Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom — Where is Isla Nublar located?
By Nir Regev
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’s Isla Nublar has a storied history dating back to the original classic 1993 Jurassic Park film.
In Jurassic World and Jurassic Park’s film canon, Isla Nublar refers to a fictional remote island 120 miles (190 km) west of Costa Rica. It was originally intended to be the site of the Jurassic Park tourist attraction, before being abandoned due to containment breaches prior to Jurassic World. At the time Isla Nublar was leased to CEO/Jurassic Park creator John Hammond and his company InGen. Isla Nublar translates to ‘clouded island’ or ‘Cloud Island’ in English as Isla means ‘island’ and Nublar means ‘to cloud’ in Spanish.
It’s depicted as a fairly mountainous island with a beautiful tropical rainforest of about 77 square kilometers (30 square miles). In the original Jurassic Park novel written by Michael Crichton, the island is approximately a 40 minute helicopter ride from Costa Rica’s capital, San Jose. When it’s show in the 1993 Jurassic Park film on a map, it utilized the same reverse tear drop shape described in the novel. There’s been speculation that author Michael Crichton loosely based the design for Isla Nublar on real life island Isla del Coco (Cocos Island), which is the only island in eastern Pacific to feature clouded rainforests. Isla del Coco is 340 miles west of Costa Rica. As Isla del Coco falls under protected status, it’s not open to the public and closed off only to the park’s officers.
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Isla Nublar was not shown in the 1998 sequel, The Lost World: Jurassic Park and only briefly mentioned in the 2001 sequel Jurassic Park 3. Isla Nublar returned in Jurassic World’s 2015 film revival as a fully successful iteration of the original Jurassic Park concept. InGen had been purchased by Simon Masrani, CEO of the Masrani Global Corporation, who wanted to see Hammond’s last wish come to life. During Jurassic World the audience learns that the original Jurassic Park was never demolished but rather left abandoned.
In the latest film, Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom an active volcano known as Mount Sibo threatens all life on the island. Its eruption will cause immense devastation on Jurassic World’s now native dinosaur population. Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom is officially out in theaters today, June 22.