Jurassic Park is an American science fiction media franchise centered on a disastrous attempt to create a theme park of cloned dinosaurs. It began in 1990 when Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment bought the rights to the novel by Michael Crichton before it was even published. The book was successful, as was Steven Spielberg's 1993 film adaptation, which led to four sequels, although only the first two films were based on the novels.