Jaws (film)

Jaws (1975) is an American film, based upon a bestselling novel by Peter Benchley, which itself was based loosely on the terrifying true story of the Jersey Shore Shark Attacks of 1916. In the story, a resort town's sheriff tries to protect beachgoers from the predations of a huge great white shark by closing the beach, only to be overruled by the town council. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg and stars Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss and Lorraine Gary.

Impact and significance

Upon its release, the film rocketed past the then-$85 million gross of the reigning box-office champion, The Godfather, becoming the first movie to reach more than $100 million in box-office receipts. This feat was not matched until ', two years later in 1977. Jaws was a key film in establishing the benefits of a wide national release backed by heavy media advertising, rather than a progressive release that let a film slowly enter new markets and build support over a period of time. The wide national release pattern would become standard practice for high profile movies in the late 1970s and after.

Related Topics:
The Godfather - 1977

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Jaws is also often cited as indicating a shift in the type of movies made by Hollywood studios. Along with The Exorcist and Star Wars, it is an example of a high-budget movie in what had previously been considered a disreputable or low-budget genre (in this case, suspense/horror). The runaway success of these films led to an increased shift in production towards such genres by studios in the following decades.

Related Topics:
The Exorcist - Star Wars

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Though a horror classic (voted to have the scariest scenes ever by a Bravo Halloween TV special), the film is widely recognized to be responsible for many fearsome and inaccurate stereotypes about sharks and their behavior. Benchley is quoted as saying that he never would have written the original novel had he known what sharks are really like in the wild.

Related Topics:
Bravo - Halloween

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Jaws was followed by three sequels, generally regarded as increasingly poor in quality as compared to the original: Jaws 2 (1978), Jaws 3-D (1983) and ' (1987).

Related Topics:
Jaws 2 - 1978 - Jaws 3-D - 1983 - 1987

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A video game based around the premise of a great white shark attacking humans, called ', is due to be released on January 1st, 2006. The twist is that the player controls the shark, and must defend their underwater habitat from polluting humans.

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