Jurassic Park III

Jurassic Park III is a 2001 American science fiction action film 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. The film 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. Its plot involves a divorced couple who, via subterfuge, enlist the help of 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, with a $93 million budget. 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. Spinosaurus replaces Tyrannosaurus from the previous two films as the main and lead dinosaur.

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 and 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 series. Neill and Dern would reprise their roles in Jurassic World Dominion (2022).

Paleontologist Alan Grant struggles to secure funding for his Velociraptor research, where he attempts to prove his hypothesis they were intellectually and socially advanced. Instead, he finds himself rebuffing the public's obsession with the events on Isla Nublar and the InGen incident in San Diego. He receives encouragement to continue from his now-married ex-girlfriend Ellie Sattler and his assistant Billy Brennan, who uses 3D printing to replicate a Velociraptor larynx. Wealthy couple Paul and Amanda Kirby offer to fund his research in return for a guided aerial tour of Isla Sorna, claiming they have permission to fly there.

Alan reluctantly agrees, flying there with Billy, two of the Kirbys' mercenary associates, Udesky and Cooper, and their pilot, Nash. When the Kirbys try to have Nash land the plane, Alan protests and is knocked unconscious by Cooper. He awakens to find they have landed and the Kirbys refuse to leave, until a Spinosaurus approaches them. They attempt to escape but the dinosaur attacks their plane during take-off and kills Cooper. The plane crashes in the forest and the Spinosaurus kills Nash and swallows Paul's satellite phone. The survivors flee, encountering a Tyrannosaurus, which is promptly defeated by the Spinosaurus as the humans escape.

The Kirbys reveal they are a divorced middle-class couple searching for their son Eric and Amanda's boyfriend Ben Hildebrand, who have been missing for eight weeks and were last seen illegally parasailing by the island. Government agencies declined to help so they deceived Alan to secure his assistance, mistakenly believing he had experience on Isla Sorna. The group searches for Eric and Ben, finding the latter's corpse attached to the parasail near a Velociraptor nest. They discover the InGen compound, where they are attacked by a pack of Velociraptors, who kill Udesky. Alan is separated from the rest of the group but is saved from the raptors by Eric, who has been sheltering in a supply truck.

The following morning, Alan and Eric reunite with Billy and Eric's parents and narrowly escape the Spinosaurus again. Alan finds Billy stole Velociraptor eggs, which resulted in the earlier attacks. Billy hoped to sell the eggs to fund their dig site, which Alan disapproves of, but keeps the eggs regardless, hoping the Velociraptors may spare the group if they are returned. The group enters an aviary and is attacked by a flock of Pteranodons, one of which takes Eric to its nest to feed him to its young; Billy rescues Eric using the parasail but is seemingly killed while the rest escape by boat along an adjacent river. They retrieve the satellite phone and Grant contacts Ellie for help while they are attacked once again by the Spinosaurus.

The following day, the group hears a helicopter overhead and arrives at the coast, but are ambushed by the Velociraptors, who have come for the eggs. Alan, finding the replicated larynx in Billy's bag, uses it to confuse the pack. Upon hearing distant helicopters, the raptors reclaim their eggs and retreat. The U.S. Marines and Navy, summoned by Ellie, land on the beach and rescue the survivors. On a helicopter, they discover that an injured Billy has also been rescued. They watch the now-freed Pteranodons fly alongside them as they leave the island.