When "Jurassic Park" came out in 1993, its use of CGI was years ahead of its time.

In ways, every modern blockbuster can thank "Jurassic Park" for breaking so much new ground.

But making this classic come to life was no easy task.

It involved a lot of creative problem solving, casting sessions, and bidding wars to get everything in the right place at the right time.

Just in time for "Jurassic World," out in theaters on June 12, we've compiled some of the most fascinating facts behind the first "Jurassic Park."

Steven Spielberg was author Michael Crichton's first choice to direct.

Some of the other directors that were considered included Tim Burton ("Edward Scissorhands"), Joe Dante ("Gremlins") and Richard Donner ("Lethal Weapon").

According to EW, there was an intense bidding war and Spielberg, who was "Jurassic Park" author Michael Crichton's first choice to begin with, won the rights.

Spielberg's relationship with Crichton (they had already been developing a film together based on Crichton's book "Cold Case") definitely helped Universal come out on top.

There are only 14 minutes of dinosaur footage in "Jurassic Park."

"Jurassic Park" runs for 127 minutes. 

Even fewer minutes were dedicated to CGI dinos.

One of the film's most terrifying moments happened by accident.

During the first T. rex attack, the dinosaur breaks through the van's sunroof, terrifying both Tim (Joseph Mazello) and Lex (Ariana Richards).

It turns out the dino wasn't supposed to break the glass.

"I think the T. rex was only supposed to go down so far, and the Plexiglass was the only thing between the dinosaur and us. It came down too far one time, and it chipped the Plexiglas and broke a tooth." Mazzello told EW.

"Jurassic World" continues to over-perform at the box office.

The film opened Thursday at 7 p.m. and broke Universal's all-time "Thursday night preview" debut record with $18.5 million. 

Friday's numbers are in and, combined with Thursday's grosses, "Jurassic World" nabbed a gargantuan $82.3 million opening day.

That number is the third-biggest debut of all time behind "Avengers: Age of Ultron" ($84 million) and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" ($91 million).

Forbes' Scott Mendelson reports that if you take away the late-night Thursday numbers, the film actually grossed $64.1 million on Friday alone, which is the biggest "pure" opening day of all time, surpassing the recent "Furious 7" ($52 million) and both "Avengers" films ($63 million and $57 million respectively). 

"Jurassic World" is now on track to have one of the, if not the, biggest opening weekends of all time and could gross over $200 million domestically. Early tracking had the film earning about $125 million this weekend.

It was also huge internationally, grossing another $60 million across 66 territories, which is a record number. Taking foreign box office into account, "Jurassic World" has already earned $212.8 million all in since Wednesday. 

The film cost $150 million to produce and was directed by Colin Trevorrow, whose only previous feature-length directorial credit was the small independent film "Safety Not Guaranteed." 

SEE ALSO: "Jurassic World" just had the second-largest box-office weekend of all time

MORE: How the "Jurassic World" dinosaurs looked in real life

AND: 12 things you probably don't know about the original "Jurassic Park"

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NOW WATCH: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The original 1993 'Jurassic Park' cast today

One of the most memorable and frightening dinosaurs introduced in  the "Jurassic Park" series is the Velociraptor. They may not be as gigantic as the T. rex, but the intimidating raptors have appeared in each of the three films so far. 

We'll see them again on screen in "Jurassic World," which hits theaters June 12. 

However, you may not realize the ferocious beasts we've become acquainted with onscreen are much different than what popular culture might lead you to believe.

While they are portrayed as vicious, cunning reptile-like hunters in the movies, in reality, they were much smaller, less intelligent, and resembled a bird more than a reptile.

"It's the size of a big turkey or a small wolf,"Dr. John Hutchinson, an evolutionary biomechanist and professor at the Royal Veterinary College in London, explained to Business Insider. "The evidence of their brain is that it's no smarter than a pretty dumb bird like an Emu or something like that."

The real Velociraptor was also feathered, a discovery which wasn't made until after "Jurassic Park" was released in 1993. 

"We know that for sure because we found specimens that have the insertion points for feathers on their arms." Dr. Mark Norell, current Chairman of Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History, told Business Insider.

Here's a sketch of what an actual Velociraptor may have looked like by artist Luis V. Rey. This depiction has even made it into a museum in America.

Michael Crichton, who wrote the book which "Jurassic Park" is based on, and director Steven Spielberg were both aware of the Velociraptor's less than intimidating size back when the movie was being developed in the early '90s.

The Velociraptor we see on screen ended up based off of another dinosaur, Deinonychus. This is partially because Crichton based his novel on Gregory Paul's "Predatory Dinosaurs," which "labeled the Velociraptor as a Deinonychus subspecies." 

Spielberg could have changed it to the more accurate term, but most Paleontologists think he probably kept it that way because "Velociraptor" sounded a lot cooler than "Deinonychus."

"[Velociraptor] is a much sexier, better-sounding name." Norell said. "For somebody to be talking about that Deinonychus because even Deinoychus, amongst the professional community, people pronounce it different ways, you know? I mean, it just flows off the tongue a lot easier."

When asked the same question, Dr. Hutchinson also described the Velociraptor name as "sexier."

While the scientific name isn't that catchy, Deinoychus does translate to "Terrible Claw" -- and the Velociraptors in the "Jurassic Park" franchise have some pretty mean ones. 

The film's Velociraptors were a bit bigger than Deinonychus.Funny enough, just two years before the debut of "Jurassic Park," a new dinosaur was discovered called the Utahraptor which is nearly identical to the Velociraptors seen onscreen. 

"Jurassic World" will bring back basically the same Velociraptors as before. However, they still won't have any feathers, and it appears from the trailers that they won't change much in size, either. This makes them consistent with the original film, but not so much with modern science.

One thing that may be different, though, is that the Velociraptors here could be a lot friendlier then they have been in the past. One trailer shows Chris Pratt's character training the raptors as he talks about "a relationship based on respect."

But maybe it wasn't their behavior that needed changing.

While it is hard to determine exactly how they behaved, there is some evidence to show real Velociraptors were indeed vicious fighters.

One famous fossil found in Mongolia preserves a Velociraptor mid-fight with a Protoceratops.

"I wouldn't wanna tangle with one," Hutchinson said.

SEE ALSO: This brilliant sci-fi film is one of the best movies you'll see all year

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NOW WATCH: The new 'Jurassic World' trailer shows why it took $190 million to make this summer blockbuster

Steven Spielberg has a habit of building up a lot of suspense to his monsters and creatures before actually showing them.

In "Jaws," the shark doesn't pop his head out of the water until the film's third act. The aliens of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" don't appear until the film's final moments. 

Spielberg used the same trick for the T. rex in "Jurassic Park," to terrifying effect. Before making its first appearance, the giant dinosaur is heard through roars and grunts and, most memorably, a plastic cup of water, which vibrates as the predator stomps along and draws near:

The ingenious shot came to Spielberg while listening to an Earth, Wind, and Fire song with the bass "turned up full volume" in his car. The identity of the song remains unknown.

A behind-the-scenes featurette from Universal, which can be found on the "Jurassic Park" Blu-ray, shows some of the original storyboards for the iconic shot:

"I was at work and Steven calls into the office and he goes, 'I'm in the car. Earth, Wind, and Fire is playing, and my mirror is shaking! That's what we need to do!'" Dinosaur effects supervisor Michael Lantieri said in a making-of featurette on the "Jurassic Park" Blu-ray. "He goes, 'We need to shake the mirror, and then I wanna do something with the water.'"

