Jurassic Park is basically a perfect movie, what with the dino chases, the scientific questions, and the semi-shirtless Jeff Goldblum. But it turns out the movie almost had a different ending. Well, two different endings actually. One comes from the film’s DVD extras and has been floating around the internet for a while now. It’s relatively similar to the ending in the final film but instead of the Tyrannosaurus rex saving Grant, Ellie, and the kids from the raptors in the visitor center, they basically just save themselves with a little help from Hammond. These newly discovered storyboards reveal the film was originally going to end with a very different final action sequence:
Posted on the Jurassic Time Facebook page, the images come from an early sequence storyboard binder that belonged to effects specialist Phil Tippett (he of “You had one job!” fame). Gizmodo has verified that the storyboards are real and do come from an official Phil Tippett auction. Rather than set the climax of the film in the Jurassic Park entrance hall, these storyboards feature a climactic race to the helicopter in which Grant and the kids have to outrun a T. rex. Once they’re onboard, the T. rex nearly takes down the helicopter before our heroes just manage to fly away.
It’s possible that the two “alternate” endings were meant to be combined into one longer set piece, though it’s unclear why Ellie and Hammond are with Grant and the kids in the raptor scene but not the T. rex one. Regardless, while it probably would’ve been a thrilling sequence, it’s nowhere near as perfect as the actual ending, in which the T. rex transforms from villain to hero and gets a cool “When dinosaurs ruled the Earth” pose. On the other hand, perhaps the running to the helicopter sequence would’ve worked better if Grant and the kids were in high heels.
[Note: Gizmodo, like The A.V. Club, is owned by Univision Communications.]