The movie that got the blockbuster ball rolling, Stephen Spielberg's Jaws (1975)
Da-Dum…Da-Dum…Da-Dum-Da-Dum-Da-Dum!
What better film for the Imperial Theatre to kick off the summer and close out its Retro Film series, before returning in September, than Stephen Spielberg’s Jaws, the film that sparked Hollywood’s obsession with bombastic lucrative blockbusters! Composer John Williams’ iconic theme for the terror of Amity Island still sends chills down the spine and causes hands to grip the armrests as the audience yells for everyone to GET OUT OF THE WATER!
“We like to pick something summery and fun for June” stated Bethany Stout, Assistant Executive Director & Marketing and Communications Manager at the Imperial Theatre. “We don’t choose based on what sells well, sometimes [a selection] is just a really great film. We know [sometimes that a film] will not be a big seller and that is okay – it is fun.”
Like its sharp-toothed shark antagonist, Jaws blew everyone out of the water in 1975 with a $260 million domestic office and made $470 million worldwide on a $7 million-dollar budget. It was the highest-grossing film of all time until the release of George Lucas’ Star Wars two years later, and won three Academy Awards for Best Film Editing, Best Original Score and Best Sound at the 48th Academy Awards as well as being nominated for Best Picture.
Jaws, along with Star Wars, helped establish the Hollywood summer blockbuster release model. Hollywood makes the majority of its money from the blockbuster model, focusing on large box office returns from heavily advertised, widely released films with simple, yet exciting, action or adventure premises. Ghostbusters (1984), Die Hard (1988), Speed (1994), Independence Day (1996), and the lion’s share of all superhero films owe a debt to Jaws to their success.
In 2001, Jaws was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the United States National Film Registry. Like style, truly classic films last forever.
“We’ve had people come [out to watch] really older films; one couple came to [watch] a film that [was released] here at the Imperial when they were dating” reminisced Stout.
If you go: The one-time screening of Jaws will be screened at the Imperial Theatre on Monday, June 24, 2019. Tickets cost $10 and the screening will begin at 7:00PM.
