Jaws (film series)

Infobox Film
name = Jaws


image_size =
caption =
director = Jaws:
Steven Spielberg
Jaws 2:
Jeannot Szwarc
Jaws 3-D:
Joe Alves
Jaws: The Revenge
Joseph Sargent
producer = Jaws & Jaws 2: David Brown & Richard D. Zanuck Jaws 3-D: Rupert Hitzig Jaws: The Revenge: Joseph Sargent
writer =
narrator =
starring =
music =
cinematography =
editing =
distributor = Universal Pictures
released = Original series:
1975 - 1987
country = USA
language = English
budget =
gross =
website = http://www.jawsmovie.com
amg_id =
imdb_id =

The "Jaws" franchise began with a best-selling novel by Peter Benchley, which was inspired by the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916. It was then adapted for motion pictures by Universal Studios, directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Richard D. Zanuck and David Brown. The film was regarded as a watershed film in motion picture history; it became the father of the summer Blockbuster movie and one of the first "high concept" films. [cite web | work=BBC News Online|title=Rise of the blockbuster |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1653733.stm| accessdate=2006-08-20] [Wyatt, Justin. (1994) "High Concept: Movies and Marketing in Hollywood". Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0-292-79091-0] Due to the film's success in advance screenings, studio executives decided to distribute it in a much wider release than ever before. "The Omen" followed suit in the summer of 1976, and then ' one year later in 1977, cementing the practice for movie studios to distribute their big-release action and adventure pictures (commonly referred to as "tentpole pictures") during the summer. The film was followed by three sequels, none with the participation of Spielberg or Benchley. "Jaws 2" (1978), "Jaws 3-D" (1983) and ' (1987). A video game entitled "Jaws Unleashed" was later made in 2006.

"Jaws"

"Jaws" was released on June 20, 1975 by director Steven Spielberg.

"Jaws" tells the story of the police chief of Amity Island, a fictional summer resort town. In the narrative, the police chief tries to protect beachgoers from a great white shark by closing the beach, only to be overruled by the town council that wants the beach to remain open in order to sustain the local tourist economy. After several attacks, the police chief enlists the help of a marine biologist and a professional shark hunter. Roy Scheider stars as police chief Martin Brody, Richard Dreyfuss as marine biologist Matt Hooper, Robert Shaw as shark hunter Quint, Lorraine Gary as Brody's wife Ellen and Murray Hamilton as Mayor Vaughn.

"Jaws 2"

"Jaws 2" was released on June 16, 1978 by French director Jeannot Szwarc. It was the most successful sequel in the "Jaws" series.

"Jaws 2" is set four years after the events of the original film, when another great white shark arrives on the shores of Amity Island. After a series of deaths and disappearances, police chief Martin Brody (Roy Scheider) suspects that the culprit is another shark. However, he has trouble convincing the town's selectmen. He has to act alone to save the group of teenagers, including his two sons, who encounter the shark whilst out sailing.

"Jaws 3-D"

"Jaws 3-D" (also known as "Jaws 3") was released on July 22, 1983.

"Jaws 3-D" is about a SeaWorld, a water theme-park with underwater tunnels and lagoons. As the park prepares to open, it is infiltrated by a baby great white shark which attacks and kills water-skiers and park employees. Once the baby shark is captured, it becomes apparent that a much larger shark is present (The Mother).

The film is notable for making use of 3-D film during a period of revived interest in such technology during the 1980s. Other horror films such as Friday the 13th Part 3 and Amityville 3-D also took advantage of this 3-D approach. Cinema audiences could wear disposable cardboard polarized glasses to create the illusion that elements penetrate the screen. Several shots and sequences were designed to utilize the effect, such as the shark's destruction. Since the 3-D is ineffective in home viewing, the alternative title Jaws 3 is used for television broadcasts, VHS and DVD.

"Jaws: The Revenge"

"Jaws: The Revenge" (also known as "Jaws 4" or "Jaws 4: The Revenge") was released on July 17, 1987

