Top Dinosaur Movies

3 months ago 28th Jul 10:35

This week sees the return of Will Ferrell to the big screen and he might have seen off rival new anchors, as well as ice skating and basketball opposition but this time around he is facing dinosaurs.

Yes the trusty dinosaur is back in the form of Land of the Lost, based on the 1974 TV series of the same name.

Ferrell takes on the role of Dr. Rick Marshall who is sucked into a space-time vortex alongside his research assistant and a redneck survivalist.

Now, Marshall has no weapons, few skills and questionable smarts to survive in an alternate universe full of marauding dinosaurs and fantastic creatures from beyond our world. So to celebrate the release of the movie FemsleFirst takes a look at some of the best dinosaur movies.

- Jurassic Park

Steven Spielberg's 1993 movie, yes it's sixteen years ago, is the ultimate dinosaur movie and has never been surpassed.

Based on Michael Crichton's novel the movie was a landmark in the use of computer-generated imagery as Stan Winston Studios and Industrial Light & Magic came together to work on the movie's effects.

The movie grossed in excess of $914 million at the global box office which was, at the time, the biggest grossing movie of all time. The movie spawned two sequels in 1997 and 2001 with a third rumoured to be in the pipeline.

- Ice Age

Animation franchise Ice Age can't do anything wrong at the moment after the third instalment Dawn of the Dinosaurs has once again topped the box office.

Alright so maybe this one is a little bit of a cheat but it's set in prehistoric times so it counts. Ice Age hit screens back in 2002 and followed three Paleolithical mammals attempting to deliver a lost baby human back to their parents.

While, at the time, it seemed that it was simply just another animation movie jumping on the band wagon it's a franchise that has really grown.

Now two more movies later it has become a real success story with Dawn of the Dinosaurs the most successful in the franchise grossing over $673 million.

- The Land Before Time

Another animation that has been a roaring success has been The Land Before Time. Released back in 1988 the original movie had Steven Spielberg and George Lucas as executive producers so it was bound to be a success.

Aimed at children the movie followed  Littlefoot, who is orphaned when his mother is killed by a Tyrannosaurus. Littlefoot flees famine and upheaval to search for the "Great Valley".

Along the way he four young companions and together they continue their journey as the film addresses prejudice between the different species on the quest.

It was a critical and commercial success and has gone on to spawn a huge franchise that consists of twelve sequels.

- Journey to the Centre of the Earth

Released in 1959 Journey to the Centre of the Earth was an adaptation of the novel by Jules Verne.

Starring James Mason and Par Boone the movie follows a group, led by knighted geologist Oliver Lindenbrook, follows an extinct volcano into the Earth's core.