National Film RegistryLibrary of Congress · Inducted 2018
“The concept of people somehow existing in the age of dinosaurs (or dinosaurs somehow existing in the age of people) has been explored in film and on television numerous times. No treatment, however, has ever been done with more skill, flair or popcorn-chomping excitement than this 1993 blockbuster.”
Selected for preservation as culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.
Directed by
Steven Spielberg
Studio
Amblin Entertainment · 127 min
Box office
$1.03B worldwide on a $63M budget
Honors
Academy Awards — 3 wins, 3 nominationsSaturn Award — 2 winsHugo Award — 1 winKids' Choice Award — 1 winAll 7 wins · 3 nominations on record
Academy Awards: Best Sound Editing
Academy Awards: Best Visual Effects
Academy Awards: Best Sound
Saturn Award: Best Science Fiction Film
Saturn Award: Best Director
Hugo Award: Best Dramatic Presentation
Kids' Choice Award: Favorite Movie
Scholarship
Named in the title of 12 peer-reviewed works
Examples
The Making of Jurassic Park — Medical Entomology and Zoology, 1993
Jurassic Park — Liverpool University Press eBooks, 2020
Jurassic Park (franchise) — Alphascript Publishing eBooks, 2011
Sources: Wikidata · Library of Congress · OpenAlex. The record of the motion picture, not an assessment of this cell.
FILM NOTES
Jurassic Park arrived from Universal Pictures in the summer of 1993, directed by Steven Spielberg and adapted from Michael Crichton's novel. It reshaped what audiences expected from blockbuster filmmaking, pairing groundbreaking CGI with practical effects to bring dinosaurs to life in a way no film had managed before. The picture became a cultural touchstone, spawning a franchise that continues today, and its influence on visual effects, sound design, and the modern tentpole film is still studied and referenced by filmmakers three decades later.
This cell pairs Dr. Alan Grant, the paleontologist whose skepticism and eventual wonder anchor the film's emotional arc, with Tim Murphy, the young dinosaur enthusiast whose presence tests and ultimately reshapes Grant's guarded relationship with children. Collectors prize Grant for his status as the story's moral and scientific center, and Tim for representing the audience's own sense of awe. A frame holding these two together speaks to the mentorship and protection that develops between them across the film, a quieter counterpoint to the picture's larger spectacle, preserved here in a single 35mm strip.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital composite optical release print of Jurassic Park (1993).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame visible on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, cleanly punched with rounded rectangular shape, no torn or deformed holes visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible between the picture area and the lower perforation row, showing a dual bilateral variable-area waveform pattern consistent with an analog stereo optical track; Dolby Digital data blocks are also visible in the inter-perforation gaps on the lower edge, indicating a Dolby Digital SR-D composite track.
Edge print
Not visible in this capture at sufficient resolution to read manufacturer codes or key numbers.
Base & colour
Base appears neutral to very slightly warm; dye image shows good color saturation with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
No visible splices, cue marks, or heavy scratching; faint longitudinal lines are present consistent with a projected print.
Picture
Positive color image; all three frames appear to be consecutive frames from a single continuous shot, consistent with a release print of Jurassic Park (1993).
Era check
The composite Dolby Digital SR-D optical track format was introduced in 1992 and used on Jurassic Park's 1993 theatrical release, making the soundtrack configuration consistent with a first-run or reissue release print of that era.
Read from the original intake capture shown below. Observations only — film is authenticated, not graded.
This original motion picture film element has been examined and authenticated by Crown Grading in partnership with National Film Vault, and encapsulated for archival preservation.
Why so little survivesRelease prints were leased to theaters, not sold. When the run ended they went back to the distributor to be destroyed, and most were. What collectors hold today came from the prints that escaped that order, and no new 35mm prints of these films are being struck.
CROWN SERIAL 000063413
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
