How Many Jurassic Park Films Are There?

There are currently three films in the Jurassic Park series. The first two films are based on novels by the author Michael Crichton. The third instalment was not based on the books and also had a different director.

“Jurassic Park” was released in 1993. It performed extremely well at the box office and was the highest grossing film until it was beaten by “Titanic”. It is currently the 11th highest grossing film of all time. The film tells the story of a group of scientists who visit an amusement park full of cloned dinosaurs. They are invited to inspect the park by John Hammond, who is the park's owner and also founder of InGen, a genetic engineering company. The group, along with Hammond's grandchildren, go on a tour of the park. The tour goes wrong when, during a tropical storm, the security system is shout down by one of InGen's employees, causing a Tyrannosaurus to escape from its pen. After nearly being killed by the Tyrannosaurus, Hammond's grandchildren and one of the other scientists escape and later meet up with the others to escape from the park.

“The Lost World: Jurassic Park” was released in 1997. Like the first film, it performed extremely well at the box office, though it wasn't as well received as the first. It is currently the 40th highest grossing film of all time. The plot focuses on the character Ian Malcolm, who was featured in the first film. Ian shares his experiences on the park but finds his reputation ruined when his stories are not believed. He visits John Hammond, who has lost his company InGen to Peter Ludlow, who is Hammand's nephew. Hammond wishes for Ian to help him turn the island into a nature reserve. Ian tells Hammond that he does not wish to help, but ends up travelling to the island after learning that his girlfriend is already there. The film then focuses on the team encountering dinosaurs and a battle with the rival InGen team, who arrive to take samples of the dinosaurs. Sarah and another team member free the dinosaurs, which causes havoc on the island. Ian's team are nearly killed after their trailer is nearly thrown off a cliff when two adult Tyrannosaurus come looking for their baby, which was rescued by one of the team. The team escape, but not before a Tyrannosaurus gets released in the city and causes chaos.

“Jurassic Park III” was released in 2001. Although the film was one of the top grossing films of that year, it did not perform as well as the previous films and, like the second instalment, was not as well received as the first film. This time, the plot focuses on Dr. Alan Grant, who was the main character in the first film. He returns to the island after a wealthy couple wish for him to give them a tour of the area. He travels with the couple and a few others on a plane, which crashes and leaves them on the island. Alan then discovers that the couple have actually travelled to the island to look for their son, who went missing around two months before when the family visited the island. The couple find their son and, along with Alan and the others, try to escape the island.

There were previously plans for a “Jurassic Park IV”, but nothing has yet come about. It was  reported in late 2008 that plans to release a fourth instalment had been scrapped after the death of Michael Crichton, the author of the Jurassic Park books. There is also no listing for a fourth film on the Internet Movie Database, which would suggest that there will not be a fourth film.