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Happy Birthday Jaws! - 50 Years and still looking good!
Jaws - 50 Years of Shark Fear!
June marks the 50th birthday of the iconic monster thriller Jaws and it’s back in cinemas in August to celebrate its anniversary!
Jaws was the first movie released in more than 400 cinema theatres in the United States, and the first film to gross over $100 million at the box office. The seminal horror established Steven Spielberg as a leading director and was nominated for a Best Picture and bagged three other Academy Awards including Best Music for John Williams' wonderful film score.
Jaws was adapted from author Peter Benchley’s bestselling novel of the same name, based on a series of Shark attacks off the coast of New Jersey, the author even made a cameo in the film as a news reporter. Spielberg nicknamed the mechanical shark Bruce after his lawyer. Bruce was prone to frequent malfunctions causing his appearance in the film to be limited, shooting to over run and spiralling production costs. With an initial 65 day shooting schedule extended to over 150 days, and an original $4 million budget to more than double (eventually ending up around $12 million), panic among studio executives almost caused production to be halted.
The film’s iconic poster image was first designed by artist Roger Kastel for Benchley’s book. Kastel based the image of the massive shark emerging from the bottom of the frame after a great white shark diorama at the American Museum of Natural History. Such a strong image, and a design that delivered plenty of 'bite' meant it dominated the poster art across most of the world.
The combination of the great script, cinematic style, film score and that exemplary poster design led to a lasting influence on the collective psyche. Such is its enduring impact that for many, five decades on, it still doesn't feel safe to go into the water... with the iconic 2-note shark musical theme etched into everyone's memory, evoking serious shark fear with each swim! We have some fantastic Jaws posters on the site, including the very large US subway undated advance - one of the very first posters shown to prospective audiences!