It took a lot of work to make Spielberg's vision come to life. 

"The mirror shaking was easy ... put a little vibrating motor in and shook it." Lantieri said. "But the water was another story. It was a very difficult thing to do. You couldn't do it. " 

So Lantieri gathered everybody he could find to try to figure out how to make that water shake. 

Interestingly enough, it was music that first inspired this shot and music that eventually brought it to life. Lantieri decided to experiment with his guitar.

"I set a glass and started playing notes on a guitar and got to a right frequency ... a right note ... and it did exactly what I wanted it to do." Lantieri said.

To replicate that for the shot, they "fed a guitar string through the car, down to the ground, and then I had a guy lay under the car and pluck the guitar string," Lantieri said in an interview from an early "Jurassic Park" DVD.

"One of the things that Steven is so good at is finding images that represent the story, the emotion, that the audience is supposed to be experiencing," cinematographer Dean Cundey said in the same behind-the-scenes video.

But to find that right image, you might need to hear a good tune first.

Watch the behind-the-scenes clip below via Universal:

SEE ALSO: The velociraptors in the 'Jurassic Park' movies are nothing like their real-life counterparts

AND: THEN & NOW: The cast of 'Jurassic Park' 22 years later

AND: Here's how the 'Jurassic World' dinosaurs looked in real life

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The new 'Jurassic World' trailer shows why it took $190 million to make this summer blockbuster

When it was first released during the summer of 1993, "Jurassic Park" not only captured the imaginations of viewers with its dazzling special effects, it also made dinosaurs cool again, and made the public interested in paleontology.

"It had a big influence on me in wanting to study Paleontology."Dr. John Hutchinson, an evolutionary biomechanist and professor at the Royal Veterinary College in London, explained to Business Insider. "The original film was a landmark in cinema, in many ways and also an important moment in Paleontology that influenced a lot of people including me."

Our understanding of dinosaurs has changed a lot in the 22 years since "Jurassic Park" debuted in theaters, however, and the film ignores these changes.

A few years after the first film came out, it was discovered that some dinosaurs were feathered. While you won't find any feathers on the dinos in "Jurassic Park," the film does cling to the theory that dinosaurs had more in common with birds than reptiles.

"I bet you'll never look at birds the same way again," Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) muses while watching a T. rex take a Gallimimus down. 

In reality, the T. rex was still a flesh-eating carnivore. However, its actual feathered appearance diverges from the popular image of it as seen in "Jurassic Park."

While some interpret that prehistoric beasts were covered entirely in feathers, others think the feathers were just "filaments and strands," as Dr. Mark Norell, current Chairman of Paleontology at the American Museum of Natural History, tells Business Insider.

However, it's no longer just a theory that dinosaurs had bird-like features: It is a flat-out fact. 

"The distinction between what is a bird and what is a dinosaur has really gone away." said Norell.

Here's what T. rex looked like in "Jurassic Park":

And this is what scientists today think the T. rex really looked like:

Take note of the small, feathered arms and bird-like feet:

Yet, the newly discovered physical appearance hasn't altered how the "Jurassic Park" franchise has portrayed its dinosaurs. 

In "Jurassic World," you will not find a single feather, but rather the same, reptile-like appearances found in previous films.

"Jurassic World" director Colin Trevorrow announced this in a simple way on Twitter in March 2013:

This decision goes beyond the justification of artistic license into what some paleontologists believe is scientific irresponsibility.

"Well, I understand the primary mission of the movie is to tell a story and everything has to lend itself towards telling that story,"Hutchinson said. "It doesn't contribute to telling the story in some way then it's not so important. But if part of the story and the selling point of the movie is 'this is a scientifically accurate, believable vision of what could be,' then scientific accuracy begins to matter more and more." 

Hutchinson notes the original film was praised by the scientific community for sticking to the science as much as humanly possible, with a notable exception.

"If you are kind of marketing the movie as a scientific vision, then I think the 'Jurassic Park' films have given up on that largely." Hutchinson added.

There's no arguing that the T. rex of "Jurassic Park" is terrifying. Some might believe adding feathers to it would have made it less scary, especially when a lot of scientists now compare it to a "big chicken."

Hutchinson, however, believes the opposite. 

"There's still a significant sector of the public that don't like the idea of dinosaurs with feathers and think its less scary. But I think that's totally wrong. If you actually put some thought into it you can make feathered dinosaurs incredibly terrifying." Hutchinson said.

Norell concurred. 

"I think any animal that's over 40 feet long and 12 feet high at the hip, and has, you know, six inch long teeth, I mean, if it was in a clown suit it would still look scary." Norell said. 

If Spielberg and Trevorrow took these changes into account, it might have made for a stranger, more unique "Jurassic World" that completely veered away from the franchise. 

However, just because paleontologists are displeased with the science, that doesn't mean that "Jurassic World" won't be a fun time at the movies. 

"You know, people have to realize that these films are entertainment." Norell said. "I remember back when one of the films came out several years ago, I said that these films are to Paleontology what 'Star Trek' is to Stephen Hawking...They're not documentaries, they're pure fantasies and storytelling. And when I say that, I'm not making a judgment on them at all because of course fantasy storytelling can be really great. It's just...they're not textbooks about dinosaur paleontology."

Feathers or not still won't stop scientists from seeing "Jurassic World."

When asked if he would go see "Jurassic World," Hutchinson succinctly answered, "Sure...yeah."

SEE ALSO: The velociraptors in the 'Jurassic Park' movies are nothing like their real-life counterparts

AND: An Earth, Wind, and Fire song inspired Spielberg to create one of the most terrifying scenes from 'Jurassic Park'

AND: THEN & NOW: The cast of 'Jurassic Park' 22 years later

AND: Here's how the 'Jurassic World' dinosaurs looked in real life

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The new 'Jurassic World' trailer shows why it took $190 million to make this summer blockbuster

The first three "Jurassic Park" films grossed a combined total of nearly $2 billion worldwide, so it's a bit surprising "Jurassic World," the latest installment in the franchise, took a decade to get made.

Steven Spielberg, who directed the first two installments in the franchise, came up with an idea for "Jurassic World" while on set for 2001's "Jurassic Park III." In 2002, it was announced a fourth "Jurassic Park" was slated for a summer 2005 release.

After delays and script rewrites the 2005 release was pushed to 2014, and finally 2015 as "Jurassic World" waded through a 10-year mess to make it to the big screen. 

The delay partially stemmed from the fact that creative positions changed hands several times. Joe Johnston, the director of "Jurassic Park III," didn't want to take the director's chair again. Instead, Johnston ended up directing 2011's "Captain America: The First Avenger."

Meanwhile, multiple versions of a script for the fourth film circulated around Hollywood for the last decade.

According to the New York Times, several writers came in to work on it at different times. In January 2013, it was officially announced "Jurassic World" would be released June 2014. The timeline gave the project a little over a year for completion.

Yet, Colin Trevorrow, who previously directed the popular indie feature "Safety Not Guaranteed," was up for this daunting task.

He was hired before he even got to see what was written down, and, when he did, he didn't quite like what he saw.

