JAWS 50th Anniversary!

[Jay 43,956]

Check out this press release that NBC Universal put out almost 2 months ago now:

 

https://www.nbcuniversal.com/article/jaws-celebrates-50th-anniversary-uncovering-iconic-films-impact-and-lasting-legacy

 

To celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Jaws, a series of exciting events and exclusive merchandise are being launched. 

 

As announced during the 97th Oscars telecast, Jaws: The Exhibition will debut at the Academy Museum beginning September 14, with tickets available now. The Academy Museum exhibition, the first ever of this size dedicated to a specific film, celebrates the Academy’s largest collection object—the sole surviving shark from Jaws —and is timed to the film’s landmark anniversary. Visitors will step into the world of the iconic film, scene-by-scene, as it translates the movie into a spatial experience with over 200 original objects including concept illustrations, costumes and props. To top it off, exclusive new merchandise will be available in the Academy Museum Store celebrating the legacy of the film.

 

In April, the 2025 TCM Classic Film Festival will host the first theatrical screening of the year with a special 50th anniversary presentation of Jaws. Fans across the country can be apart of the celebration over Labor Day weekend when Jaws returns to the big screen on August 29 through September 4. 

 

Alamo Drafthouse Cinema will be hosting a summer-long celebration with Jaws celebration over Memorial Day weekend this may. Their theaters nationwide will be hosting Jaws Movie Party screenings featuring a special menu and fun props along with limited-edition popcorn buckets and merchandise. Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, special Jaws on the Water screenings will take place at Lake Travis in Austin, Texas, this June and July. Additionally, in the most fitting of locations — Martha’s Vineyard — fans can enjoy an unforgettable experience on June 21 as part of the Alamo Drafthouse Rolling Roadshow, in partnership with The Martha's Vineyard Chamber of Commerce and Circuit Arts. 

 

For those looking to join in on the celebration from home, Jaws will be streaming exclusively on Peacock starting June 15 along with Jaws 2, Jaws 3-D and Jaws: The Revenge. For the ultimate Jaws fans, a 50th Anniversary special edition of the film will be re-released on Digital and Disc with all-new bonus material this summer.

 

The anniversary continues by celebrating one of most iconic achievements in film music history. In collaboration with Back Lot Music and Universal Pictures, Mondo will release a definitive and newly remastered presentation of the legendary score by John Williams on 2xLP vinyl.

 

Plus starting in May, Universal Orlando Resort and Universal Studios Hollywood will offer an all-new collection of merchandise themed to the anniversary including a new sipper, bucket hat, crossbody bag, and more. 

 

 

At Universal Orlando Resort, guests can indulge in specialty food and beverage at Chez Alcatraz, snap a picture with the hanging great white shark himself and in the summer, experience Universal Mega Movie Parade featuring fan-favorite characters from the film and a live marching drum line performing the iconic movie score alongside an incredibly themed float.

 

At Universal Studios Hollywood, guests can come face-to-face with the menacing great white shark during their visit to Amity Island on the world-famous Studio Tour with additional celebratory activities to be announced soon.

 

Universal Studios Japan is the ultimate destination for Jaws fans with an entire area themed to Amity Village including the Jaws attraction, Amity Landing Restaurant, unique merchandise, a photo-op with the iconic shark itself and more.

 

Those looking for a virtual Jaws adventure can experience the terrifying action-thriller come to life in Funko Fusion, the crossover action-adventure game, which features a level and quests inspired by the film. Roblox fans can get in on the action as well with Jaws: Infested Waters, an immersive adrenaline-charged experience that revolves around the iconic tension between the dangerous great white shark and Amity Island locals, faithfully echoing the edge-of-your-seat suspense of the iconic film.

[crumbs 15,774]

9 hours ago, Jay said:

The anniversary continues by celebrating one of most iconic achievements in film music history. In collaboration with Back Lot Music and Universal Pictures, Mondo will release a definitive and newly remastered presentation of the legendary score by John Williams on 2xLP vinyl.

