Steven Spielberg’s "JAWS" was released in movie theaters thirty five years ago today, on June 20th 1975. Arguably one of the single most terrifying movies to ever grace the silver screen "JAWS" almost killed an entire vacationing season the year it was release. No one and we me know one wanted to go in the water...

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Jaws was the first film to use "wide release" as a distribution pattern. As such, it is an important film in the history of film distribution and marketing. Prior to the release of Jaws, films typically opened slowly, usually in a few theaters in major cities, which allowed for a series of "premieres." As the success of a film increased, and word of mouth grew, distributors would forward the prints to additional cities across the country. Some films eventually achieved a wide release, such as The Godfather, but even that blockbuster had originally debuted in just five theaters.

Jaws was the first film to open nationwide, on hundreds of screens simultaneously, coupled with a national marketing campaign—a then-unheard of practice. The film became the first to use extensive television advertising. The media blitz "included approximately twenty-five thirty-second advertisements per night on prime-time network TV" between 18-20 June 1975. Universal executive Sidney Sheinberg's rationale was that nationwide marketing costs would be amortized at a more favorable rate per print than if a slow, scaled release were carried out. Scheinberg's gamble paid off, with Jaws becoming a box office smash hit and the father of the summer blockbuster.

After the release of Jaws, journalists and critics detailed its impact on how films were released in theaters. Peter Biskind wrote, "[The film] diminish[ed] the importance of print reviews, making it virtually impossible for a film to build slowly, finding its audience by dint of mere quality. ... In a sense, Spielberg was the Trojan horse through which the studios began to reassert their power." Author Thomas Schatz also wrote on the film's impact: "If any single film marked the arrival of the New Hollywood, it was Jaws, the Spielberg-directed thriller that recalibrated the profit potential of the Hollywood hit, and redefined its status as a marketable commodity and cultural phenomenon as well. The film brought an emphatic end to Hollywood's five-year recession, while ushering in an era of high-cost, high-tech, high-speed thrillers." Following the success of Jaws, major studio films have almost universally been distributed and marketed on a national scale. In addition, when summer was usually a season to dump films likely to be poor performers, the success of Jaws caused studios to shift their action and thriller films out of winter releases.

When Jaws was released on June 20, 1975, it opened at 464 theaters. The release was subsequently expanded on July 25 to a total of 675 theaters, the largest simultaneous distribution of a film in motion picture history at the time. During the first weekend of wide release, Jaws grossed more than $7 million, and was the top grosser for the following five weeks. During its run in theaters, the film beat the $89 million domestic rental record of the reigning box-office champion, The Exorcist, becoming the first film to reach more than $100 million in U.S. box office receipts.

Jaws eventually grossed more than $470 million worldwide ($1.9 billion in 2010 dollars) and was the highest grossing box office film until Star Wars debuted two years later.[34][35] Jaws and Star Wars are retrospectively considered to have marked the beginning of the new business model in American filmmaking and the beginning of the end of the New Hollywood period. If adjusted for ticket inflation, Jaw’s worldwide box office total would be near $2 billion.



Not to shabby at all is it? Although "JAWS" would spawn some "not so stellar" sequels the memory of that first film still weighs heavy on any horror fan that see's it for the first time. It's one of those movies that proved less is more. Even though Spielberg wanted to be able to show more of "Bruce" the shark (but couldn't do to braking down of special effects, etc.) he was grateful he didn't because it proved so much more frighting. The film worked and worked well. It's also a picture that holds up very well the this day regardless of the period 70's clothing and styles. This is a film that could use a little "Lucas Arts" magic without being remade. Just touched up like they did with the original "Star Wars" trilogy. Tell us your favorite "JAWS" memory below.



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