This movie wanted to compete with Jurassic Park, but almost no one remembers it today.

Hollywood knows how to achieve box office success like no other! So when Jurassic Park, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, was a total hit, the studios moved into the “action-adventure” genre, and that, among other things, created Congo, Frank Marshall’s third feature. , after Arachnophobia and Survivors , but unlike Spielberg’s film, it’s relatively forgotten!

The story follows primatologist Elliott (Dylan Walsh), who has returned Amy the gorilla to her native jungle, accompanied by Dr. Karen Ross (Laura Lynn), a former CIA who is on a mission to find her missing ex-fiancé, a mercenary leader. (Ernie Hudson) and philanthropist (Tim Carr). Who do you think has the secret?! Of course, the expedition turns into a nightmare when the local gorillas turn out to be terribly aggressive.

Remember that director Frank Marshall is primarily a producer, co-founding Amblin Entertainment with his wife Kathleen Kennedy and Steven Spielberg (1980), and he notably financed Raiders of the Lost Ark . In 1992, he created The Kennedy/Marshall Company, which was used to produce Congo.

Michael Crichton, novelist Jurassic Park and romance CongoIt took the late 70s to write the movie, before they knew Amy would be playing a fake gorilla.

Problems while shooting…

Initially, Marshall tried to use the digital technology used in Jurassic Park to create the gorillas in the film, but realizing that the hair was too difficult to create believably at the time, he decided against it and chose to use costumes instead. .

Except that the decor of the gorillas’ red stone cave on set, which itself was light gray, posed a problem: it didn’t allow the beasts’ costumes to stand out, much to the dismay of special effects supervisor and director Stan Winston. of the other part, who cannot light them as he wishes, to better hide the fact that they are actors in costume!

In the Congo we find many elements of Jurassic Park, such as hostile and threatening creatures, a doctor that no one takes seriously at first, the presence of impressive technology (Amy can dialogue with people because her sign language is translated by a machine) and we also find the same “computer plans” , as in Jurassic Park (one of which hides a rather hidden detail!), which can be seen directly today. FMV video game :

We also find a caustic aside by Grant Heslov, a nighttime attack scene, a sequence in the rain, but without Spielberg’s direction and without the unquestionable moral of the 1993 film.

…but success!

Despite a hefty budget of $50 million (barely 13 less than Jurassic Park, although it has far fewer digital special effects), Congo is a box office success of 152 million worldwide. A well-deserved result for the entertainment it offers, but in comparison, it makes far less than its dinosaur-filled counterpart, which brought in 978! Do you know all the creatures of Isla Nublar? Test yourself on our special Jurassic Park dino quiz!

Maybe it’s because of its “90s” casting, lack of visual scale, or a less impressive and novel threat than dinosaurs, but Kongo is pretty much forgotten by the general public today. However, there remains an easy and legal way to re-watch or discover it, as it is currently hosted on Paramount+.