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- I'm Rewatching All the Jurassic Park Movies Before Jurassic World: Rebirth. Here's Where You Can Binge the Whole Franchise
- How to watch the Jurassic Park movies before Rebirth
- Do you need to watch the whole Jurassic Park franchise before Jurassic World: Rebirth?
I first encountered Jurassic Park one fateful day during middle school when my teacher rolled in a cart topped with a CRT television, popped in a VHS tape of Jurassic Park and pressed play. I was instantly hooked, and I've since watched the film countless times, including a 2013 trip to see the movie in 3D on the big screen at my AMC theater.
Jurassic World: Rebirth is slated to hit cinemas on July 2, and I'm planning to rewatch the entire series. With run times ranging from 1 hour and 32 minutes for Jurassic Park III to a whopping 2 hours and 27 minutes for Jurassic World: Dominion, binge-watching the franchise is a 12-hour-and-27-minute-long commitment. Or 14 minutes longer if you watch the 2-hour, 41-minute extended edition of Jurassic World: Dominion. But life finds a way. So if you're like me and want to revisit all six Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies, here's where you can stream the series before Rebirth stomps into theaters in July.
Based on my calculations, it'll take 12 hours and 27 minutes to watch all six of the previously released Jurassic Park and World movies (not including popcorn and bathroom breaks). If you watch Jurassic World: Dominion's extended edition rather than the theatrical cut, that balloons to 12 hours and 41 minutes.
Screenshot/CNETHow to watch the Jurassic Park movies before Rebirth
All six movies in the franchise, including the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World films, from the 1993 classic to 2022's Jurassic World: Dominion, are available on Peacock, providing a convenient home for your binge-watch. At $8 per month for the base plan or $14 a month for Peacock Plus, that's less than $3 per flick -- you'd be hard-pressed to buy or rent the series digitally for that cheap.
If you don't have Peacock and would prefer not to sign up for the service, you can rent or buy the various Jurassic Park films from Amazon Prime Video, Fandango at Home and other digital video retailers.
Peacock hosts all the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World films, so you can conveniently watch the entire series on the streaming service. Peacock Premium costs $8 per month or $80 annually. Peacock Premium Plus -- which removes ads (with limited exceptions), lets you download some titles for offline viewing, and provides local NBC affiliate channel streaming -- is $14 per month or $140 per year. In addition to the Jurassic Park and World flicks, you can stream Poker Face, Black Bag, Law & Order: Organized Crime and a slew of other movies and shows.
Instacart Plus subscribers get Peacock Premium bundled with their subscription at no extra cost. If you regularly get groceries and other goods delivered, an Instacart Plus plan, which goes for $10 a month or $100 per year, could be a cost-effective way to get popcorn delivered straight to your door so you can stay on the couch streaming Jurassic Park.
Do you need to watch the whole Jurassic Park franchise before Jurassic World: Rebirth?
You should watch the entire Jurassic Park series prior to Rebirth. There are many through lines and plot points connecting the movies, including the Jurassic World expansion expounding on the genetic experimentation themes from the original trilogy. Jurassic Park's sequel, The Lost World, saw the return of Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) and John Hammond (Richard Attenborough). Dr. Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Dr. Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) return in Jurassic Park III.
Jurassic World revived the franchise in 2015 with the action back on Isla Nublar -- where everything started in the original film -- this time with Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas Howard starring. Goldblum returns in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom alongside Pratt and Howard. Jurassic World: Dominion sits firmly in the middle of the Jurassic Park/Jurassic World Venn diagram, with franchise stars Pratt, Howard, Goldblum, Neill and Dern comprising the ensemble cast.
Though there's continuity among the entire series to varying degrees, the Jurassic World movies really build on one another. You may be able to skip Jurassic Park III if a nearly 13-hour marathon is biting off more than you can chew -- the film even takes place on a different island from the original, Isla Sorna. But Fallen Kingdom, Dominion and Rebirth are fairly interconnected, with critical world-building elements. So, though I recommend watching everything, you should at the very least watch Jurassic Park and The Lost World alongside the Jurassic World flicks.
In addition to the mainline films, there are a couple of spin-off TV series: Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous and Jurassic World: Chaos Theory. Both shows are canon, and although you don't have to watch them to follow the film series, they’re additive, providing more of the franchise to explore for hard-core fans. Both Camp Cretaceous and Chaos Theory are available to stream on Netflix.
A Netflix subscription runs you $8 per month for the standard ad-supported plan, which lets you watch in 1080p on up to two devices at a time. Standard costs $18 a month, removing ads but keeping the 1080p video quality and the limit of two simultaneous devices. Stepping up to Premium runs you $25 a month, but you'll get 4K video quality and an allowance of four simultaneous devices. The Standard plan lets you add an extra member for an additional $7 a month on the ad-supported plan or $9 monthly without ads. Premium allows you to add two additional members for either $7 a person per month on the ad-supported tier, or $9 a month per person sans ads.
Aside from Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous and Jurassic World: Chaos Theory, Netflix's library offers access to other movies and shows, including Fear Street: Prom Queen, Nonnas and Dept. Q.