“I didn’t understand what it was about,” Trevorrow told the New York Times.

One of the early versions of the script that they were working off of was penned byWiliam Monahan (who won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for "The Departed") and John Sayles ("Lone Star").

This one featured a genetically modified dinosaur spliced with DNA of both a dinosaur and a human — which likely served as early inspiration of the hybrid Indominus Rex which appears in "Jurassic World." Back in 2007, Moriarty at Ain't It Cool News got a hold of a copy of this script and described it as "A Dirty Dozen-style mercenary team of hyper-smart dinosaurs in body armour killing drug dealers and rescuing kidnapped children." 

So Trevorrow and his writing partner Derek Connolly did some edits to another version of the script, this one written by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver. Among their alterations was the decision to expand on the idea of trained raptors and make them "as realistic as can be," as Connolly told Empire. 

Spielberg, who serves as executive producer (and was very heavily involved throughout the entire process despite never visiting the set) on "Jurassic World," liked the new ideas, but decided not to rush it.

According to the same New York Times article, Spielberg told Trevorrow they should take another year, because "if we do it right this could be really special.” 

Along with the writers and director, the cast shifted several times.

At one point, Jeff Goldblum, Sam Neill, and Richard Attenborough were all set to reprise their "Jurassic Park" roles for the fourth film, a fact that all three of them had confirmed.

While Attenborough passed away in 2014, it seems Trevorrow wants to try and build something new and fresh out of an existing idea. Trevorrow and Connolly decided "Jurassic World" would be better off without the return of several "Jurassic Park" alums.

"I know a lot of fans want to see the original characters back. They’re iconic." Trevorrow said in an interview with IGN. "But I respect those actors too much to shoehorn them into this story for my own sentimental reasons. 'Jurassic Park' isn’t about the bad luck of three people who keep getting thrown into the same situation. The only reason they’d go back to that island is if the screenwriters contrived a reason for them to go."

Despite this, B.D. Wong is set to reprise his role as Dr. Henry Wu.

It might have taken ten years to assemble, but it looks like they might not do too badly with this cast, which is led by Chris Pratt. Following the overwhelming success of "The LEGO Movie" and "Guardians of the Galaxy," Pratt has become one of the biggest movie stars in the world. He is joined by the likes of Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D'Onofrio ("Daredevil"), and Jake Johnson.

"Jurassic World" opens in theaters on June 12.

SEE ALSO: An Earth, Wind, and Fire song inspired Spielberg to create one of the most terrifying scenes from 'Jurassic Park'

AND: THEN & NOW: The cast of 'Jurassic Park' 22 years later

AND: The velociraptors in the 'Jurassic Park' movies are nothing like their real-life counterparts

AND: Here's how the 'Jurassic World' dinosaurs looked in real life

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The new 'Jurassic World' trailer shows why it took $190 million to make this summer blockbuster

"Jurassic World" had a huge opening weekend at the box office.

The film brought in an estimated $511.8 million worldwide — an estimated $204.6 million in North America and $307.2 million overseas.

That's literally greater than the annual gross domestic product of these seven countries, according to the 2013 figures from the World Bank:

1. Tonga — $466.3 million
2. Federated States of Micronesia— $316.2 million
3. Sao Tome and Principe— $310.7 million
4. Palau— $247 million
5. Marshall Islands— $190.9 million
6. Kiribati— $168.95 million
7. Tuvalu— $38.3 million

It just fell short of Dominica, which has a GDP of $514.8 million.

SEE ALSO: This brilliant map resizes each US state proportionally to the size of its economy

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NOW WATCH: 5 science facts 'Jurassic World' totally ignored

Not only has Universal's "Jurassic World" brought the franchise back from near extinction, it chewed up and spit out every box-office prediction to come in vastly ahead of expectations.

The tentpole opened to an estimated $511.8 million at the global box office this weekend, the top showing of all time, stomping past previous record-holder "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2" ($483.2 million) and becoming the first film to ever cross $500 million in one weekend. That includes $204.6 million in North America, the No. 2 showing behind "The Avengers" ($207.4 million). And if Sunday is stronger than expected, "Jurassic World" could even beat "Avengers."

So how was "Jurassic World," directed by Colin Trevorrow, able to roar louder than a T. Rex? Here, The Hollywood Reporter looks at some of the reasons it is so big:

1. Boys Love Their Dinosaurs

Males made up 58% of the audience, and particularly younger males, who are an endangered species at the box office. That's why so many tentpoles have underperformed in North America in recent times. Males are also more willing to shell out extra money for Imax and 3D, helping to explain why nearly half of the film's gross is coming from 3D houses. According to Rentrak's PostTrak service, 50% of ticket buyers were under the age of 25, a hearty showing. And of the kids turning out with their families, nearly 60% were boys, including 24% under the age of 10. (In the run-up to the movie's opening, Universal sister company NBC aired the original "Jurassic Park" on stations across the country.)

2. Nostalgia

"Jurassic World" certainly had no trouble luring older consumers who remember seeing Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park" on the big screen 22 years ago. There were two more films in the "Jurassic" series, but the dinos lost their bite and the series languished. But fans of the first film apparently never lost hope that the franchise would make a comeback and were more than willing to give "Jurassic World" a chance.

3. Chris Pratt

The affable actor toiled for years in supporting roles before "Guardians of the Galaxy," James Gunn's quirky superhero movie, surprised and transformed into a global hit last summer. Thanks to "Guardians" and "Jurassic World," he's now a bona fide leading man— and one of the world's biggest stars in terms of box-office clout. (In "Jurassic World," he shares top billing with Bryce Dallas Howard.)

4. China

The majority of Hollywood tentpoles don't get to open right away in China, depressing the overall global opening. But not"Jurassic World." The movie rolled out in 66 foreign markets over the weekend, earning $307.2 million — including $100.8 million in China. Put another way, that's one-fifth of the tentpole's entire global gross. The only major market where "Jurassic World" has yet to open is Japan.

5. Theme Parks

Millions of consumers around the globe have become familiar with the dinosaur property via Universal's theme parks, which have made huge gains in the past four years in terms of attendance and revenue. There are multiple "Jurassic Park" attractions at Universal Studios Hollywood, Islands of Adventure in Orlando, Universal Studios Japan, and Universal Studios Singapore. NBC Universal's expanding theme-park business is thriving, and is the fastest-growing segment of the media company.

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NOW WATCH: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The original 1993 'Jurassic Park' cast today

One of the underlying motives in "Jurassic World" is the need to create a profitable dinosaur park. This is what pushes the creation of dangerous hybrid dinosaur Indominus Rex.

Now, it makes sense why money is always on Claire's (Bryce Dallas Howard) mind: Operating a dinosaur park isn't cheap. A video from Fandango's Movieclips broke down all of the park's costs and came to the conclusion that overall, running Jurassic World would cost $23,432,400,000.

The video uses real life examples to figure out how much a dinosaur park would cost. 

According to Movieclips, the biggest cost would be the purchase of two islands.

There's the one to house the dinos, Isla Nublar:

And, then Isla Sorna, where the dinosaurs are raised:

Both of these islands are off the coast of Costa Rica. The video used Costa Rica real estate websites to estimate that both islands combined are worth a grand total of $10,000,000,000.

