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Tolerance Project Blog

Jumping the shark the Tolerance Project and the Jaws Franchise.

Part 2 Jaws the sequels a classic case of diminishing returns

Introduction

Hello there and welcome to the 2nd Chapter in a blog that looks at the Jaws Franchise this chapter covers the 3 sequels

The original Jaws film from 1975 was included on a list of film published by Screenrant of Franchises that peaked with their first film they said this about Jaws.

One of the most important releases in movie history, the original Jaws, was credited with starting the summer blockbuster as audiences know it, and forever changing cinema. The highest-grossing movie of all time when it came out in 1975, Steven Spielberg’s epic tale of a killer shark who terrorized beachgoers was a sensational piece of action filmmaking that was as thrilling as it was terrifying. Three sequels were released, and its legacy can still be felt in recent films like The Meg, but the series peaked with the original. It is a classic horror film that cannot be replicated in any way or form.

Screenrant recently published an article called 10 films that deserved better sequels Jaws was included on that list this is what Screenrant said about the Jaws sequels

Directed by Steven Spielberg, Jaws has been cited as one of the films that created the summer blockbuster, and set the tone for the success of Spielberg's career. It makes sense that producers wanted to capitalize on the attention that Jaws was receiving, but the many sequels that followed were consistently less effective than the original film.

Though not the worst sequel overall, Jaws 2 set the tone for how filmmakers would approach the legacy of the franchise, and this should've been treated more carefully. Like many sequels, Jaws 2 falls prey to the mistake of following the same plot as the original, but not doing it as well.

The next section of the blog looks at the Jaws sequels highlighting the good parts and the bad parts of both this is taken from a cinema blend article titled after watching all 4 Jaws films here are the best and worst parts of each sequel

The Best thing about Jaws 2 ?

Best Thing About It: Some Of The Characters From The First Movie Return

There are many great things about the original Jaws, but probably the best thing about it is the characters, as Police Chief Brody (Roy Schieder), Matt Hooper (Richard Dreyfuss), and Quint (Robert Shaw) are all super memorable. Hell, even the secondary characters, like Mayor Larry Vaughn (Murray Hamilton), Ellen Brody (Lorraine Gary), and Deputy Lenny Hendricks (Jeffrey Kramer) elevate the movie.

So, it’s a relief to find that some of the cast from the original flick return in Jaws 2, as Schieder, Gary, Kramer, and Hamilton all have significant roles in this sequel.

It features a plot pretty similar to the original (which I’m going to harp about in a moment), and so the returning characters have to deal with yet another shark attack at the beach.

With Scheider returning, it brings a sort of comforting closure to the story, as he once again gets to kill another shark, but this time, the story centers around the Brody children, as well as some other young people.

Honestly, even with the returning characters, Dreyfuss and Shaw’s absences are deeply felt, and it’s little wonder that Jaws 2 wasn’t up for Best Picture like its predecessor, as it’s missing a lot of the heart and soul that was in the original.

The worst thing about Jaws 2?

Worst Thing About It: It's Pretty Much The First Movie, But Not As Good

Tell me if this sounds familiar: Mayor Larry Vaughn tries to downplay the severity of shark attacks at Amity Island, and Police Chief Brody has to go to war with one. That sounds like the plot of the first movie, right? Well, it is, but it’s also the plot of Jaws 2.

However, this time, we don’t have Hooper or Quint along for the ride. Instead, Chief Brody is pretty much on his own, and he’s more paranoid than ever (as he should be) about sharks. In one scene, he even starts shooting at the ocean on a crowded beach due to what he thinks is a shark.

That said, Vaughn seems completely brain dead to discount Brody’s fears after what happened in the first movie, so it’s kind of ridiculous seeing him push back yet again against the police chief’s concerns.

In the end, this feels very been-there-seen-that, and not in a good way.

Jaws 2 tried to copy the original a little too closely

Beyond the film's near-instant status as a pop culture phenomenon, making the stakes for any sequel much higher, the glaring issue with creating a sequel to Jaws is the open-and-shut narrative. The shark is clearly blown to bits in the last few minutes of the original, meaning the threat to Amity Island is gone. But, with its absolute box office domination, Universal executives and producers David Brown and Richard Zanuck demanded that Jaws needed a sequel. However, Steven Spielberg refused to direct a sequel, potentially because of the difficult production of Jaws. Apart from Spielberg and Richard Dreyfuss, and despite Roy Scheider nearly backing out, most of the principal cast and crew from the original film returned for the sequel.

The story of Jaws 2 wound up being a rehash of its predecessor: Amity Island's tourist season goes awry with the arrival of a massive great white shark, and Richard Brody must outsmart the shark while the Amity Island mayor pretends as if nothing is wrong. The narrative obviously worked the first time and, if box office receipts are to be believed, it worked a second time as well, despite the film lacking Spielberg's visionary direction. Jaws 2 grossed $208 million worldwide on a $20 million budget: obviously not as impressive as its predecessor, but a solid profit nonetheless. Critical and audience reception, on the other hand, took quite a dip; many hated how similar the film was to the original but with much less exciting direction and a less interesting supporting cast. This lack of innovation and too much focus on sticking to the original film was the first nail in the Jaws franchise's coffin.

