The Ultimate Summer Blockbuster

Tell me if this sounds familiar. You’re ten years old. It’s summer. You’re outside, enjoying the sun, and swimming with friends or family. Now, you’re in the water, minding your own business when out of nowhere you hear a sound. “Duunnn Dunn.”

Then another. “Duuuuuunnnnn Duun”

You turn around and see someone skulking towards you just below the surface. They slowly emerge repeating; “Duuuuuuuunnnn Dun.

“Don’t!” you state simply, trying to convey as mush seriousness as you can manage.

Then it gets faster. “Dun dun dun”

“You’d better not”

Faster. “Dun dun dun dun”

“Seriously”

Then, furiously “DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN DUN!”

It’s the last sound you hear before you’re forced under water by some jerk pretending to be a Shark.

We’ve all played “Jaws” while swimming. Most of us probably without having seen the film. We know the quotes. We know the characters. We know the director. We know the fear of getting back into the water.

Next year marks the 50th anniversary of this film. I was lucky enough to catch an IMAX showing of this tremendous film and it completely blew me out of the water. In the theater a girl next to me audibly gasped when she saw the shark pop out of the water. That’s a wonderful testament to the staying power of this film and impact it has had and will continue to have for years to come.

When it premiered Jaws became the highest grossing movie of all time, and for good reason. You’ve got a stellar cast with Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider, and Richard Dreyfuss. Incredible, innovative directing from a young Steven Spielberg. Sensational practical effects and a masterfully written script. Jaws is a timeless classic that still holds up to this day.

But what is it that makes this masterwork of cinema the ultimate summer blockbuster? There are arguably two main factors that truly gained this film its massive box office success. Unprecedented marketing and a summer time release date.

Up until 1975 the most popular movies were typically released in the winter months. In the early days of cinema people were more apt to spend their summers enjoying the weather and trying to stay cool rather than spend two hours in a hot movie house. The first theater to get air conditioning was in 1925. But that didn’t matter much by then. The trend was set and people were still watching their movies during the winter and with limited screenings.

Going to the movies used to be an extravagant experience that had to be planned in advance. Most films played only in select theaters when they opened and not for very long. Typically only bad movies had extended theater lives because it lowered the risk of bad reviews and “word of mouth” tarnishing revenue. Successful films just didn’t have the wide releases they have nowadays.

Top Gun: Maverick ran for nearly 7 months and played in 4,751 theaters. Jaws ran for 78 days and played in 465 theaters and even that was pretty unheard of at the time.

The marketing strategy for Jaws was something that had never been done before either. They spent 1.8 million dollars and months promoting the novel and the film with $700,000 just for tv ads alone. The book was released the previous year. The producers read the novel before it was published, and bought the film rights. The two were promoted simultaneously. Coupled with radio and tv spots was massive merchandising. Video games, toys, blankets, towels, patches, pjs etc. You name it, they probably slapped a shark on it.

So this aggressive marketing paired with a new and rarely used wide release was the perfect recipe for something innovative and long lasting, making Jaws the first film to gain more than $100m in US receipts and a staggering worldwide box office return of over $470m, adjusted for inflation that would be over 2.75 billion dollars today. That record would be beat in two years when George Lucas followed the same business model with Star Wars 1977.

In an act of life imitating art Jaws accomplished the very thing Chief Brody was trying to do in those early July days on Amity Island. Getting people out of the water. And subsequently driving them into the theaters. Jaws changed the entire film industry and the way films are released today. It redefined the potential success a film could achieve. It has had a lasting impact on generations of scared beach goers. But more than anything, really, it’s just a damn good movie.

- Stay classy San Diego