Meanwhile, the park would have to employ an array of scientists, caretakers, and lawyers (who probably have a lot on their plate after every dinosaur attack).

That adds up to a price of about $7.9 million.

Then, you actually have to clone the dinosaurs. To figure out that huge cost, the video cites real life company Bio Arts, which is one of a handful of companies that clones people's dogs. They charge $150,000 to clone a dog. That number is multiplied by 50 to represent the 50 different dinosaurs in the park. 

Adding a few other research phases brings that grand total to $8.5 million.

For example, extracting the dinosaur DNA from mosquitoes trapped in amber is estimated to cost about $9 million.

The construction of the park might cost something around $1.5 billion. This is a similar amount it took to build some of the world's biggest theme parks. 

According to the video, Disney spends about $11.7 billion a year in park operating expenses, or an astounding $32 million per day.

The cost to "feed, groom, and nurture" dinosaurs would be around $307 million a year.

This number comes from the actual cost of "a very large zoo."

The San Diego Zoo, the world's largest zoo; it has 3,700 animals and more than 650 different species. They spend about $307 million a year in operating expenses, which would be about the same cost for caring for the dinosaurs.

Once you've brought all those dinosaurs back, you have to keep them alive. 

Add up all these costs for a grand total of $23,432,400,000 with annual repeating costs of $11,907,000,000. So while park attendance seems to be high and tickets to get in aren't cheap, it takes a lot to break even.

No word though on how much it costs to purchase all those great white sharks that Mosasaurus feasts on in the film.

"Jurassic World" is currently in theaters. It recently broke a few box-officerecords.

Watch the full video below:

SEE ALSO: 'Jurassic World' just surpassed 'Avengers' for the highest-grossing opening weekend ever

AND: Here's how the 'Jurassic World' dinosaurs looked in real life

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The original 1993 'Jurassic Park' cast today

Yes, this is for real.

No, there isn't dinosaur DNA trapped in amber, waiting to be replicated and cloned.

But that's not the only way to make a dino, said Jack Horner, the paleontologist who worked on "Jurassic World" (and the rest of the "Jurassic Park" films), and he wants to make it happen.

How did we get to this point, where Horner — one of the main inspirations for Michael Crichton's "Jurassic Park" character Alan Grant— thinks we can make a live dinosaur within five to 10 years?

"It all started with 'Jurassic Park,'" Horner told Business Insider in an interview.

In 1993, the same year the first movie came out, he and then-graduate student Mary Schweitzer, who has continued to make some amazing discoveries in the field of paleontology, tried to extract DNA from dinosaur bones.

They failed. DNA basically starts coming apart as soon as a cell dies, says Horner, and no one has ever found intact dinosaur DNA — he doesn't think it's possible. "If you did the thing they did in 'Jurassic Park,'" says Horner (referring to the story's solution of filling in dino DNA gaps with frog DNA), "you'd basically have a frog."

About 20 years of genetics research later, however, Horner has another plan — and it relies on the fact that we have a more effective way to get "dinosaur" DNA.

Going back in time

We have creatures on the planet that are the direct descendants of dinosaurs: birds. And if you ask a paleontologist, birds are dinosaurs, specifically avian dinosaurs.

They might not look like dinosaurs, but birds have feathers, just like dinosaurs, including the ferocious velociraptor. Over time, their descendants' snouts turned into beaks, they stopped growing tails, and wings further evolved into modern bird wings.

But birds didn't necessarily lose the genes that code for tails or arms or snouts — instead, those same traits most likely exist in their genetic code, inactive, while the newer genes for wings, tail feathers, and beaks are expressed.

Horner thinks that we can suppress these new genes and express the atavistic, throwback dinosaurian genes instead. And his plan is to do this first with a well-researched bird that we're all familiar with, a chicken, giving us... a "chickenosaurus," as he described in a TED talk, or a "dino-chicken."

Picture it: a small, feathered creature, with a tail that helps it balance, small arms with claws, and a toothy snout, instead of a beak.

Remember, real velociraptors were just the size of a large turkey.

Horner has talked about pet dinosaurs for a while. Publishers of his book, "How to Build a Dinosaur: Extinction Doesn't Have to Be Forever" came out in 2009, originally planned to release it around the same time as "Jurassic Park 4."

Basically, Horner says, he's trying to discover the genetic pathways that turned birds into the modern creatures we know, so we can turn back the clock on a chicken's evolutionary history.

And as wild as this may sound, Horner's not the only one doing this type of work. A pair of Harvard and Yale scientists recently announced they'd found a way to turn chicken beaks back into dinosaur snouts. Skeptics think building a dino snout won't be so easy, and will involve as-yet undiscovered genetics. But the researchers counter that their work shows just how fast the science in this field is developing.

Horner says we can look at the beak study as a "proof of concept" that this reverse engineering process is feasible.

That Harvard-Yale team is working on the beak. In 2014, another group reported in PLOS Biology they'd figured out how dinosaur arms fused into wings. Horner is working on the tail. And he thinks that with the right funding, we can reverse-engineer and grow a dinosaur in five to ten years.

Creating something new

If researchers reverse-engineer a bird, they'd have some sort of dinosaur, though it would still be a new species — the process by which modern birds evolved happened over tens of millions of years, and the few changes we're talking about here probably wouldn't represent an exact creature that existed 65 million years ago.

And dinosaurs that weren't of the avian variety still wouldn't be represented. We have no modern descendant of a stegosaurus or a brontosaurus (newly restored to real dino status).

But the rapidly changing world of genetics could open up the possibility for creating animals just like, say, a triceratops.

Horner says that if we were interested, we could genetically engineer creatures like these, or like anything else we can figure out a genetic code for, even if it never existed in nature. Once we figure out the genes that create a trait, those genes could potentially be incorporated into an animal. We've already done this. Researchers used the genes from jellyfish to make rabbits that glow in the dark, and other researchers made mice with transparent skin. Once we know the code for a trait, we could use that to make a creature.

Horner uses a unicorn as an example — we'd just need to add genes for a horn. "We could probably get to a unicorn before we get to a dino-chicken," he says.

So why do it?

Though some of this might sound like it's totally out there, there are practical applications. If Horner's team figures out how to make a tail grow, that might unlock the ability to better understand the growth of vertebrae and neural tissue, with fascinating medical implications.

He also thinks "if we can make a dino-chicken, it's pretty cool." It might help get kids interested in genetics at a young age — what kid doesn't love dinosaurs?

Plus, Horner points out that we've been genetically modifying the genes of animals for thousands of years. We've just called it "breeding."

"People made chihuahuas out of wolves, for God's sake," he says.

SEE ALSO: 10 super-genes that scientists could someday program into your body

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The new 'Jurassic World' trailer shows why it took $190 million to make this summer blockbuster

“Jurassic World” gives you exactly what you asked for and maybe a little more.

Oh, you want to watch a giant, freakish, unidentified dinosaur eat people? You’ve got it. You want deep nostalgic feelings for one of the best blockbusters of all time? Here, take these night vision goggles. 

However, if you were hoping for a neat, streamlined story, you might want to look elsewhere.

“Jurassic World” is the first sequel to “Jurassic Park,” Spielberg’s 1993 classic, that doesn't feel ashamed of the fact that it is a sequel to “Jurassic Park.” In fact, the events of the film completely ignore everything from "The Lost World," and "Jurassic Park III," and act as a direct sequel to the first movie. It is the best sequel in the series so far, but maybe that isn’t saying a lot. Of course, it takes on a lot of the formula of its predecessors, but it actually does have some new things to say. 

