The Movie "Jaws" on This Day in History

 

This day in history: The film Jaws was released in the United States on this day in 1975, becoming the highest-grossing film of that time and started the trend of films known as "summer blockbusters".

Jaws is a 1975 American thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the 1974 novel by Peter Benchley. It stars Roy Scheider as police chief Martin Brody, who, with the help of a marine biologist (Richard Dreyfuss) and a professional shark hunter (Robert Shaw), hunts a man-eating great white shark that attacks beachgoers at a summer resort town. 

Shot mostly on location at Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts, Jaws was the first major motion picture to be shot on the ocean and consequently had a troubled production, going over budget and schedule. As the art department's mechanical sharks often malfunctioned, Spielberg decided mostly to suggest the shark's presence, employing an ominous and minimalist theme created by composer John Williams to indicate its impending appearances. Spielberg and others have compared this suggestive approach to that of director Alfred Hitchcock. Universal Pictures' release of the film to over 450 screens was an exceptionally wide release for a major studio picture at the time, and it was accompanied by an extensive marketing campaign that heavily emphasized television spots and tie-in merchandise.

Regarded as a watershed moment in motion picture history, Jaws was the prototypical summer blockbuster, and won several awards for its music and editing. It was the highest-grossing film of all time until the release of Star Wars two years later; both films were pivotal in establishing the modern Hollywood business model, which pursues high box-office returns from action and adventure films with simple high-concept premises, released during the summer in thousands of theaters and advertised heavily. Jaws was followed by three sequels (none of which involved Spielberg or Benchley) and many imitative thrillers, and in 2001, the Library of Congress selected it for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.

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The Movie JAWS on This Day in History

 

This Day In History: The film Jaws was released on this day in 1975, becoming the highest-grossing film of that time and starting the trend of films known as "summer blockbusters".

"Jaws was the first movie released in more than 400 theaters in the United States, and the first movie to gross over $100 million at the box office. It was the highest grossing movie of all time until Star Wars was released two years later." Source

While in theaters, the film was said to have caused a single case of cinematic neurosis in a 17-year-old, female viewer. Cinematic neurosis is a condition in which viewers exhibit mental health disturbances, or a worsening of existing mental health disturbances, after viewing a film. The symptoms first presented as sleep disturbances and anxiety, but one day later the patient was screaming "Sharks! Sharks!" and experiencing convulsions.

This case study caused the film to become notable in the medical community alongside The Exorcist for causing stress reactions in its viewers, and was later used in a study by Brian R. Johnson to test how susceptible audiences were to cinematic stress inducers. His study found that stress could be induced by cinema in segments of the general population, and Jaws specifically caused stress reactions in its viewers. While Johnson could not find an exact cause for the stress response in viewers, whether it be the suspense, the gore or the music production, a 1986 study by G. Sparks found that particularly violent films, including Jaws, tended to cause the most intense reactions in viewers.

The last sequel to Jaws, Jaws: The Revenge (1987) is considered one of the worst films ever made.

In July 2018, Steven Spielberg expressed interest in a Jaws prequel film focusing on the 1945 sinking of the USS Indianapolis.

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