The 58-year-old Canadian born director of Avatar, Titanic, Aliens and Terminator – who worked alongside Spielberg under the guidance of Roger Corman at The Corman Film School when they were both in their twenties – was desperate to purchase the rights to Michael Crichton’s novel.

But Cameron admitted he realised he wouldn’t have been the “right person” after watching the Spielberg-helmed movie, which won three Oscars in 1994.

Although the film was released in 1993, Spielberg – with the backing of Universal Studios – acquired the rights before publication in 1990, with author Crichton hired for an additional $500,000 to adapt the novel for the screen.

David Koepp wrote the final draft, which left out much of the novel’s exposition and toned down the violence depicted in the book, ensuring the film’s PG-13 rating.

Cameron told The Huffington Post: “I tried to buy the book’s rights and he beat me to it by a few hours.

“But when I saw the film, I realised that I was not the right person to make the film, he was. Because he made a dinosaur movie for kids, and mine would have been aliens with dinosaurs, and that wouldn’t have been fair.”

He added to the Huffington Post: “Dinosaurs are for eight-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 would have gone further and nastier, much nastier.”