22 years after the dream of John Hammond was squashed by some renegade Velociraptors, a new dinosaur theme park has opened. This time, it is called Jurassic World, and it's built on the foundation of Jurassic Park on Isla Nublar. If horror movies have taught the world one lesson, its that you should never build your house on an Indian burial ground. 

The park is now run by the uptight Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) who is worried about profits and investors even as attendance for Jurassic World is spiking. While the original park resembled a wildlife reserve, Jurassic World looks more like SeaWorld (especially with all the talk of keeping animals isolated in captivity), complete with a Stegosaurus petting zoo, unbearably long lines, and a Starbucks.

For a giant popcorn movie, “Jurassic World” is surprisingly self-aware and even thoughtful.

The story centers mostly around the creation of Indominus Rex, a hybrid dinosaur made up of the DNA of T. rex and several other undisclosed creatures. Indominus is created because, according to Claire, people are bored by regular old dinosaurs now. They have been around in this world long enough that they are just like any other animal. Thus, Jurassic World needs something new and scary, just like the “Jurassic Park” franchise needed a fresh new voice. 

Clearly, Claire is wrong. We weren't bored by dinosaurs; we were bored by bad storytelling. And that misunderstanding is probably why a lot of people end up getting eaten.

As a summer blockbuster, “Jurassic World” works well as escapist fun, and the blinding nostalgia of the past certainly helps. It’ll be impossible not to cheer as a few recognizable dinosaurs from the past are reintroduced.

But it doesn’t just reintroduce some old elements for the sake of striking a cheap emotional cord. 

It might only be a minor spoiler to say that there is a scene where the latest kids running from dinosaurs (Nick Robinson and Ty Simpkins) stumble into some recognizable items.

The “Jurassic Park” series is a strange, inconsistent franchise, in that it is always abandoning characters and locations in exchange for more dinosaurs. The biggest strength of “Jurassic World” is its focus on world-building. You really get the sense that this expansive theme park is actually a nightmare in disguise. It is more than enough to kick off the next few “Jurassic” sequels which will definitely happen now.

The dinosaurs of “Jurassic World” feel like the most fully fleshed out characters here. While the trained Velociraptors go against all rules of science, it is a good twist. It feels like “Terminator 2,” in which Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator goes from bad guy to good guy. 

Perhaps what “Jurassic World” could have used more of is better human characters. Bryce Dallas Howard does her best with a fairly bland character. Meanwhile, a divorce subplot is inexplicably added in and then completely dropped, just one of the many open threads that are never closed in the film.

However, Chris Pratt is great as Owen, the navy seal and friend of the Velociraptors. Pratt plays Owen like a mix of Indiana Jones and Crocodile Dundee. Pratt is not the lead actor here, but that doesn't stop him from stealing every scene he is in. I suspect that had “World” gone into development after “Guardians of the Galaxy” came out, Pratt would have gotten a lot more screen time.

Also great in the necessary role of comic relief is Jake Johnson as Lowery, who seems to be taking Samuel L. Jackson's old job. You might know Johnson as Nick Miller in "New Girl," and also for his role in "Jurassic World" director Colin Trevorrow's first feature "Safety Not Guaranteed."

But sometimes, the character who provides comic relief is never allowed to be more than that.

Lowery comes to work in a Jurassic Park shirt that came from the original park that he found on eBay. His co-worker (Lauren Lapkus) reminds him that this is in poor taste because "people died there."

This meta moment is crucial.

“Jurassic World” really wants to be the next “Jurassic Park,” but there is a key difference. While “Jurassic Park” played off our love of dinosaurs, “Jurassic World” plays off our love of “Jurassic Park.”

It gets that, and that is why it tries to spoon-feed both the nostalgia and the new stuff that a sequel should provide. Director Colin Trevorrow ("Safety Not Guaranteed") doesn’t have Spielberg’s gift for build-up, but he definitely learned a lot from him. While the blood dripping from the tree was a great visual effect, it would have been nice if they waited a little bit longer to introduce Indominus.

You have to give Trevorrow a lot of credit for taking on “Jurassic World”: This was a film meant to attract a huge audience that could have easily made a lot of people angry if done incorrectly. After all, “Jurassic World” was in development hell for 10 years.

In doing so, he made a mainstream movie packed with weird ideas. This is a big dinosaur picture that also decides to bring in the military and condemn SeaWorld. It doesn’t always work, but you admire how much he throws at the wall. 

“Jurassic World,” tries to show that sometimes, it's okay not to give in to all of your audience’s demands. When you do that, you end up with a flesh-eating Frankenstein dinosaur.

Overall, one of the points of sequels is to introduce an old story to a new audience. If "Jurassic World" is somebody's first introduction to "Jurassic Park," then it's not a terrible place to start.

SEE ALSO: Why it took 10 years to bring 'Jurassic World' to theaters

AND: ‘Jurassic World’ completely ignores these important discoveries scientists have made about dinosaurs

AND: Here's how the 'Jurassic World' dinosaurs looked in real life

AND: 'Jurassic World' is the first movie ever to crack $500 million in its opening weekend

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The new 'Jurassic World' trailer shows why it took $190 million to make this summer blockbuster

Warning: This article contains some major spoilers for "Jurassic World."

Despite being the fourth movie in the "Jurassic Park" franchise, "Jurassic World" is considered to be a direct sequel to 1993's "Jurassic Park." 

It's a faithful sequel filled with references to the original. Some are obvious, and some you'll have to think twice about.

Here are all of the "Jurassic Park" references we spotted while seeing the film:

1. Mr. DNA hasn't gone anywhere.

This helpful cartoon was first featured in a movie that John Hammond (Richard Attenborough) showed guests as a fun way to inform them about the crazy genetic experiments happening at Jurassic Park. He can be seen once again at the entrance of Jurassic World.

2. Claire's outfit echoes the past

A lot has been said about how ridiculous it is to watch Claire (Bryce Dallas Howard) run away from dinosaurs while wearing high heels. 

However, her actual outfit in general could be a throwback.

Bustle points out she wears an all white outfit just like John Hammond before her. 

Then, at one point in the movie, she dramatically pauses to tie her shirt in a knot. On The /Filmcast, Joanna Robinson points out that the other great "Jurassic Park" heroine, Laura Dern did the same thing in the first movie:

3. The T. rex once again feasts on a goat

In "Jurassic Park," you get a lot of hints at the T. rex's fury before she can actually be seen in full view. One of them is a goat attached to a rope that eventually disappears.

Early in "Jurassic World," the boys visit the T. rex, and a live goat is seen once again, only to be devoured seconds later. But don't worry, that isn't our only view of the beast.

4. Baby Triceratops finally makes an appearance

According to a making of feature, Spielberg originally wanted to include a baby Triceratops in "Jurassic Park." Despite the fact that this scene was cut, they still made an animatronic reconstruction of it.

To make up for this absence, we get an entire baby Triceratops petting zoo in "Jurassic World."

5. The Dilophosaurus returns in less-deadly hologram form

The lizard-like Dilophosaurus famously ended Dennis Nedry's (Wayne Knight) plans in "Jurassic Park."