"Jaws: The Revenge" The story returns to the Brody family in Amity Island. Martin Brody had died of a heart attack, although his widow, Ellen Brody (Lorraine Gary), claims that "it was the fear "of the shark" that killed him." She discusses with her youngest son Sean (Mitchell Anderson), and his fiance Tiffany (Mary Smith), arrangements for the Christmas season. Now working as a police deputy in Amity, Sean is dispatched to clear a log from a buoy. As he does so, he is attacked by a shark. He is killed as his screams are drowned out by the carol singers on the island. Ellen is convinced that the shark had deliberately targeted Sean due to some evil curse, and visits her eldest son, Michael (Lance Guest), in the Bahamas. Michael now works as a marine biologist. Fearing he will be attacked next by the shark, Ellen hopes to convince him to take up a new job on dry land. She meets Hoagie (Michael Caine), and they begin dating. Michael's wife Carla (Karen Young) is an artist and one day during her art exhibit, Ellen's granddaughter Thea (Judith Barsi) asks if she can go out on a banana boat with her friend Margaret and her mother (Diane Hetfield). The shark attacks the boat with Thea on it. The shark ends up devouring Margaret's mother in the process with blood flying everywhere, leaving Thea unharmed, but in the state of shock. Ellen becomes convinced that the shark has tracked her family to the Bahamas. She takes a boat out to sea on her own, intent on confronting and killing the shark to break the curse, or sacrificing herself hoping the shark will leave her family alone. Hoagie flies Michael and his friend Jake (Mario Van Peebles) out to sea so that they can find Ellen quickly. Hoagie lands the plane on the sea, but the shark sinks it. Looking out for the shark while using a device that emits electromagnetic impulses to drive the shark mad, Jake moves to the end of the prow. The shark unexpectedly leaps from the surface of the water to grab Jake, biting into him and dragging him beneath the surface in a gory fashion, pulling him under. The device causes the shark to repeatedly leap out of the water and Ellen steers the boat directly for the shark, impaling it on the broken bowsprit killing it. After killing the shark, they find Jake mauled but alive. Near the end of the film, Ellen is relieved that the curse of the shark is no longer on her family. The film ends as Hoagie flies Ellen back to Amity Island.

The film received a poor critical reception, and earned the lowest amount of money from the franchise. It is considered one of the worst movies ever made. Even though it received extremely negative reviews, the film was able to cover costs (estimated US$23 million) with a worldwide box-office take of $51,881,013. The film, though, continues the series' diminishing returns. It only grossed $7,154,890 in its opening weekend, when it opened to 1,606 screens. This was around $5 million less than its predecessor. It has also achieved the lowest total lifetime gross of the series.

Inspirations and influences

"Jaws" bears similarities to several literary and artistic works, most notably "Moby-Dick" by Herman Melville. The character of Quint strongly resembles Captain Ahab, the obsessed captain of the "Pequod" who devotes his life to hunting a sperm whale. Quint's monologue reveals his similar vendetta against sharks, and even his boat, the "Orca", is named after the only natural enemy of sharks. In the novel and original screenplay, Quint dies after being dragged under the ocean by a harpoon tied to his leg, similar to Ahab's death in Melville's novel. [cite news | publisher=tonmo.com | author=Ellis, Richard | title=Book and Movie Review: Beast |url=http://www.tonmo.com/reviews/beast.php| accessdate=2006-11-22] A direct reference to these similarities may be found in the original screenplay, which introduced Quint by showing him watching the film version of "Moby-Dick". [cite news | author=Benchley, Peter | publisher=jawsmovie.com | title=Jaws Final Draft Screenplay |url=http://www.jawsmovie.com/1/benchscript2.htm| accessdate=2006-08-29] His laughter throughout makes people get up and leave the theater (Wesley Strick's screenplay for "Cape Fear" features a similar scene). However, the scene from "Moby-Dick" could not be licensed from Gregory Peck, the owner of the rights. [cite news | author=Woelfel, Jay | publisher=ez-entertainment.net | title="Tribute to Gregory Peck" |url=http://www.ez-entertainment.net/features/Gregory_Peck.htm| accessdate=2006-08-11] Some have also noticed the influences of two 1950s horror films, "The Creature from the Black Lagoon" and "The Monster That Challenged the World". [cite news | author=Carpenter, Gerry | publisher=scifilm.org | title=Creature from the Black Lagoon |url=http://www.scifilm.org/reviews/blacklagoon.html| accessdate=2006-08-28]

"Jaws" was a key film in establishing the benefits of a wide national release backed by heavy media advertising, rather than a progressive release that let a film slowly enter new markets and build support over a period of time. [cite web | work=pbs.org | title=Jaws - The monster that ate Hollywood |url=http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/hollywood/business/jaws.html| accessdate=2006-08-06] Rather than let the film gain notice by word-of-mouth, Hollywood launched a successful television marketing campaign for the film, which added another $700,000 to the cost. The wide national release pattern would become standard practice for high-profile movies in the late 1970s and afterward.

