Jaws

Guide Note

Based on Peter Benchley's best-selling novel, Jaws is Steven Spielberg's first summer blockbuster, about a New England resort town terrorized by a killer shark.

Fast Facts

1. Release Date: June 20, 1975
2. Director: Steven Spielberg
3. Starring: Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss, Robert Shaw
4. Total worldwide gross: $470,653,000
5. Nickname for mechanical sharks used: "Bruce"
6. Sterling Hayden and Lee Marvin were considered for the role of Quint
7. The mechanical shark had frequent malfunctions
8. Loosely based on Jersey shore shark attacks of 1916
9. Was the highest grossing film of all time until the release of Star Wars

Jaws is notable for several distribution and marketing strategies that partially revolutionized the motion picture industry. Universal Pictures studio chief Sid Sheinberg devised the concept of "wide release" of motion pictures into several hundred theaters on the same day. Throughout the early days of cinema through the 1970s, films had been released in only a few theaters at a time and then spread out over the coming weeks.

Spielberg was not nominated for Best Director at the Academy Awards, however the film won awards for editing, original score and sound.

• "You're gonna need a bigger boat."
• "Here's to swimming with bow-legged women."
• "Smile, you son of a b---."