If you can’t be bothered to read the article on MovieWeb, it basically says what the headline does, and there aren’t too many more details.
Basically, at one point (presumably recently) Universal were apparently interested in rebooting the Jaws franchise (whether it was as a remake or a continuation of the story is unclear) and wanted Steven Spielberg to produce. Thankfully he gave them a big fat “no!”
This is exactly what other writers/directors should be doing in this situation. Of course it helps that Steven Spielberg is a billionaire and doesn’t need the money but still...
The original Jaws, even with its now “laughable” rubber shark is not only one of the best movies ever made, but it’s better than most of the movies that have been made since even WITH the laughable rubber shark!
I can only imagine what a reboot/remake of Jaws would look like...
I can see it now: A soulless movie with a thin plot (because when you’ve got CGI why do you need a story?), a “strong female” playing Quint (not being sexist, I’m all for girl power but it would no doubt need to tick every box), forced comedy, some political/environmental messages, Dwayne Johnson as Brody and a PG13 certificate.
There you go, there’s your standard money-grabbing movie.
The original Jaws had more of an impact on me than any other movie I ever saw growing up. It not only made me terrified of sharks but it also made me fascinated by them!
If you weren’t aware, Jaws, the novel by Peter Benchley was partly inspired by the Jersey Shore Shark Attacks of 1916 which resulted in four fatalities and one critical injury between July 1st and July 12th.
I watched a documentary on it once where they tried to discern which species of shark was responsible for the attacks. Two attacks in particular happened in a tidal river which points to the culprit being a Bull Shark (or Zambezi Shark as they’re often known) since it’s the only species of shark that can swim in both salt and fresh water.
A shark caught by fishermen soon after the attacks was found to have "suspicious fleshy material and bones" that took up "about two-thirds of a milk crate" and "together weighed fifteen pounds" in its stomach. This was a great white which throws the bull shark theory into question, unless of course more than one shark was to blame.
Either way, it’s a terrifying real life story that inspired one of the greatest novel-movie adaptations of all time!
For me, part of what makes Jaws so enjoyable and infinitely re-watchable is the era in which it was made. I’ve always loved the 70s, and movies like Dirty Harry (1971), Duel (1971), The Exorcist (1973) and Halloween (1978), not to mention the TV show Columbo which I still love to this day. All have a certain quality that sets them apart from movies made in any other decade.
I was born at the end of 1979 so unfortunately didn’t get to experience the 70s lifestyle.
Do you love Jaws? Would you like to see it remade/rebooted?
Let me know below.👇