The film conjured up so many scares that beach attendance was down in the summer of 1975 due to its profound impact. Though a horror classic (its opening sequence was voted the scariest scene ever by a Bravo Halloween TV special), [cite web | work=imdb.com | title=Trivia for "The 100 Scariest Movie Moments" |url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0450892/trivia| accessdate=2006-09-03] the film is widely recognized as being responsible for fearsome and inaccurate stereotypes about sharks and their behavior. Benchley has said that he would never have written the original novel had he known what sharks are really like in the wild. [cite news | author=Metcalf, Geoff | publisher=geoffmetcalf.com | title=Great white shark, the fragile giant |url=http://www.geoffmetcalf.com/qa/19634.html| accessdate=2006-08-04] He later wrote "Shark Trouble", a non-fiction book about shark behavior and "Shark Life", another non-fiction book describing his dives with sharks. Conservation groups have bemoaned the fact that the film has made it considerably harder to convince the public that sharks should be protected. [cite web | work=iemanya.org | title=Why Sharks? |url=http://www.iemanya.org/mediaperception.htm| accessdate=2006-08-08] [cite news | author=Chapple, Mike | publisher=icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk | title=Great white hope, page 3 |url=http://icliverpool.icnetwork.co.uk/entertainment/previewsandreviews/tm_objectid=15919800%26method=full%26siteid=50061%26page=3%26headline=great%2dwhite%2dhope-name_page.html| date=2005-09-01|accessdate=2006-08-09] "Jaws" set the template for many future horror films, so much so that the script for Ridley Scott's 1979 science fiction film "Alien" was pitched to studio executives with one tag line: "Jaws in space." [cite web | author=Hays, Matthew | publisher=montrealmirror.com | title=A Space Odyssey |url=http://www.montrealmirror.com/ARCHIVES/2003/102303/film1.html| accessdate=2007-07-31] . A line from "Jaws" also inspired the name of Bryan Singer's production company "Bad Hat Harry" productions, as it is his favorite film. [cite video | title = X2" commentary | publisher=20th Century Fox | date=2003] The film has been adapted into two video games, a theme park ride at Universal Studios Florida, and two musicals: "JAWS The Musical!", which premiered in the summer of 2004 at the Minnesota Fringe Festival; and "," which premiered in the summer of 2006 at the Toronto Fringe Festival.

Merchandise

"Jaws" has stretched beyond film and literature into other collectables. There have been two video games of Jaws. One for the NES under the title Jaws. Then in 2006 there was Jaws Unleashed for the PS2, Xbox and PC. This merchandise also includes T-Shirts, posters, Toys, Literature and jewlery.

Video games

NES release

Infobox VG
title = Jaws


caption = NES Jaws cover
developer = Westone [http://www.westone.co.jp/title.html]
publisher = LJN
distributor =
designer =
engine =
version =
released = vgrelease|NA=1987 [cite web | url = http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/nes/data/520726.html| title = Release date | publisher = Game FAQs | date = | accessdate = 2008-08-12]
genre = Action
modes = Single-player
ratings = n/a (not rated)
platforms = Nintendo Entertainment System
media = Cartridge
requirements =
input = controller

"Jaws" is an NES game based on the film franchise of the same name, specifically "", the fourth and final film in the series.

Gameplay

In the game the player pilots a boat across the sea, randomly encountering groups of hostile sea creatures. When the boat snags something in the overhead map, the perspective changes to a side-view. The player's boat releases a diver who battles various undersea threats such as jellyfish, rays, and smaller sharks. Occasionally, Jaws will appear on the map in the form of its familiar dorsal fin breaking the water's surface. If players collide with Jaws' dorsal fin, they can momentarily control their boat in the side-view encounter in an attempt to attack Jaws with depth charges. Jaws will always collide with the boat and release the diver into the water. Jaws will also appear after a brief moment if the player snags something in the overhead map with Jaws nearby.

Items encountered include crabs (increases movement speed of the diver), stars (bonus points), and conch shells which are used as currency in this game. Equipment and upgrades are purchased by alternating between two ports on the map. The first port visit gives the player a receiver, which tracks the location of Jaws relative to the boat on the overhead map; the faster it beeps, the closer Jaws is to the player. Future visits to ports afterwards increases overall attack power against Jaws. Touching a hostile sea creature during the side view undersea encounters will kill players and penalize them with a power level drop by 1 (if they had upgraded their attack power), the loss of the tracking device, the loss of half of the conch shells accumulated to that point, and complete health replenishment for Jaws. While the player is always able to confront Jaws during the game, it is only practical to do so after reaching a sufficient power to take away all of its health using spears and/or bombs. The power level should be at least '3' to be most efficient.

Killing a specific number of smaller sharks will trigger a bonus game. In this bonus game, an airplane travels back and forth in a side-view perspective and drops cannonballs on jellyfish, which assume formations and movement patterns similar to the enemies in the Challenge Stage of Galaga. Players can adjust the speed of the airplane, depending on what direction it is traveling. The player is rewarded the number of conch shells equivalent to the number of jellyfish killed divided by 3, rounded down.

