Jaws Production Timeline

JAWS PRODUCTION TIMELINE

1975

1973

1974

1974

1975

2024

production difficulties

production plans

novel release

jaws marketing

release

reflection

On May 2nd, 1974, production started on Martha’s Vineyard

Breakthrough marketing strategy for a blockbuster

Jaws was published in February 1974 and became a great success

Jaws hits the theaters on June 20, 1975

What was the overall affect of these events on the outcome of the film?

Spielberg begins to plan the contents of Jaws.

citations

SPIELBERG GETS THE JOB

In 1973, producers Richard Zanuck and David Brown ask Spielberg to direct Jaws

Spielberg discusses his visions for the film

• He didn't see room for the Ellen Brody and Ichthyologist affair
• He was mostly intrigued with the sea-hunt survivors adventure, planning to create a 26-foot mechanical shark
• He orginally wanted movie star Lee Martin to play Quint but he wasn't interested.

MARKETING

BREAKTHROUGH MARKETING STRATEGY FOR BLOCKBUSTERS

• Before the summer of 1975, Hollywood studios traditionally never advertised their movies on network television. It was simply too expensive to do so. However, for three nights preceding the release of "Jaws" on June 20, 1975, Universal spent nearly 1 million dollars and saturated the networks during primetime with 30-second trailers for the movie
• On top of that John Williams score became so recognizable through the advertising, that when people heard it they would think of the film and therefore want to go and watch.
• They also pulled some marketing tie-ins towards the readership of the original novel by creating brand new cover art that reflected the movie poster and stills. That way there was more synergy between the book and the film, people would watch the film and want to read the book and vise versa.

TV SPOTS

NOVEL RELEASE

Jaws was published in February 1974 and became a great success.

• It stayed on the bestseller list for some 44 weeks.
• By the time the film adaptation debuted in June 1975 the book had sold 5.5 million copies domestically
• Despite the commercial success, reviews were mixed. The most common criticism regarded the human characters, with Michael A. Rogers of Rolling Stone declaring that “None of the humans are particularly likable or interesting”
• The success of “Jaws” had unforeseen consequences for Peter Benchley. Throughout the late ’70s, he watched in frustration as sharks were branded public enemies. As he was a sea-lover.

REFLECTION

What kind of technical restraintscontributed to the financial success of the film?

• One technical failure that contributed to the financial success of the film was actually the mechcanical shark. So many moments throughout the film are very tense and anxiety-inducing, without the shark ever being on screen. Now I read that this wasn’t exactly the intention when first producing the film, but because the mechanical shark looked so fake, they had to reduce it’s screen time by a lot, replacing the horror elements with thriller elements. Which I believe appealed to audiences more.

How does your chosen film impact the way movies are made and sold today?

• Jaws has greatly impacted the landscape of filmmaking and completely changed the course of how they are made and sold today. Whether that be a good or bad thing, that's up for you to decide. But major studios learned that big budget projects (that possibly have pre-exisiting IP) do much better in the theaters with the added budget for advertising on television and other digital medias. Big budget franchises began to explode after Jaws and it's sequels. Many of those franchises being ones Spielberg worked on, like Indiana Jones and Jurassic Park.

What kind of social and or artistic factors contributed to the financial success (or failure) of the film?

• I believe that the biggest social aspect that contributed to the success of Jaws was that it was a film made for a theater, made for people to enjoy together. Jaws was a movie where people lined up to go with their friends and see each other get scared and react to the shark attacks. This social factor was a big boost in the financial success in the film.

PRODUCTION ISSUES

Real Shark footage (Write-In)

Jaws had become a war zone, with the exhausted crew calling it Flaws.

• Every single day the shark was put in the water, something went wrong. Spielberg shot everything not involving the shark, and they began writing it out of scenes.
• The shark would drag through the water, looking, as Spielberg put it, “like a 26-foot turd.” On good days, they would snatch something usable. On bad days, they got nothing at all.
• Things got even worse when the local boat jockeys who had been hired to shuttle equipment went on strike. They resorted to acts of sabotage, like filling the gas tanks of Quint’s fishing vessel, the Orca, with water.

CITATIONS

• https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2023/07/jaws-making-of-spielberg-interview
• https://lithub.com/how-a-26-year-old-steven-spielberg-made-jaws-and-nearly-lost-his-career-in-the-process/
• https://jaws.fandom.com/wiki/Jaws_(novel)
• https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/12/books/booksupdate/jaws-peter-benchley-50.html
• https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/hollywood/business/jaws.html#:~:text=%22Jaws%22%20opened%20in%20465%20theaters,Godfather%22%20at%20the%20box%20office.

RELEASE OF JAWS

Jaws hits the theaters on June 20, 1975

• The release of "Jaws" represented another significant change in standard practice: opening a movie in hundreds of theaters at the same time.
• "Jaws" opened in 465 theaters, and in an astonishing 78 days it had already dethroned "The Godfather" at the box office.
• Jaws recieved a record $7 million opening weekend and grossed a record $21,116,354 in its first 10 days recouping its production costs.
• It has now made 430 million dollars worldwide.