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The first blockbuster in history, Jaws, chowed down on $16 million in its 50th anniversary re-release, swimming onto regular and premium theaters including IMAX and Dolby Cinema.
Roy Scheider and Richard Dreyfuss stand next to a giant man eating Great White Shark with a hook piercing through it in a scene from the film ‘Jaws’, 1975. (Photo by Universal Pictures/Getty Images)
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Jaws By The Numbers
Director Steven Spielberg’s iconic cinematic adaptation of Peter Benchley’s best selling novel, with a screenplay by Benchley and Carl Gottlieb, became a sensation after the studio opted for a wide release and massive public relations push unlike anything seen before. The concept of “opening weekend” and “blockbuster” were born, and haven’t left our box office vernacular since.
Grossing more than $123 million in its initial release, Jaws was quickly put back into theaters and topped $132 million with its international box office and domestic box office totals. With re-releases after the 1970s bringing in another $7 million or so prior to the 50th anniversary this year, Jaws sat atop $470 million from its initial half-decade of blockbuster releases and re-releases.
This year’s anniversary helped boost Jaws past $490 million, when it overperformed with $16 million in a summer that saw plenty of ups and downs for studio tentpoles.
While Superman was flying high and resetting the DC cinematic world, Marvel was laid low with three films all failing to top $525 million. Most of the blockbuster business this year has been a family affair, where prioritizing child viewers but giving parents enough to keep them happy proved a winning strategy, while adult-focused projects only secured a few seats at the top-10 box office table.
Jaws saw the opening, and took a big bite out of those adults looking for something just for them at the box office, but also some of the family audience if nostalgic parents wanted to convince their kids movies could be great even as long ago as 50 years.
Jaws Swims Home For Summer
Adding to the appeal is the high quality of the restored version, as Jaws at 50 looks better than ever. I reviewed the 4K UHD 50th anniversary release of Jaws and you can read details here, but suffice to say the film holds up exceptionally well, including even some of the mechanical shark moments that lack today’s more polished look.
That’s part of the appeal, however, and part of what actually gives a weight and deeper sense of realism to the film despite any visual effects limitations of the era (and due to the mechanical shark usually not working as planned). The newly improved edition of Jaws brings forth the authenticity of the world of the film, how lived-in it becomes as we see deeper into its details. This isn’t a movie in which clarity reveals flaws or cinematic trickery, the camera lets the film breathe better than ever.
The home release also comes with a wonderful new documentary Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story from filmmaker and producer Laurent Bouzereau, which was released on National Geographic as well as accompanying the new home edition of Jaws. I won’t spoil some of the good reveals, but the documentary is well worth watching for fans of the movie and the filmmaker, after all of these years you’ll still learn new things.
The release of Jaws came at the midpoint between today’s films a quarter of the way through the 21st Century, and the 1920s era that saw creation of the studio system, the rise of the feature film, and the introduction of sound and beginnings of color in movies. It was part of a decade-long transition into the modern era of more grounded and realistic filmmaking, as part of the maturation of the art form.
Jaws embodied just about every aspect of that transition and maturation, including prominence of the filmmaker’s vision combined with blockbuster approach to production and marketing, and awareness of audience demographic appeal. It remains one of the most consequential and enduring films in cinema history.