 

Very interesting. Mike worked with Mondo on the previous Jaws 2LP so I assume he was tasked with this remaster as well. The question is whether there's newly discovered elements that improve the previous release, or if Mike simply reworked the existing transfers. Calling it "definitive" is interesting because that's simply not possible for this score on a 2LP.

 

Mike revealed in 2015 that the first generation masters of the film score no longer existed (presumably destroyed in the Universal backlot fire) so they used a hissy second generation 3-track master. No analogue masters could be found for the album recording at all, so they used an ancient 1630 CD master from 1992 for the OST. So effectively we have nothing from the score sourced from a first-generation element.

 

The album sessions were recorded on multi-track tape though, so they do (or did) exist. Lost elements turn up all the time so maybe there's been good news in the decade since the Intrada release, but I suspect this Mondo 2LP is the film score presentation.

[Bespin Copilot 10,078]

Happy Anniversary Bruce!

[King Mark 3,862]

 

[Mr. Hooper 6,958]

3 hours ago, Bespin Copilot said:

Happy Anniversary Bruce!

We were nearly born on the same day. 

[Davis 3,953]

2 hours ago, King Mark said:

 

The shark still looks

fake.

[Bespin Copilot 10,078]

38 minutes ago, Mr. Hooper said:

We were nearly born on the same day. 

 

As long as you dont have the same appetite!

[Toillion 395]

Saw this on Facebook about the release when someone asked about it.
Any guesses on what will be deluxe about the packaging? My guess is that it will have a pop up shark in the gatefold. 

[Mr. Hooper 6,958]

11 hours ago, Davis said:

The shark still looks fake.

It's a vast improvement over the original game shark. 
 

 

[The Score Cleaner 8,542]

10 minutes ago, Mr. Hooper said:

It's a vast improvement over the original game shark. 
 

 

[danbeck 142]

17 hours ago, Davis said:

The shark still looks

fake.

In fact I’m amazed at how faithful it is to the looks of Bruce

[Davis 3,953]

23 minutes ago, danbeck said:

In fact I’m amazed at how faithful it is to the looks of Bruce

I don’t know why the people were afraid of a such a tiny shark.

[Mr. Hooper 6,958]

3 hours ago, Davis said:

I don’t know why the people were afraid of a such a tiny shark.

"That's a 20-footer!"

[Paul M. Grenon 77]

51 minutes ago, Mr. Hooper said:

"That's a 20-footer!"

“25. 3 tons of him.”

[Paul M. Grenon 77]

Also, I just realized it’s perfect that Mr. Hooper was the one quoting Hooper

[Bespin Copilot 10,078]

7 minutes ago, Paul M. Grenon said:

Also, I just realized it’s perfect that Mr. Hooper was the one quoting Hooper

 

He's the only one allowed to do that, just as you are the only one allowed to say 'penis breath' to us.

[Davis 3,953]

[Bespin Copilot 10,078]

Whoops, I activated Lobot by error, my bad!

[Andy 6,451]

So that’s what Lando texted to Lobot on his Apple Watch!

[Brando 2,631]

I wonder if maybe Intrada plans on rereleasing the score with new material not released before? Hypothetically if they did I’d love to have the film take of Man Against Beast which has been utilized in every release of the film since the DVD. And maybe even the unreleased source music as well.

[Holko 11,684]

2 minutes ago, Brando said:

Hypothetically if they did I’d love to have the film take of Man Against Beast which has been utilized in every release of the film since the DVD.

Wouldn't that be the already included alternate?

[Brando 2,631]

3 minutes ago, Holko said:

Wouldn't that be the already included alternate?

No. The alternate is very different. The main difference between the version heard in the mono/stereo version of the film is at 1:57 here:

Some of the players missed their mark or something to that effect. But, that 2 seconds where all you hear is those menacing horns (I think, I don’t know instruments) is great.

I forgot, it can be heard on the 2000 album release but I’ve heard the quality is not good: 

 

[tomsmoviemadness 4,443]

In last month's Empire Magazine (I'm a bit behind on reading) there was a large feature about Jaws' 50th anniversary. They highlight different parts of the production while interviewing different people. They alsp added a small piece on the score, where Hans Zimmer gives some of his thoughts.

