walk the Earth. The villain here was Biosyn Genetics, which was using the dinosaurs to create new lifeforms, resulting in mutated locusts threatening to destroy the world. The film ends with the government again creating a dinosaur sanctuary.