The player can also find a submarine which appears at random places in the game map. The submarine is an upgrade with two weapons (torpedoes and depth charges) and much less inertia than the diver. The submarine is fragile, however. One collision with an enemy will destroy it and release the diver. This will not kill the diver, thus the only penalty for collision while occupying the sub is loss of the sub itself.

Once Jaws' health has been reduced in the side view encounter, the game changes to a "" view of the player's boat. Players are given three charges for their strobe device to force Jaws to breach the water's surface. Timing is essential in order to force Jaws to breach at the proper distance from the bow of the boat. Players can also jut the bow of their boat forward at any time. In order to fully defeat Jaws, the player must jab it with the boat's bow at the proper distance when it breaches from the strobe device. This can be quite difficult and require much patience. Jaws makes random movements backward, forward and side-to-side which makes for a hard final kill.

PS2, Xbox and PC release

Infobox VG
title = Jaws Unleashed


developer = Appaloosa Interactive
publisher = Majesco Entertainment
designer =
engine =
released = PlayStation 2 & Xbox ^{[http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/ps2/data/923582.html] [http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/xbox/data/923575.html]}
vgrelease|United States of America|USA|May 23, 2006
vgrelease|Europe|EUR|October 20, 2006
vgrelease|Australia|AUS|October 26, 2006
Windows ^{[http://www.gamefaqs.com/computer/doswin/data/923586.html]}
vgrelease|Europe|EUR|September 22, 2006
vgrelease|United States of America|USA|October 18, 2006
vgrelease|Australia|AUS|October 26, 2006
genre = Action-Adventure
modes = Single player
ratings = ESRB: Mature 17+
OFLC: MA15+
OFLC (NZ): M
platforms = PlayStation 2, Xbox, PC
media = DVD
requirements =
input =

"Jaws Unleashed" is a 2006 video game licensed from the 1975 film "Jaws". It was developed by Appaloosa Interactive, developer of the popular "Ecco the Dolphin" series, and released by Majesco. Like the "Grand Theft Auto" series, the game is open-ended; the player can free roam throughout the water, feeding on other animals and destroying everything in his path. Jaws Unleashed for Xbox is not currently backward compatible with the Xbox 360.

toryline

"Jaws Unleashed" follows a great white shark (called "Jaws" in the game) from the film series of the same name as he invades and terrorizes Amity Island 30 years after the original film. The game also features references to plot elements from the other three films.

Amity Island is growing, with huge businesses like Environplus moving in and others making the island a huge tourist attraction. Jaws kills the son of Enviroplus' CEO, forcing him to hire shark hunter Cruz Ruddock to kill the shark. Amity Marine biologist Michael (son of Chief Brody) wants to capture Jaws to study it. Players are introduced to the controls and abilities of Jaws in a tutorial, where the player kills several divers, learns to attack swimmers at a beach, and must destroy a set of docks. Michael shows up at this point, and captures Jaws and transports him to a waterpark, similar to Sea World.

The CEO puts Jaws in a holding tank, where Mayor Vaughn and Michael are arguing about what to do with the shark. The CEO wants Jaws to be killed as he is endangering the beaches. After they leave, the shark grabs one of the Scientists and uses him to unlock the entrance to the secondary tank, in this part of the game, the player must ram the underwater window in a scene similar to the one in the film "Jaws 3-D", this allows the player to flood the tunnel, the player is now free to destroy the waterpark. In one of the exhibit tanks, there is an orca battle. After this, the player is free to roam.

Jaws finds his way into a beach party in the middle of the night, and attacks the swimmers. When a truck starts throwing explosive barrels in the water, Jaws grabs one, and throws it at a pipe line filled with oil. The barrel explodes, causing a chain reaction as the oil ignites that causes the entire Environplus refinery to catch fire and collapse into the ocean . After this he causes more carnage such as destroying an underwater facility, destroying an oil shipment and finally killing the mayor. Seeing this as the last straw Cruz sets to blow up Jaws, but he is killed when his boat is destroyed. His mission completed, Jaws then swims off into the sunset.