 

Thought I might share, should any of you want to read, it's quite nice I think.

 

[Antonb 124]

thanks for posting

[Xander Harris 8,516]

 

 

 

[Mr. Hooper 6,958]

"You don't know what key you're in. You don't know where the shark is. Is he here? (Plays an E) Is he there? (Plays an F) Are you an E? Or an F?"

An interesting insight—the musically literate perhaps feeling an extra layer of fear and uncertainty when hearing the theme.

[80sFan 141]

Brief JW clip at the end....

 

 

A Definitive ‘Jaws’ Documentary Is Coming Very Soon—Here’s the Trailer

Featuring Steven Spielberg, John Williams, and more, 'Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story' hits Nat Geo, Hulu, and Disney+ in July.

https://gizmodo.com/a-definitive-jaws-documentary-is-coming-very-soon-heres-the-trailer-2000609332

 

 

 

[Mr. Hooper 6,958]

Looks like Bouzereau's recycling material from his 1995 documentary, but I hope he got some new insights from Williams as well.

[Tallguy 6,208]

I still have never seen The Shark is Still Working. Should I bother?

 

Am I remembering correctly that there was a lot more interview material on the laser disc than there was on the subsequent DVDs? Did that ever get fixed?

 

Blowing my mind that it's been THIRTY YEARS since I got those LDs. What a fantastic set.

[Mr. Hooper 6,958]

11 minutes ago, Tallguy said:

I still have never seen The Shark is Still Working. Should I bother?

Why not? Roy Scheider narrated it, and it's his last screen credit. But it's interesting because it touches on all aspects of 'Jaws,' including talking to people like Roger Kastel and Percy Rodriguez.

 

It's also a love letter to the fans, or so-called "finatics." If you count yourself as one, it's definitely worth your time.

[Andy 6,451]

Yep, it's good.  Definitely worth a watch. There have been SO many docs.  There's one a Filmumentaries doc, an E! doc, The Bouz one, the Fan one... I can't imagine what's left to say or show.  There was 8 minutes of home movies included with the first edition of Jaws Memories from Martha's Vineyard, which if you don't own, you must pick up the new revised edition.

 

I forget, did any of the previous docs show the Kintner mannequin test footage?

 

 

[Mr. Hooper 6,958]

40 minutes ago, Andy said:

There was 8 minutes of home movies included with the first edition of Jaws Memories from Martha's Vineyard, which if you don't own, you must pick up the new revised edition.

 

I forget, did any of the previous docs show the Kintner mannequin test footage?

To my knowledge, 'The Shark is Still Working' was the first and only documentary to show some of beach extra Carol Fligor's home movies, until this latest one.

[Andy 6,451]

And then there's the photo that spawned a zillion "they should've kept it" comments all over the internet.  It's an amazing still photo, and the black and white only adds to the chilling vibe, but it likely looked shit in motion, and was likely not used for a good reason.

 

 

 

 

[Mr. Hooper 6,958]

17 minutes ago, Andy said:

And then there's the photo that spawned a zillion "they should've kept it" comments all over the internet.  It's an amazing still photo, and the black and white only adds to the chilling vibe, but it likely looked shit in motion, and was likely not used for a good reason.

 

 

 

 

Thanks to good ol' eBay, I was finally able to put my hands on the LIFE 'The Year in Pictures' issue it appeared in, in a two-page spread.

 

The shark actually moved with a nice fluidity, and pretty convincingly I think, in the home movies... Maybe Spielberg decided that less was more.

 

 

[GerateWohl 6,199]

1 hour ago, Andy said:

I forget, did any of the previous docs show the Kintner mannequin test footage?

 

To make the scene work with that shot the camera with the sharks perspective woult have needed to already leave the water.

This way it makes no sense. Ego perspective still under water, cut to the outside, shark already outside the water. 

There is a link missing.

Such details matter.

