How a broken mechanical shark forced Jaws into suspense and invented the summer blockbuster
The shark barely worked, so Spielberg had to imply the terror instead of showing it — and reshaped how Hollywood makes and markets movies.
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Salt water caused the animatronic shark teeth to fold back like soft putty during filming.
Mechanical failures forced Spielberg to use yellow barrels and a two-note score as shark proxies.
Universal spent seven hundred thousand dollars on television ads to create national urgency for the premiere.
The film transformed summer from a cinema dead zone into the primary season for blockbusters.
George Lucas used the success of Jaws to secure his own merchandising rights for Star Wars.
Jaws was the first film to earn over one hundred million dollars at the box office.
- 01Intro1 min
- 02The Nightmare at Martha's Vineyard2 min
- 03The Hitchcockian Pivot3 min
- 04Saturation Booking and the Birth of the Blockbuster3 min
- 05The Legacy of Jawsmania2 min
- 06Outro1 min
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