Reception

"Jaws Unleashed" received a mixed to poor critical reaction. Most complaints against the game center around the game's glitches and freezing up and its camera problems. One of the most positive reviews came from IGN, which rewarded the game with a score of 7.4 out of 10 while calling it "Grand Shark Auto". Some other reviews however were far more harsh such as GameSpot who gave the game a rating of a 3.8 out of 10, while Official Playstation Magazine gave it a 1.5 out of 5. Game Rankings's aggregate scores for "Jaws Unleashed" were 54% for the PS2 version and 53% for the Xbox version. Game Informer magazine gave the game a sub-par 4.75, saying, "This game reaches a new level of video game absurdity, going well out of its way to make a complete mockery of the license it's based on." As the game was released on PC, players experienced a better overall performance, handling, and fewer problems during game play were reported, thus indicating the later released PC version to be better than the console versions, with an average score of 60%. The same has been thought to be true in the PAL (Europe) version as indicated by higher reviews scores (such as a 7/10 from OPN UK).Despite this, the game was a commercial success, selling over 250,000 copies, therefore earning it Gamespot's "Worst Game Everyone Played of 2006" award [http://www.gamespot.com/special_features/bestof2006/honors/index.html?page=8] Shark experts criticized the violence displayed by the sharks in the game. In truth sharks don't target humans as prey and are in turn killed by humans by a large scale. The players of the game might have their image of sharks led away from the truth.

oundtrack

Infobox Album |
Name = Jaws 1992 Soundtrack
Type = Soundtrack
Artist = John Williams


Released = April 21, 1992
Recorded = 1975
Genre = Soundtrack
Length = 35:12
Label = MCA Records
Reviews =
* Allmusic Rating|5|5 [http://www.allmusicguide.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=10:5nkku3igan5k link]
This album = "Jaws (soundtrack)"
(1992)The original soundtrack for "Jaws" was released by MCA in 1975, and as a CD in 1992, including roughly a half hour of music that John Williams redid for the album. In 2000, the score underwent two rushed soundtrack releases: one in a re-recording of the entire "Jaws" score by Royal Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Joel McNeely, and another to coincide with the release of the 25th anniversary DVD by Decca/Universal, featuring the entire 51 min. of the original score. It would seem that Williams was influenced by Antonin Dvorak's New World Symphony, as the beginning of the symphony's fourth movement, Allegro con fuoco, is strikingly similar to the beginning of the movie's main title.

Track Listing for 1992 MCA Records album

#Main Title (Theme From 'Jaws') – 2:18
#Chrissie's Death – 1:39
#Promenade (Tourists on the Menu) – 2:46
#Out to Sea – 2:26
#The Indianapolis Story – 2:23
#Sea Attack Number One – 5:23
#One Barrel Chase – 3:04
#Preparing the Cage – 3:23
#Night Search – 3:29
#The Underwater Siege – 3:31
#Hand to Hand Combat – 2:32
#End Title (Theme From 'Jaws') – 2:18

Total Time: 35:12

Infobox Album
Name = Jaws 2
Type = soundtrack
Longtype =
Artist = John Williams


Released = 1978 (CD: 1990)
Recorded = 20th Century Fox Studios, Stage One
Genre = Orchestral
Length = 41:19
Label = Varese Sarabande
Producer = John Williams
Reviews = * [http://www.musicfromthemovies.com/review.asp?ID=4823 Music from the Movies] Rating|4|5
John Williams returned to score "Jaws 2" after winning an Academy Award for Original Music Score for his work on the first film. Szwarc said that the music for the sequel should be "more complex because it was a more complex film." Williams says that this score is broader, allowing him to make more use of the orchestra, and use longer notes, and "fill the space" created by the director. [The Music of Jaws 2 [DVD extra] ]

Critics have praised Williams' score, comparing it favorably to the original. Williams "uses a few basic elements of the original - the obligatory shark motif, for one - and takes the music off in some new and interesting directions."cite web |title=Jaws 2 |work=soundtrack-express.com |url=http://www.soundtrack-express.com/osts/jaws2.htm |accessdate=2006-12-17] The score is "more disturbing in places" than the original, and "Williams fashion some new and hugely memorable out to sea adventure music." Because "Jaws 2" "isn't a film that requires subtlety... Williams pulls out all the stops to make it as exciting and hair raising as possible."

According to the liner notes, Williams' "sense of the dramatic, coupled with his exquisite musical taste and knowledge of the orchestra definitely stamp this score as truly one of his best." It is "brilliantly performed by a mini-symphony made up of the finest instrumentalists to be found anywhere." [John Fadden cite album-notes |title=Jaws 2 |year=1978 |bandname=John Williams |format=Cover |publisher=MCA Records]

Due to time constraints, the film had not been completed when Williams began working on the score, "enabling him to create themes based on ideas and suggestions, rather than a locked down print." Although Mike Beek makes positive comments about the film, saying that "the music certainly elevates it to a level it would otherwise never have achieved."

Toys

Because of the film's succeces, The studio had the idea to release toys for children.

=References=