Fans of the first will notice the small, yet terrifying dinosaur can be seen in hologram form in "Jurassic World" near the end of the film.

6. John Hammond statue

In "Jurassic Park," billionaire John Hammond's dream of a dinosaur theme park is crushed, and he is absolutely devastated.

In "Jurassic World," his dream comes to life. And while he isn't around to see it (actor Richard Attenborough passed away in 2014), a statue of him stands tall in Hammond Hall.

7. Mosquito in amber

As it's revealed in "Jurassic Park," dinosaurs are created through DNA extraction from ancient mosquitoes trapped in amber.

The mosquitoes make many cameos in "Jurassic World," including giant statues all around the park.

8. Jake Johnson's got a "Jurassic Park" T-shirt

In one of the film's many meta moments, Lowery (Jake Johnson) wears a Jurassic Park T-shirt from the original park souvenir shop which he paid a big price for on eBay. 

9. Jeff Goldblum's character Ian Malcolm wrote a book

Unfortunately, chaos theorist Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) couldn't return for a "Jurassic World" cameo. However, his impact in this movie universe can still be felt.

At one point, a copy of his book, "God Creates Dinosaurs," can be seen on Jurassic Park nerd Lowery's desk.

10. The return of Dr. Henry Wu

B.D. Wong is the only original cast member to return for "Jurassic World." 

Wu is the scientist responsible for much of the dinosaurs that are seen in the park, including Indominus Rex. In "Jurassic World," it comes to light that he may just be the franchise's biggest villain.

11. Tim Murphy's night vision goggles

While running from the Indominus Rex, Claire's nephews Gray (Ty Simpkins) and Zach (Nick Robinson) discover the ruins of the original Jurassic Park hidden deep in the woods of Isla Nublar. 

Inside an old shed, Gray picks up a pair of night vision goggles, most likely the same ones worn by Tim (Joseph Mazzello) during the T. rex's night attack. 

12. The original "Jurassic Park" Jeep

Also found in the shed are two Jeeps from the original park. They look withered both by time and the T. rex attacks. 

The Jeep Gray and Zach end up taking is marked 29, the same one driven by John Hammond near the start of "Jurassic Park"

13. "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" banner

Another item found from the original park is a tattered banner with "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth" written across it. This banner could be seen in one of the last shots of "Jurassic Park," after the T. rex defeats the Velociraptors, re-establishes her dominance in the animal kingdom, and inadvertently becomes the hero of the film.

14. The reappearance of the T. rex

The original T. rex makes a very brief appearance at the beginning of "Jurassic World," but it is not the last time we see her.

Just when it seems like the Indominus Rex will make a meal out of everybody left at the park, Claire demands Lowery open up a certain gate. She walks up with a flare, just like Ian Malcolm before her, and signals that yes, the T. rex is back, giving fans something to cheer about.

SEE ALSO: 'Jurassic World' has a ton of hit and miss ideas — but it's a wild ride

AND: 12 things you probably didn't know about 'Jurassic Park'

AND: An Earth, Wind, and Fire song inspired Steven Spielberg to create one of the most terrifying scenes from 'Jurassic Park'

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The original 1993 'Jurassic Park' cast today

Produced by Monica Manalo.  Graphics by Skye Gould.  Research by Jessica Orwig.

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If you were among the dinosaur-loving hordes that helped Jurassic World to the biggest opening weekend in movie history, then you've already met the park's aquatic attraction: a massive ancient carnivore that would have cruised the world's oceans some 80 million to 66 million years ago.

Here's what we know about the mighty Mosasaurus.

1. Mosasaurs are not dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs are distinguished from other reptiles that once roamed the earth by, of all things, their hip sockets. The term "dinosaur" is actually very specific and describes only the land-dwelling descendants of the "ruling reptiles", the archosaurs. Mosasaurs, on the other hand, are more closely related to modern-day lizards.

2. It took a while to figure out what a mosasaur actually was

The first time a fragment of a mosasaur skull was found, in The Netherlands in 1764, it was mistaken for a fish. In the decades that followed, it was described as a giant crocodile and even a sperm whale. After French Revolutionary forces seized the skull while attacking the Fortress of Maastricht where it was held, French scientists argued over whether it was a crocodile, a whale or a giant monitor lizard.

It wasn't until 1822 that palaeontologist William Daniel Conybeare officially assigned the skull to a still-undescribed ancient reptile, which he named Mosasaurus.

3. It's taking a while to figure out what they're related to

As with a lot of things in science, their proper place in the tree of life is still being debated by palaeontologists. Originally, the ancient reptiles were thought to belong in the same order as snakes, given that they shared the trait of a double-hinged jaw. However, scientists later revised this theory, and mosasaurs found themselves reassigned to the same order as monitor lizards. Now, some scientists seem to be leaning towards the original snake theory once again.

4. They gave birth to live young.

Mosasaurs were reptiles, but some common mosasaur traits differ vastly from those you'd find in other marine reptiles. For example, most modern marine reptiles, like sea turtles and marine iguanas, lay eggs up on the shore. But mosasaurs would have given birth to live young in the water, and may even have given their offspring some parental protection.

5. There were lots of different mosasaurs

There were many species of mosasaurs. Smaller species were only around three metres long, but larger ones could grow to a gigantic 12-15 metres!

6. Some mosasaurs had shark-like tails

Until fairly recently, experts thought mosasaurs would have cruised through the water at a pretty leisurely pace, their whip-like tails (similar to those of eels or snakes) allowing for only brief bursts of speed to lunge at prey. But a 2013 study flipped what we know about mosasaur tails upside down, suggesting these aquatic predators had powerful, shark-like tails that would have allowed for high-speed hunting.

7. They ate EVERYTHING

Mosasaur fossils unearthed with other animal remains preserved where the stomach would have been have allowed scientists to conclude that these formidable hunters would have dined on fish, sharks, marine reptiles (including other mosasaurs), sea birds and any dinosaurs that got too close to the water.

8. They had countershading!

Thanks to a group of scientists led by Dr Johan Lindgren who discovered the pigment melanin in the fossilised scales of a mosasaur, scientists now think it's likely that these aquatic reptiles were light on their undersides and dark on top. This "countershading" is similar to what we see in sharks and whales, and is a handy form of marine camouflage.

9. They lived EVERYWHERE ... even in fresh water!

For a long time, experts believed mosasaurs lived only in marine environments. That's until scientists in Hungary collected over 100 bones of a new freshwater mosasaur species from a site that has produced no other marine or brackish-water animals or plants.

This new species was dubbed Pannoniasaurus inexpectatus, meaning "unexpected Hungary lizard". Mosasaur remains have been unearthed pretty much all over the globe – Europe, Asia, some parts of Africa, North America, South and Central America ... even some parts of Antarctica! They got around.

UP NEXT: Here’s how big the dinosaurs in Jurassic Park would be in real life

SEE ALSO: The paleontologist who worked on 'Jurassic World' is trying to create a real dinosaur within 5 to 10 years

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NOW WATCH: This is how big dinosaurs actually were in real life

Twenty-two years after the release of "Jurassic Park," the memorable theme song from the 1993 film has found its way to the top of a Billboard chart.

