Beyond 'Jurassic Park': 20 Films & TV shows you didn't know were created by Michael Crichton

The very first novel written by Michael Crichton under his real name was also the first book of his to be turned into a film. Written in 1969, “The Andromeda Strain” involves the investigation of a deadly microorganism outbreak in Piedmont, Arizona, after a satellite crash lands in the town. Two years later, Nelson Gidding adapted the book into a screenplay, which was brought to life by director Robert Wise and actors Arthur Hill, James Olson, Kate Reid and David Wayne. In 2008, Ridley and Tony Scott made the book into an two-season A&E miniseries starring Benjamin Bratt and Eric McCormack.

In 1972, Michael Crichton had both an acclaimed book and successful film to his name. So now, not only could he get more prominent actors to star in his movies, but he could also cop to writing some of his earlier works, which were published under pseudonyms. This included the 1970 novel “Dealing” (written under the name Michael Douglas), which was adapted into a film called “Dealing: Or the Berkeley-to-Boston Forty-Brick Lost-Bag Blues,” and featured Robert F. Lyons, Barbara Hershey, Charles Durning and Paul Sorvino — as well as a young John Lithgow in his first film role.

Crichton published the medical mystery novel “A Case of Need” in 1968 under the pseudonym Jeffery Hudson, and it was later turned into a film called “The Carey Treatment.” Critics panned the film for its weak script (written by James P. Bonner) and even the film’s director, Blake Edwards, criticized the film, which was heavily edited by the studio. Edwards found the situation so ridiculous that he later made the experience into the 1981 comedy film “S.O.B.”

Michael Crichton directed a handful of films in his lifetime, beginning with “Pursuit” in 1972. Based on his novel “Binary” (published under the name John Lange), it aired as ABC’s Movie of the Week and starred Ben Gazzara and E.G. Marshall with a young 32-year-old Martin Sheen in a supporting role. The movie was well received, with Crichton later remarking about directing: “I think you could learn all you need to know in a month. Orson Welles said four hours. But he was being outrageous."

Prior to “Jurassic Park,” 1973’s “Westworld” was likely Michael Crichton’s most famous film. The author both penned the screenplay and directed the sci-fi thriller starring veteran actors Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin and James Brolin. The acclaimed film (86 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) contains one of the first mentions of a computer virus, an entirely new concept at the time. In 2016, “Westworld” was adapted into an HBO series of the same name, which was recently renewed for a third season.

Crichton entrusted Mike Hodges with the writing and directorial duties of the 1974 film adaptation of his 1972 novel “The Terminal Man.” In it, George Segal plays Harry Benson, an epileptic computer scientist who gets electrodes implanted in his brain in order to detect and prevent seizures that cause him to blackout and commit acts of violence. Terrence Malick praised the directing, but the sci-fi thriller was generally panned.

In an odd combination, the 1978 thriller film “Coma” was written and directed by Michael Crichton but actually based on another author’s book. Penned by Robin Cook, “Coma” takes place at Boston Memorial Hospital, where a number of patients mysteriously become brain-dead after routine surgeries, and one nurse searches for the truth. Geneviève Bujold takes the lead in “Coma,” along with actors Michael Douglas, Rip Torn, Tom Selleck, Joanna Kerns, and Ed Harris in his film debut.

After almost exclusively working on sci-fi or medical books and films for quite a while, Crichton’s next novel was “The Great Train Robbery,” a heist adventure based on the real-life Great Gold Robbery of 1855. Crichton directed the film adaptation, which starred Sean Connery, Donald Sutherland and Lesley-Anne Down. In 1980, the author won an Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Motion Picture Screenplay.

Like “Westworld,” 1981’s “Looker” also blazed new trails — as it was the first commercial film to attempt a realistic computer-generated character. Written and directed by Crichton, it was also the first movie to create 3D shading with a computer, predating the release of “Tron” by several months. However, unlike “Tron,” “Looker” wasn’t well-received.

Tom Selleck stars as Sgt. Jack R. Ramsay, a veteran police officer assigned to track down dangerous robots in a futuristic world, in 1984’s “Runaway.” In a seemingly mismatched cast, the action film also features Kirstie Alley, Cynthia Rhodes and Gene Simmons. The Kiss frontman was apparently immediately cast after meeting with Crichton (who directed and wrote the original screenplay for “Runaway”) and did not have to read for the part.

Crichton took five years off from filmmaking in between “Runaway” and “Physical Evidence,” a crime thriller that was also the author’s last movie as director. Few people realize this was a Michael Crichton film because it was the only one he directed that wasn’t based on one of his books or screenplays, and it was generally a forgettable film.