[Tallguy 6,208]

The scene as it is is perfect. And it's actually gorier than this would have been. 

 

But the important part is that Brody doesn't know what he's seeing.

[Naïve Old Fart 12,160]

The scene works just fine.

We get the long shot from the beach's POV, then the smash-cut to Alex being dragged down.

Horrible, yet so well executed.

[GerateWohl 6,199]

Of course, the scene like we got it in the movie was just perfect. We are lucky that Spielberg didn't give us some anniversary CGI shark like he did with E.T. where he actually managed to destroy scenes with his CGI ideas.

[Andy 6,451]

7 hours ago, Mr. Hooper said:

Thanks to good ol' eBay, I was finally able to put my hands on the LIFE 'The Year in Pictures' issue it appeared in, in a two-page spread.

 

Oh how cool! I didn’t know that’s where it was from.  The 1975 year in pictures issue?

[Brando 2,631]

10 hours ago, Andy said:

Yep, it's good.  Definitely worth a watch. There have been SO many docs.  There's one a Filmumentaries doc, an E! doc, The Bouz one, the Fan one... I can't imagine what's left to say or show.  There was 8 minutes of home movies included with the first edition of Jaws Memories from Martha's Vineyard, which if you don't own, you must pick up the new revised edition.

 

I forget, did any of the previous docs show the Kintner mannequin test footage?

 

 

This is probably the best place to ask these questions I’ve been wanting to ask for a while: this final film version, was this cut from the entire thing (the black and white photo and the very grainy footage of the full shark nibbling at the dummy), or was it a completely separate thing filmed? Also, how was the original scene of finding Ben Gardners boat supposed to happen? SS says in the making of documentary that “he got too greedy and thought he could get one more scare” and they filmed the head popping thru the hole in Verna Field’s swimming pool. 

[Andy 6,451]

Well I’ll share that originally the reporter Meadows played by Carl Gottlieb was searching Gardner’s boat with Brody and ends up falling into the water. There are pics of this in Gottlieb’s book the Jaws Log.  Not sure if Hooper was with them or if it was being shot day for night, but that was the abandoned general idea. 
 

I’m not sure if the Kintner dummy footage yielded anything useful enough to ever be considered for editing.  For some reason, I think it was filmed in a different location, separately from the other beach scene footage.  My hunch is telling me it may have been shot at the same stretch where Brody is on the sinking mast of the Orca.  
 

Both good questions though!  I’m to lazy to get out of bed and grab my books, but if I get a chance tomorrow, I’ll flip through them. 
 

Wouldn’t it be amazing to be a fly on the, er, beach for that production?

[Mr. Hooper 6,958]

1 hour ago, Andy said:

Well I’ll share that originally the reporter Meadows played by Carl Gottlieb was searching Gardner’s boat with Brody and ends up falling into the water. There are pics of this in Gottlieb’s book the Jaws Log.  Not sure if Hooper was with them or if it was being shot day for night, but that was the abandoned general idea.

I believe Hooper was with them, and they were on his other, smaller boat, called "Fascinating Rhythm."

 

1 hour ago, Andy said:

I’m not sure if the Kintner dummy footage yielded anything useful enough to ever be considered for editing.  For some reason, I think it was filmed in a different location, separately from the other beach scene footage.

Yeah, I think it was a second unit shoot, and overseen by Joe Alves.

 

4 hours ago, Andy said:

Oh how cool! I didn’t know that’s where it was from.  The 1975 year in pictures issue?

 

[JTGL 184]

Lorraine Gary talks about Jaws in a recent interview. A must see for the Jaws fan. 

 

[Brando 2,631]

14 hours ago, Andy said:

Well I’ll share that originally the reporter Meadows played by Carl Gottlieb was searching Gardner’s boat with Brody and ends up falling into the water. There are pics of this in Gottlieb’s book the Jaws Log.  Not sure if Hooper was with them or if it was being shot day for night, but that was the abandoned general idea. 