On the strength of the recent box-office domination by the film's sequel, "Jurassic World," John Williams' "Jurassic Park Theme" has jumped to No. 1 on Billboard's Classic Digital Songs list — a "205 percent gain" after selling 3,000 copies last week, according to Nielsen Music.

With 2,000 digital copies sold, the No. 2 song on the list is a cover of the same "Jurassic Park Theme" by The Piano Guys. The group also recently released a cover of the "Jurassic World Theme," accompanied by a music video with surprisingly impressive production values. 

On this week's Billboard 200, Michael Giacchino's original soundtrack for "Jurassic World" is sitting rather dormant at No. 126.

By comparison, Williams' original soundtrack for "Jurassic Park" debuted at No. 28 on the same chart back in 1993 and has sold 863,000 copies to date.

Watch Williams conduct a live rendition of "Jurassic Park Theme" below:

SEE ALSO: Marvel sent an awesome congratulations to 'Jurassic World' for breaking the Avengers' box-office record

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Following the two sequels to the 1993 smash hit “Jurassic Park,” actor BD Wong realized he had to take things into his own hands.

As Dr. Henry Wu in “Jurassic Park,” the chief engineer responsible for the recreation of the dinosaurs in the park, there was never any resolution to what happened to the character.

Did he get eaten by his creations once the park lost power and roamed free? Did he make it on one of the last boats off the island?

The character's absence in any followup sequels led to years of people asking Wong what happened to Dr. Wu. Finally, the actor was ready to finally give the fans what they wanted.

“I was at the point where I wanted to make some videos to put online showing what happened to him,” Wong told Business Insider. “Silly things for the fans, like he somehow ended up with the shaving cream can.” Referring to the infamous Barbasol can filled with dinosaur embryos that dropped out of Dennis Nedry’s coat when he was attacked by a Dilophosaurus in “Jurassic Park.”

But before he could follow through on his zany idea the phone rang, and it was “Jurassic Word” director Colin Trevorrow.

A year before “Jurassic World” went into production, Trevorrow reached out to the actor and asking if he would like to reprise the role of Dr. Wu.

“I was like, ‘Sure, of course, that sounds great,’” Wong recalled. “I didn’t really take it that seriously because things change all the time.”

Wong knows that from first-hand experience.

The 54 year old is a veteran character actor having worked on “Law & Order: SVU” for 11 years playing Dr. George Huang and starring in countless movies since the 1980s. But when he got the call to play Dr. Wu the first time around in “Jurassic Park” he thought it would bring him to the next level.

Mainly, because of the size of the Dr. Wu character in the book. In which he stays on the island with the others to regain power to the park.

“I was actually hired from auditions I did that were scenes taken from the book,” said Wong, referring to the Michael Crichton novel the movie is based on.

“So imagine my surprise when I got a call that I was working on the movie for one day,” he said.

Though his character was stripped bare, Wong got over it quickly because being on a movie of that magnitude definitely helped him get more work.

But when Trevorrow came calling 20-plus years later, Wong was a bit skeptical.

“I think he might have sensed that I was sensitive to their not being much to [the character],” he said. “He was courting me in a way.”

As Wong predicted, it was months following that first call with Trevorrow when he finally got word that Dr. Wu was going to be in the film.

But how they had fleshed out the Dr. Wu character was beyond Wong’s expectations.

“The character was coming full circle but also they were giving him his due in some way,” Wong said. “They were making him into a three-dimensional person and I liked that.”

In “Jurassic World,” Dr. Wu is now the head of the division that clones dinosaurs and has pushed the boundaries of cloning. He's in charge of developing bigger, and more dangerous creatures to keep fans of the theme park returning for more.

Dr. Wu’s major scene comes after his newest creation, the Indominus Rex, has escaped and the park’s owner Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan) comes to Dr. Wu for answers. Like in “Jurassic Park,” Dr. Wu gives the audience a better understanding of what our heroes are up against. But this time Trevorrow wanted the character to have an added layer.

“We’re about to shoot my big scene with Simon Masrani, Colin comes over to me and says, ‘You know, I think Wu he should say, ‘All of this is because of me,’” Wong recalls.

The line was not in the script, and Wong was instantly taken-aback that Trevorrow would let a lower-tier character say a line of such magnitude.

“I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ But I said the line in every take from that point on,” Wong said. “But I thought they were never going to use that. Or Universal would not let them use it. That’s just too much of a commitment.”

But it was left in. And that chilling line presented the audience with a side of Dr. Wu they didn’t see coming. A person so full of himself that he now has a God complex. The importance of Dr. Wu to the story is confirmed in his last scene when we see him fly off Jurassic World with a suitcase full of dino embryos.

So, will we see Dr. Wu if there are sequels to “Jurassic World”?

Wong is as curious as we are.

“I'm not even being coy, I don't have any idea,” he said. “I read the movie and had the same reaction that most all people are having in regards to that. So if you're the kind of person who's inclined to root for that thing to happen then there's a certain amount of encouragement there.”

Is Wong one of those people rooting for that?

“I think I am,” he said, “because now you can tell that the potential [for the character] is really great.”

SEE ALSO: Actor BD Wong blames "racial exclusion in Hollywood" for his small role in "Jurassic Park"

MORE: "Jurassic World" actor BD Wong says there was "ridiculous" security required to read the script

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: 5 science facts 'Jurassic World' totally ignored

A big reason for the historic box office success of “Jurassic World” is due to its nostalgia for the original 1993 hit, “Jurassic Park.”

Lowery’s vintage t-shirt with the original logo, the kids riding around in one of the old jeeps from the first film, and the return of Dr. Henry Wu are just some of the goodies you can find in the new movie that reference the original.

But the actor who plays Dr. Wu, BD Wong, says there’s one thing “World” has done much better than “Park” — ethnic diversity.

“Twenty-two years ago it was Sam Jackson and me,” said Wong. “I think that was pretty much it.”

But in "World," says Wong, "It’s truly diverse.”

The actor has a point.

Along with Wong (who is of Chinese descent) returning, the park in “Jurassic World” is run by a character played by Indian actor Irrfan Khan.

And the character Barry, who ttrains raptors alongside Owen (Chris Pratt), is of West African descent (Omar Sy). 

Then there are the park guests.

“There’s 22,000 truly diverse people at the park,” Wong points out. “If you’re me you really notice that. They really took pains to make that a really international looking crowd.”

He believes “racial exclusion in Hollywood” is one of the reasons his Dr. Wu character was scaled down to a single scene in “Jurassic Park.” In Michael Crichton’s book on which the film is based, Dr. Wu has a major presence.

“When you’re an ethnic actor you always have to question why this character got scaled down so much,” Wong told BI. “You go, ‘Oh, darn, this is an opportunity that got wasted.’ Because the movie needs to be Caucasian-centric in order for the filmmakers to feel that they need to succeed and reach people.”

Wong believes “Jurassic World” is a great step forward in Hollywood dealing with its lack of diversity issue, but there’s still a long way to go.

“We’re still far, far away from where parts that Bryce [Dallas Howard] and Chris [Pratt] play would go to ethnic people.”

SEE ALSO: Here's how the 'Jurassic World' dinosaurs looked in real life

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: The real 'Jurassic World' is in China — 17,000 dinosaur eggs have been found in the same city

There’s a common practice in Hollywood — the bigger the film, the more mystery surrounding the making of it.

