Jurassic World: 10 Obscure References You Totally Missed

9. Bigger Than Jaws

The Reference: The audience, both in the movie's SeaWorld-style aquarium and the real world cinema, first meet the Mosasaurus at its feeding show, where it jumps out of the water to bite a hanging shark. This is one of the few references to Steven Spielberg's wider filmography - it's obviously a sly wink towards Jaws. What It Really Means: On a simple level this is Colin Trevorrow saying he intends to provide an experience that eats Jaws for breakfast (a sentiment the official tie-in website obliquely echoes). This set piece provided the opening of the first trailer, only emphasising the statement of intent. Symbolically, however, there's more to it than just that. In the forty years since Spielberg's breakout hit, there's been a major shift in cinema, with visual splendour becoming increasingly more important than carefully built tone (a gap Jurassic Park pretty much bridged with its mix of slow-burn tension and lengthy creature scenes). In having a giant sea-beast (bigger than it was in real life to boot) leap up and devour Jaws in one bite solidifies this change, for better or worse.