Oh yes that’s right! I totally forgot about this idea. I’ve read this book once but it was a long time ago. I guess it’s tricky when Spielberg’s words are “I wanted get one more scare out of the audience”, which makes it seem like it was a last minute decision but the music fits the scene, but maybe he was referring to a test audience and the film was far from completion at that point.

[Mr. Hooper 6,958]

32 minutes ago, Brando said:

Oh yes that’s right! I totally forgot about this idea. I’ve read this book once but it was a long time ago. I guess it’s tricky when Spielberg’s words are “I wanted get one more scare out of the audience”, which makes it seem like it was a last minute decision but the music fits the scene, but maybe he was referring to a test audience and the film was far from completion at that point.

Yeah, the timing was off for when Ben Gardner's head popped out, and it only got a tepid response from the test audience...so, Spielberg reshot it a few different ways in, I think, Verna Fields' swimming pool, and landed on a take that, as he put it, "made popcorn fly."

 

The "greedy" remark was made because, after that, the audience had its guard up, and popcorn flew less high when the shark first popped out at Brody.

[Andy 6,451]

I believe they also tweaked the edit it so that it doesn’t sync up with the music.  As written, Williams really builds to a crescendo rather hitting us with a jump scare.  The edit subverts the composition marvelously. 

[Brando 2,631]

9 hours ago, Mr. Hooper said:

Yeah, the timing was off for when Ben Gardner's head popped out, and it only got a tepid response from the test audience...so, Spielberg reshot it a few different ways in, I think, Verna Fields' swimming pool, and landed on a take that, as he put it, "made popcorn fly."

 

The "greedy" remark was made because, after that, the audience had its guard up, and popcorn flew less high when the shark first popped out at Brody.

Now this is actually what happened? The timing on the head popping out was off?

5 hours ago, Andy said:

I believe they also tweaked the edit it so that it doesn’t sync up with the music.  As written, Williams really builds to a crescendo rather hitting us with a jump scare.  The edit subverts the composition marvelously. 

Oh you’re right!! I never noticed that before. Also, does this cue play differently between the mono and stereo version of the film? I seem to remember that the last time I watched the film with the mono version (which was years ago, although I plan on doing this when I watch it on the 20th in 2.5 weeks), the music was slightly different in the beginning. I’ll have to double check it myself.

[Naïve Old Fart 12,160]

Also, Ted Grossman's death was far more graphic.

[Tallguy 6,208]

7 hours ago, Brando said:

Now this is actually what happened? The timing on the head popping out was off?

 

Pretty much. He saw the test screening and thought "Hey, this could get more of a reaction." If I remember the story correctly he took a piece of the boat and the fake head and someone to be Dreyfus and went to someone's pool. He filmed it a whole bunch of different ways with a bunch of different timings. Everyone thought he was crazy and he was going to screw up what was testing out to be a very good film. 

 

Then he played one particular combination in the edit bay and a bunch of people went "Hey!" So he used that one. (I never thought about the music behind the scene before.)

 

The next screening he got WAY more of a reaction to Ben Gardner's head. But he also got a little bit less of a reaction to the first appearance of the shark on the Orca. (Not that it ruined the scene or anything.) But his conclusion was that after Gardner's head the audience was more on it's guard.

[Brando 2,631]

16 hours ago, Tallguy said:

 

Pretty much. He saw the test screening and thought "Hey, this could get more of a reaction." If I remember the story correctly he took a piece of the boat and the fake head and someone to be Dreyfus and went to someone's pool. He filmed it a whole bunch of different ways with a bunch of different timings. Everyone thought he was crazy and he was going to screw up what was testing out to be a very good film. 

 

Then he played one particular combination in the edit bay and a bunch of people went "Hey!" So he used that one. (I never thought about the music behind the scene before.)

 

The next screening he got WAY more of a reaction to Ben Gardner's head. But he also got a little bit less of a reaction to the first appearance of the shark on the Orca. (Not that it ruined the scene or anything.) But his conclusion was that after Gardner's head the audience was more on its guard.

This makes more sense to me now. I wish we could see how the scene originally played out.