Sean Connery must be fan of Michael Crichton’s work because in addition to starring in “The Great Train Robbery,” he also had the lead role in 1993’s “Rising Sun” (based on the author’s 1992 novel of the same name) alongside Wesley Snipes. Harvey Keitel, Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, Tia Carrere and Steve Buscemi also have roles in the mystery film, which centers on the murder of a call girl at the Los Angeles headquarters of a Japanese business group, and the subsequent coverup of the crime. Although it received mixed reviews, “Rising Sun” spent six weeks in the box office top 10, earning more than $100 million worldwide.

Directed by Barry Levinson (“The Natural,” “Good Morning, Vietnam,” “Rain Man’), “Disclosure” stars Michael Douglas as Tom Sanders, a tech executive who rebuffs the sexual advances of a superior (Demi Moore), only to have her sue him for revenge. Crichton sold the movie rights to the novel for $1 million before it was even published, which was a good deal for Warner Bros., as the erotic thriller raked in $214 million at the box office. 

Everybody remembers the TV medical drama “ER,” as it aired on NBC for 15 years (for a total of 331 episodes) and featured actors George Clooney, Anthony Edwards, Eriq La Salle, Noah Wyle, Julianna Margulies, Mekhi Phifer, Maura Tierney and John Stamos, among many other cast members — not to mention the seemingly endless group of A-list guest stars. The name most people don’t associate with “ER” is Michael Crichton, who created the show based on his experiences as a medical student. Even though he originally penned the pilot episode’s script in 1974, it remained virtually unchanged once it was eventually shot 20 years later. For numerous years, “ER” was the most-watched show on TV, and by the time it went off the air, it had amassed 22 Emmys, eight consecutive People’s Choice Awards and a Peabody.

It has been 23 years since the release of “Congo,” but we still vividly remember two things about the action-adventure film based on the book of the same name by Michael Crichton. First, the opening scene when Bruce Campbell, playing a TraviCom employee searching a remote jungle, gets an object thrown at him, only to realize it’s the eyeball of his co-worker. And second, seeing Tim Curry and somehow knowing, without a doubt, that his character wouldn’t survive the film. Although it received a whopping seven Razzie nominees (none of which for Crichton, thankfully), the film was actually pretty entertaining, save for the corniness of Amy the Gorilla. For the record, it didn’t end up winning any Golden Raspberries in 1995, and we’re pretty sure that’s a good thing.

1996’s “Twister” is mostly remembered for its special effects and suspenseful moments, but it also had a tight and often humorous script, which came from the mind of Michael Crichton. The Razzie judges weren’t fans of the script, however, as they gave Crichton an award for Worst Written Film Grossing Over $100 Million, an “honor” that was a special category introduced just for 2016. Still, the epic disaster film (which starred Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton) managed to garner eight Oscar nominations, all for visual effects or sound. 

Technically, Michael Crichton gets credit for all the "Jurassic Park" franchise films, but the first sequel, 1997’s “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” is actually based on a book of the same name released by Crichton in 1995. After killing off Dr. Ian Malcolm in the first novel but keeping him alive in the film (in the person of Jeff Goldblum), Crichton brought the character back as the protagonist in both the literary and film versions of “The Lost World.” It was the only sequel Crichton ever penned, and the Steven Spielberg-directed movie made more than $618 million at the box office.

Barry Levinson tackled another adaptation of Crichton book with 1998’s “Sphere,” a sci-fi thriller that stars Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson and Liev Schreiber. Although it contained some tense moments and an imaginative story, the film was a dud overall.

When the historical action film “The 13th Warrior” was made, they changed the title of Crichton’s 1976 book on which it was based because “Eaters of the Dead” probably didn’t sound too appealing to mainstream audiences. This alteration didn’t help the viking film find much success, though, as the movie (which starred Antonio Banderas, Diana Verona and Omar Sharif) was a box-office bomb. It earned a respectable $61.7 million in theaters, but the budget (including both production and marketing costs) reportedly soared to $160 million.

Even a cast comprised of Paul Walker, Frances O’Connor, Gerard Butler, Billy Connolly, David Thewlis and Michael Sheen wasn’t enough to save the sci-fi time travel film “Timeline.” We thoroughly enjoyed the 1999 novel of the same name by Michael Crichton, which makes it an even bigger shame that the Richard Donner-directed film only managed $43 million in theaters. This was the last film based on a Crichton book.