James Cameron Almost Directed JURASSIC PARK

Before there was Avatar, before there was Transformers, before there was Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, there was Jurassic Park. The 1993 Steven Spielberg film effectively redefined special effects with its seamless integration of digital dinosaurs with live-action actors and environments. Next year marks the 20th anniversary of Jurassic Park, when Universal will rerelease the movie in theaters in post-converted 3D on April 5th, 2013. While promoting The Adventures of Tintin at Comic-Con, Spielberg dropped that he would be involved in a fourth Jurassic Park film, but not direct. Joe Johnston, director of Jurassic Park III, has hinted that he would have a story to tell in the next film that wouldn't involve either Isla Nublar or Isla Sorna.  

But just hours before Spielberg met with the late, great author Michael Crichton, director James Cameron, hot off the hit Terminator 2: Judgement Day (a special effects marvel itself), was going to buy the film rights to Crichton's book. Recently, Cameron talked about it saying, "I'd have gone further. Nastier, much nastier... [M]ine would have been Aliens with dinosaurs." Still, in Cameron's eyes, Spielberg made the superior film by making it accessible to everyone. 

[W]hen I saw the film, I realized that I was not the right person to make the film, he was. Because he made a dinosaur movie for kids... Dinosaurs are for 8-year-olds. We can all enjoy it, too, but kids get dinosaurs and they should not have been excluded for that. His sensibility was right for that film. 

I gotta say, although Cameron's version would have most definitely had been visually exciting, it wouldn't have had the charm of Spielberg's. Would you have liked to see Cameron's take on the film?