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. Built on then-groundbreaking computer animation paired with practical effects, it redefined what a summer blockbuster could achieve technically and commercially, becoming the highest-grossing film of its time. Its influence on creature effects, sound design, and theme park style spectacle still shapes studio filmmaking today, and it remains a touchstone for an entire generation raised on its imagery and John Williams' score.
This piece preserves the film's opening title card, the frame where the name Jurassic Park first appears on screen and announces the story to come. Title cards like this one mark a specific threshold moment in a film's structure, the handoff from studio branding into narrative, and collectors prize them precisely because they capture that instant of arrival rather than any character or scene. For a film of this cultural weight, holding the card itself is holding the doorway into the whole experience.
Authentication Findings8 checks
Consistent with a 35mm theatrical release print of Jurassic Park (1993).
Gauge
35mm, four perforations per frame on both edges; the strip holds three frames.
Perforations
Four per frame on both edges, evenly spaced, cleanly punched with no torn or deformed holes visible.
Soundtrack
A variable-area optical track is visible running along the lower edge beside the picture area, appearing as a single-track analog stripe.
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 strong black, red, and yellow saturation with no visible fading.
Projection history
Light horizontal streaking lines are visible in the lower portion of the strip, consistent with projection contact.
Picture
Positive image; all three frames carry the same title-card graphic, consistent with a leader or title sequence element from the film on record.
Era check
A single variable-area optical track without visible Dolby Digital inter-perforation data blocks is consistent with a 1993 theatrical release print era, before DTS timecode became universal.
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 000063426
Original Film CaptureAs received
Photographed on the light panel at intake, before encapsulation — tap to open full size
Tap to enlarge
