The fictional universe created by the late author Michael Crichton around Jurassic Park has developed into a very popular, highly successful and extremely lucrative industry. Films, novels, video games, comic books, and merchandising have been generating millions of dollars for the Jurassic Park universe, which Mr. Crichton specifically placed in Isla Nublar, which is based in a mixture of Cocos Island and the Galapagos. As it happens, however, Costa Rica has not seen much of this Jurassic cash, and the highly anticipated Jurassic World film is not an exception to this unfortunate rule.

By all accounts, Jurassic World is going to be a mega blockbuster just like its predecessor films. When Steven Spielberg directed Jurassic Park in 1993, at least some filming took place in Costa Rica. The rest of the film franchise has ignored our country; as previously mentioned by The Costa Rica Star, some Jurassic World filming took place in New Orleans, but most of the nature scenes required to do justice to Mr. Crichton’s vision of Isla Nublar were filmed in Hawaii. There is a very good reason for this, which we will get to discuss later.

First of all, should there be one or two readers who are not familiar with Costa Rica’s Isla Nublar, we suggest taking a look at our previous article Why Costa Rica is Not the Best Setting for Jurassic Park, which looks at this fictitious universe from paleontological point of view. Here’s a helpful excerpt that we partially borrowed from Wikia:

Jurassic Park is an amusement park/zoo created by InGen, featuring extinct animals such as dinosaurs as attractions, which they brought over from cloning facilities on nearby Isla Sorna. It was commonly called the Costa Rica Project or the Jurassic Park Project. In an attempt to have a controlled environment, it was built on the island Isla Nublar off the west coast of Costa Rica.

So this remote island, which was once a seamount, is supposed to be located about 120 miles (190 km) off the coast of Costa Rica, and is written to look like a cross between Cocos Island and the Monteverde Cloud Forest. Oddly enough, dinosaurs may have never roamed Costa Rica, but that does not matter since the fictitious company InGen needed a wild habitat that could be conducive to bringing dinosaurs back from extinction.

Fans of the Jurassic Park universe are very fond of the fact that their beloved Isla Nublar is located in Costa Rica, but they have barely got to see our country featured in this powerful film franchise. Through sheer movie magic, filmmakers have been able to make Hawaii look like Costa Rica. This is not the first time film production teams have chosen to film elsewhere when the script makes our country the backdrop. We most recently saw this happen with Runner Runner, a modern crime thriller about the shadowy online gambling industry in our country, and it happened again with Jurassic World, a production of a much larger scope.

The reason why production teams are foregoing filming in Costa Rica is financial, and it was explained to us in 2012 by Philip Mack, a business consultant and social media marketing author who has secured financing for Hollywood productions. Back then, we asked Mr. Mack to explain why Runner Runner was being filmed in Puerto Rico and not in Costa Rica:

There are business environment differences between Puerto Rico and Costa Rica that have caused productions to pick the former. Numerous business issues, including having a U.S. banking and accounting system, the business and the financial incentives provided by Puerto Rico are big factors. On a government level, Puerto Rico has gone out of its way to inform and ‘get the word out’ about the film incentives available. Film production companies are taking note. Johnny Depp filmed The Rum Diary in Puerto Rico in 2009. He later returned and filmed Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides in 2010.

The above was recently confirmed by Jurassic World producer Patrick Crowley, who certainly knows about managing big film budgets and maximizing return on investment (ROI); he is the producer of the Bourne film saga. Speaking to Hawaii Film & Video magazine, Mr. Crowley explained that Costa Rica was actually considered for filming this time around, and acknowledged that our film industry is nascent; however, the tax rebate and credit incentives offered by Hawaii simply do not exist in Costa Rica. Mr. Crowley specifically mentioned that he thinks the Hawaiian government “gets it” when it comes to attracting film productions.

And the tax credit and rebate is only part of the formula. A couple of years ago, Mr. Mack also mentioned:

Costa Rica is on the watchlist of the United States Trade Representative (USTR). In the eyes of the USTR, Costa Rica allows too much pirating of illegal film copies, although in 2011 it enacted legislation to provide for criminal remedies for violations of performers’ rights and of other related rights, but it is still on the list.

As the situation stands now, I would actually advise to film in Puerto Rico instead of Costa Rica purely from a business point of view. I think the positives of the economic environment and financial incentives outweigh the scenic authenticity, this could very well be why Runner, Runner picked Puerto Rico. This is how film production business plans and film offering memorandums are structured; investors benefit from as many financial incentives as possible without hindering the artistic value of the production. Filmmakers will be facing keen competition for funds not only other filmmakers but other investments in general.

It’s a shame, really. Costa Rica has the natural backdrop and surroundings to shoot beautiful movies but the economic environment is keeping some productions out. Authenticity often takes a backseat to business interests.

Until the day film industry organizations and the government in Costa Rica sit down to figure out a way make our country more attractive to Hollywood, the local community will not be able to experience the economic benefits of being a preferred location for movie production. We are talking about missed opportunities for jobs, business and cultural exchanges. Runner Runner injected about $35 million to the economy of Puerto Rico but not of Costa Rica -where Jurassic Park is supposed to be in the first place!

Jurassic World is scheduled to hit theaters in 2015.