Jurassic Park

Dateline June 11, 1993 - Steven Spielberg's movie "Jurassic Park" opened.  American science fictionadventure thriller film  based on the novel of the same name by Michael Crichton. The film centers on the fictional Isla Nublar near Costa Rica in the Central American Pacific Coast, where a billionaire philanthropist and a small team of genetic scientists have created an amusement park of cloneddinosaurs. Huge advancements in scientific technology have been able to create an island full of living dinosaurs. John Hammond has invited four individuals, plus his two grandchildren to join him at Jurassic Park. But will everything go to plan? Especially when one of the parks own workers attempt to steal the dinosaurs embryos, and have to shut down all the electricity in the process. It's now a race for survival with everyone located all over the island. 

          Jurassic Park is regarded as a landmark in the use of computer-generated imagery, and received highly positive reviews from most critics. During its release, the film grossed over $900 million worldwide, becoming the most successful film released up to that time (surpassing E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial and surpassed four years later by Titanic)). It is the most financially successful film for Universal and Steven Spielberg. It won the Academy Award for Best Sound, Best Sound Effects Editing, and Best Visual Effects.
Because of the film's success, two sequels were made, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, which was released on May 23, 1997, and Jurassic Park III which was released on July 18, 2001. A fourth installment is currently in development. Jurassic Park will be re-released in 3D on July 19, 2013.
 

The Jurassic is a geologic period and system that extends from about 199.6± 0.6 Mya (million years ago) to 145.5± 4 Mya, that is, from the end of the Triassic to the beginning of the Cretaceous. The Jurassic constitutes the middle period of the Mesozoic era, also known as the age of reptiles. The start of the period is marked by the major Triassic–Jurassic extinction event. However, the end of the period did not witness any major extinction event. The Jurassic is named after the Jura Mountains within the European Alps, where limestone strata from the period was first identified. By the beginning of the Jurassic, the supercontinentPangaea had begun rifting into two landmasses, Laurasia to the north and Gondwana to the south. This created more coastlines and shifted the continental climate from dry to humid, and many of the arid deserts of the Triassic were replaced by lush rainforests. Dinosaurs dominated the land, and reached their peak in this period as they diversified into a wide variety of groups. The first birds also appeared during the Jurassic, having evolved from a branch of theropod dinosaurs. The oceans were inhabited by marine reptiles such as ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs, while pterosaurs were the dominant flying vertebrates. Mammals also existed during this time; however, overshadowed by the dinosaurs, they constituted only a small and relatively insignificant part of the biosphere.

The earliest known frog appeared during the late Jurassic period, about 190 million years ago! Scientists believe that the oldest frogs developed jumping legs to avoid being eaten by dinosaurs. Specimens on the first known frogs have been found on Navajo Indian reservations in Arizona. Fossils of meat-eating fish and reptiles such as dinosaurs have also been found at the same site. These fossils show that the skeletal shape and body plan of the frog has remained almost unchanged over the last 190 million years. In addition, frogs had the added advantage of being small enough to be able to hop away to avoid the many predators which habitated its surroundings.