When Steven Spielbergs Jurassic Park burst onto screens in 1993, audiences were swept away (to the tune of around $914million) by its dinosaurs, drama and location.

Jurassic Park looked like it had been shot on the far reaches of another world entirely, but what many of the films scenes were showcasing as they would across the franchises next three installments was the absolutely stunning splendor that filmmakers have been finding on the Hawaiian island of Kauai since the 1930s.

There is a sense you get in some movies that youve really traveled somewhere, and Jurassic Park has that, largely because of Kauai and the power of its imagery and diversity, the blockbusters production designer RickCarter would later explain in the Making of Jurassic Park book. There is a very romantic quality about the island, but it is not all benign. There are areas which are some of the most beautiful pasture land in the world; other areas are more mountainous, with rougher terrain. For Jurassic Park, we took everything Kauai had to offer and jam-packed it into our own little island. Spielberg had first been lured to the island by friend and frequent collaborator George Lucas, and the pair used Kauai for the iconic opening frames of 1981s Raiders of the Lost Ark, which feature Harrison Ford as the intrepid archaeology professor Indiana Jones running out of a cave and into the jungle with a boulder in hot pursuit. Other productions through the years to use the 552-square-mile island also known as the Garden Isle as a location have included 1958s South Pacific, 1976s KingKong and 2008s Tropic Thunder.

Growing up in the 80s and 90s, we had quite a few big productions here Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, explains Sandy Kaauwai, Kauai film commissioner. We had a mix of movies in the past before those big ones, including South Pacific, but it wasnt really until Jurassic Park hit that we were actually put on the block.

We were still a relatively unknown place at that point, and it was George Lucas who vacationed here and saw all this potential, she adds. He was actually a huge part of our development as a location thanks to his friendship with Steven Spielberg and them working on Jurassic Park. When that film came out, we were really on the map.

Lily Stitch Notable destinations on Kauai in Jurassic Park now deeply etching into cinema folklore include the majestic Manawaiopuna Falls. Other destinations on the island featured in major productions include the 14-mile-long Waimea Canyon also known as The Grand Canyon of the Pacific in Honeymoon in Vegas as well as the jungles and mountains around Haena (Raiders of the Lost Ark and South Pacific). Meanwhile, Hanapepe Town and the Hanapepe Valley were used as the model for the town thats featured in the Disney animated hit LiloStitch.

Its a history that has been charted in local writer Chris Cooks in-depth The New Kauai Movie Book, which goes to great lengths to share filmmakers experiences of Kauai through the years, with those tales of the Jurassic Park shoot and a little gem from producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who used the island for Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides after deciding the film required landscapes so beautiful theyre almost otherworldly.

The state of Hawaii has recognized the importance of the film industry to both Kauai and the archipelago as a whole, with the tax benefits offered for shoots first introduced in 1997 having grown incrementally since. Currently, they sit at a 27percent rebate for spending over $100,000 on Kauai higher than the 22 percent offered for shoots on nearby Oahu with caps at $17million per project and $50million per year. Kaauwai reports that there are hopes to improve the tax credit further during this years state legislative session.

Support for cinema has become deeply entrenched in the local economy, too, with Hawaiis Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism estimating in a 2024 study (based on tax credits from 2022) that film shoots accounted for $260million in contributions to the states GDP (via $68million in credit claims). The Hawaii Film Alliance an organization formed this year in an effort to revitalize the states film industry post-pandemic says the rebates generate a five-fold return in economic activity, supported 2,247 jobs in 2024, led to an estimated 15 percent to 20 percent increase in tourism for locations featured onscreen and resulted in an additional $1.3billion in Hawaii visitor spending, according to Hawaii News.

In recent years, more destinations have realized how important location shooting can be and thats why today the market is so competitive, says Kaauwai. But we have a long-established support system so that the support we give is not really just a bunch of numbers. We can help with locations, we can help arrange hotel rooms, catering or pretty much the gamut of things that happen during a shoot. We have the experience and we have our island.

Kaauwai grew up immersed in all that beauty and watched as the film world started to explore her home and to make use of what it offers.

I think probably our jungle, our greenery, is our main selling point, she says. Its just beautiful here. But we also have beaches, beautiful beaches. We have incredible valleys and waterfalls and mountainous regions. From the north side, which is completely green and lush, to the west side, which is more of a dry area, desert-type place, there are just so many different landscapes toworkwith.