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 in the summer of 1993 from Universal Pictures, directed by Steven Spielberg and adapted from Michael Crichton's novel. It redefined what audiences expected from blockbuster filmmaking, marrying groundbreaking computer-generated imagery with practical animatronics to bring dinosaurs to the screen with unprecedented realism. The film became a cultural touchstone, a technical landmark, and one of the highest-grossing releases of its era, cementing Spielberg's legacy and reshaping the possibilities of visual effects in cinema for decades to come.
This cell preserves a frame of Lex Murphy, the tech-savvy granddaughter of John Hammond, whose resourcefulness becomes essential to the group's survival once the park's systems fail. Collectors seek out her likeness for the character's role as a stand-in for the audience's own vulnerability and ingenuity amid chaos. A single 35mm frame like this one offers a tactile connection to the physical film stock that ran through projectors in theaters during the picture's original release, a fragment of the actual print rather than a reproduction.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm Dolby Digital theatrical release print of Jurassic Park (1993).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame visible on both edges; the strip holds three consecutive frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, cleanly punched with rounded rectangular corners, no torn or deformed holes visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible along the bottom edge, appearing as a dual bilateral variable-area pattern with a Dolby noise-reduction signature; Dolby Digital data blocks are visible in the inter-perforation gaps on the bottom edge.
Edge print
Not fully legible in this capture; partial alphanumeric key numbers appear along the bottom edge but cannot be quoted with certainty.
Base & colour
Base appears clear with a slight warm-neutral tint; dye image reads as a well-saturated colour positive with no visible fading or red shift.
Projection history
Light longitudinal scratches are visible running the length of the strip, consistent with projection through a film gate.
Picture
Positive colour image; all three frames appear to be from the same continuous shot, and the subject matter is consistent with Jurassic Park (1993).
Era check
The combination of dual bilateral variable-area optical track, Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks, and colour positive stock on a clear safety base is consistent with a mid-1990s theatrical release print.
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 000063416
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