But it seems “Jurassic World” went next level to keep all of its goodies unknown until its release.

Actor BD Wong, who plays Dr. Henry Wu in both “Jurassic Park” and “Jurassic World,” told Business Insider that the level of secrecy used for him to read the script for both films was unlike anything he’s ever experienced in his 30-plus year career.

“You read it in a really weird way,” he tells BI.

Wong said soon after he was told he’d star in “Jurassic World,” he was given instructions on how to get a hold of the script.

“You could only read the script in the office during a certain hour of the day,” he said. “I had to go drive to the production office, you’re in this room, you read the whole script, and then give it back to them. I had to do the same thing for ‘Jurassic Park.’”

And to bring another layer of camouflage to the project, the script Wong read was given a dummy title, “Ebb Tide.”

“You’d be driving around and you’d be looking for signs to the ‘Ebb Tide’ production office,” Wong recalls.

Looking at the grand scheme of things, Wong admits this process does seem “ridiculous.” “Given the state of the world and things that are really important — life or death — this seemed hilarious,” said Wong.

But it did get the job done.

“No one leaked anything,” he said.

SEE ALSO: Actor BD Wong blames "racial exclusion in Hollywood" for his small role in "Jurassic Park"

MORE: The only actor from 'Jurassic Park' to star in 'Jurassic World' was skeptical to return

Join the conversation about this story »

NOW WATCH: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The original 1993 'Jurassic Park' cast today

Following the two sequels to the 1993 smash hit “Jurassic Park,” actor BD Wong realized he had to take things into his own hands.

As Dr. Henry Wu in “Jurassic Park,” the chief engineer responsible for the recreation of the dinosaurs in the park, there was never any resolution to what happened to the character.

Did he get eaten by his creations once the park lost power and roamed free? Did he make it on one of the last boats off the island?

The character's absence in any followup sequels led to years of people asking Wong what happened to Dr. Wu. Finally, the actor was ready to finally give the fans what they wanted.

“I was at the point where I wanted to make some videos to put online showing what happened to him,” Wong told Business Insider. “Silly things for the fans, like he somehow ended up with the shaving cream can.” Referring to the infamous Barbasol can filled with dinosaur embryos that dropped out of Dennis Nedry’s coat when he was attacked by a Dilophosaurus in “Jurassic Park.”

But before he could follow through on his zany idea the phone rang, and it was “Jurassic Word” director Colin Trevorrow.

A year before “Jurassic World” went into production, Trevorrow reached out to the actor and asking if he would like to reprise the role of Dr. Wu.

“I was like, ‘Sure, of course, that sounds great,’” Wong recalled. “I didn’t really take it that seriously because things change all the time.”

Wong knows that from first-hand experience.

The 54 year old is a veteran character actor having worked on “Law & Order: SVU” for 11 years playing Dr. George Huang and starring in countless movies since the 1980s. But when he got the call to play Dr. Wu the first time around in “Jurassic Park” he thought it would bring him to the next level.

Mainly, because of the size of the Dr. Wu character in the book. In which he stays on the island with the others to regain power to the park.

“I was actually hired from auditions I did that were scenes taken from the book,” said Wong, referring to the Michael Crichton novel the movie is based on.

“So imagine my surprise when I got a call that I was working on the movie for one day,” he said.

Though his character was stripped bare, Wong got over it quickly because being on a movie of that magnitude definitely helped him get more work.

But when Trevorrow came calling 20-plus years later, Wong was a bit skeptical.

“I think he might have sensed that I was sensitive to their not being much to [the character],” he said. “He was courting me in a way.”

As Wong predicted, it was months following that first call with Trevorrow when he finally got word that Dr. Wu was going to be in the film.

But how they had fleshed out the Dr. Wu character was beyond Wong’s expectations.

“The character was coming full circle but also they were giving him his due in some way,” Wong said. “They were making him into a three-dimensional person and I liked that.”

In “Jurassic World,” Dr. Wu is now the head of the division that clones dinosaurs and has pushed the boundaries of cloning. He's in charge of developing bigger, and more dangerous creatures to keep fans of the theme park returning for more.

Dr. Wu’s major scene comes after his newest creation, the Indominus Rex, has escaped and the park’s owner Simon Masrani (Irrfan Khan) comes to Dr. Wu for answers. Like in “Jurassic Park,” Dr. Wu gives the audience a better understanding of what our heroes are up against. But this time Trevorrow wanted the character to have an added layer.

“We’re about to shoot my big scene with Simon Masrani, Colin comes over to me and says, ‘You know, I think Wu he should say, ‘All of this is because of me,’” Wong recalls.

The line was not in the script, and Wong was instantly taken-aback that Trevorrow would let a lower-tier character say a line of such magnitude.

“I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’ But I said the line in every take from that point on,” Wong said. “But I thought they were never going to use that. Or Universal would not let them use it. That’s just too much of a commitment.”

But it was left in. And that chilling line presented the audience with a side of Dr. Wu they didn’t see coming. A person so full of himself that he now has a God complex. The importance of Dr. Wu to the story is confirmed in his last scene when we see him fly off Jurassic World with a suitcase full of dino embryos.

So, will we see Dr. Wu if there are sequels to “Jurassic World”?

Wong is as curious as we are.

“I'm not even being coy, I don't have any idea,” he said. “I read the movie and had the same reaction that most all people are having in regards to that. So if you're the kind of person who's inclined to root for that thing to happen then there's a certain amount of encouragement there.”

Is Wong one of those people rooting for that?

“I think I am,” he said, “because now you can tell that the potential [for the character] is really great.”

SEE ALSO: Actor BD Wong blames "racial exclusion in Hollywood" for his small role in "Jurassic Park"

MORE: "Jurassic World" actor BD Wong says there was "ridiculous" security required to read the script

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NOW WATCH: 5 science facts 'Jurassic World' totally ignored

There’s a common practice in Hollywood — the bigger the film, the more mystery surrounding the making of it.

But it seems “Jurassic World” went next level to keep all of its goodies unknown until its release.

Actor BD Wong, who plays Dr. Henry Wu in both “Jurassic Park” and “Jurassic World,” told Business Insider that the level of secrecy used for him to read the script for both films was unlike anything he’s ever experienced in his 30-plus year career.

“You read it in a really weird way,” he tells BI.

Wong said soon after he was told he’d star in “Jurassic World,” he was given instructions on how to get a hold of the script.

“You could only read the script in the office during a certain hour of the day,” he said. “I had to go drive to the production office, you’re in this room, you read the whole script, and then give it back to them. I had to do the same thing for ‘Jurassic Park.’”

And to bring another layer of camouflage to the project, the script Wong read was given a dummy title, “Ebb Tide.”

“You’d be driving around and you’d be looking for signs to the ‘Ebb Tide’ production office,” Wong recalls.

Looking at the grand scheme of things, Wong admits this process does seem “ridiculous.” “Given the state of the world and things that are really important — life or death — this seemed hilarious,” said Wong.

But it did get the job done.

“No one leaked anything,” he said.

SEE ALSO: Actor BD Wong blames "racial exclusion in Hollywood" for his small role in "Jurassic Park"

MORE: The only actor from 'Jurassic Park' to star in 'Jurassic World' was skeptical to return

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NOW WATCH: WHERE ARE THEY NOW? The original 1993 'Jurassic Park' cast today