Further reading

Jaws 2 secretly has the most realistic shark scene according to this article on the ScreenRant website https://screenrant.com/jaws-2-realistic-shark-scene-diver-scare/

Talking about Jaws 2 the film celebrates its 45th Birthday this year The remind website published this article to celebrate its birthday https://www.remindmagazine.com/article/3744/jaws-2-1978-roy-scheider-john-williams/

Did you know that the first 2 Jaws films are number 2 and 3 in the list of highest grossing horror films of all time behind the 1973 film The Exorcist I know this sounds funny but I wouldn’t class the Jaws Franchise as Horror but thats just me you can read the full list by clicking here https://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-highest-grossing-horror-movies-of-all-time/

To watch a video about the making of Jaws 2 Click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5LM57GBIAA

The Jo blo website has released an article on what they say is the best scene in Jaws 2 you can read the article or watch the video about it by clicking here Jaws 2 (1978) – The Best Scene (joblo.com)

JAWS III or is that JAWS 3D ? 1983

Jaws III aka Jaws 3D (depending on which version you are watching the 2D Television Version or 3D version) which people saw at the cinema is a bit of a mess.

Jaws 3D Attempted to bring terror to third Dimension

Obviously, the third Jaws film couldn't be another re-do of the original, so Brown and Zanuck originally thought to pivot to parody. The original plan for Jaws 3, according to the film's original producer Matty Simmons, potentially involved John Hughes as the screenwriter, Joe Dante as director, and Bo Derek and Richard Dreyfuss as the two leading stars. Unfortunately, Steven Spielberg hated the idea of a Jaws self-parody and threatened to stop working with Universal if the film went into production. With Brown and Zanuck no longer having immediate plans for a third film, and most of the cast and crew from the past two entries neglecting to join for a third, Alan Landsberg Productions bought the rights to produce and pivoted the film to a marine theme park extravaganza.

The resulting film certainly separated itself from the previous Jaws entries in the worst possible ways. The biggest change is in the title: the 3-D. Adding polarized 3-D to films (and making the title have a 3-D pun) had a small resurgence in the early 1980s with films like Amityville 3-D and Friday the 13th: Part III. The choice to add 3-D made the traditionally troubled production of Jaws films infinitely worse. Dennis Quaid, who played this film's version of Mike Brody, said that he was rarely not on cocaine during the whole shoot. The director, Joe Alves, was incredibly inexperienced as his background was in art direction and production design; he'd only worked as a second-unit director for Jaws 2. Add on the chaos of shooting at SeaWorld Orlando and zero connection to Jaws or Jaws 2 and Jaws 3-D was seemingly doomed to flop.

Jaws 3-D belly flopped upon release. The film was met with abysmal critical reactions, sitting at an 11% on Rotten Tomatoes, and making only $45 million worldwide. WIth the increased production costs due to the use of 3-D, Jaws 3-D barely turned a profit. Critics despised the 3-D gimmick, although nearly everything in the film--from the acting to the special effects--received some level of critique. Critics were also unimpressed with the nonsensical plot and factual inaccuracies: a major shift from the relative care taken in Jaws and Jaws 2. So, the gamble on a major location change and the addition of 3-D didn't save the Jaws franchise either.

The Best thing about Jaws 3D

Best Thing About It: The Plot Is Really Interesting This Time Around

3D movies are very much still around. In fact, we run a whole series titled To 3D Or Not To 3D, in which we let you know whether you should spend a few extra bucks to watch a movie in 3D…or not.

However, while 3D is still around (and mostly brought back due to the massive success of James Cameron’s Avatar’s 1 and 2), it was immensely popular decades ago, and especially popular with horror movies, such as Parasite, Amityville 3-D, Friday the 13th Part III, and yes, even Jaws 3-D.

All of this is to say that 3D was a huge gimmick back in the day, rather than it having anything to do with the plots of these films, and such is also the case here.

Even so, the plot is actually pretty good. This time around, the Brody children are all grown up, and played by Dennis Quaid and John Putch. Bess Armstrong and Lea Thompson play their respective girlfriends in the film.

The story revolves around a great white shark (actually two of them) infiltrating a SeaWorld amusement park, and one of the Brody children and his girlfriend trying to stop it before it kills some of the park’s guests.

I like this plot since it’s greatly different from that of the first two, and I consider it a strong suit of the film.

The Worst thing about Jaws 3D

Worst Thing About It: It Takes Way Too Long For Things To Get Moving

Yes, the plot is pretty good, but it takes too long just to get to any of the good stuff. We’re introduced to the Brody children and their girlfriends, and get a lot of lead up to the events, but the actual fun stuff doesn’t happen for almost an entire hour into the movie.

Instead, we get several shots of people riding on the water, and discussing sea life, but very little in the actual realm of shark attacks. I actually watched this film with my son, as he’s a huge fan of the first two movies, and he told me that the film was putting him to sleep. Hey, if you can’t keep your target audience awake, you’ve failed somewhere along the way.

Further reading

You can read about Producer/Directors Joe Dantes original plans for Jaws III and his unmade sequel Jaws 3 people 0 by clcking here click here https://theplaylist.net/joe-dante-unmade-jaws-sequel-20230721/

Further Watching

To watch a video about the making of Jaws 3D click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqV3aU_-NN0

To watch Jaws 3D a video retrospective from the Oliver Harper Youtube channel click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsarUFfuWRY&t=20s

Just Wondering

If anybody is reading this a question has anybody seen the original 3D version of the film what was it like? I imagine it was a rather strange experience the only 3D film I have seen was Captain EO at Disney land in California in 1989 and again at EuroDisney in the early 90s.

Jaws 4 The Revenge 1987

Jaws the Revenge Sunk the franchises ship

Despite the chilly response to Jaws 3-D, the film made enough profit for Universal executives to try making another Jaws sequel. Universal bought back sole production rights and got to work on a third Jaws sequel. Universal CEO Sidney Sheinberg still saw power in the IP and wanted another film to promote the upcoming Jaws ride at Universal Studios. So, another Jaws was rushed into production. Yet again, the film had another troubled production with a rotation of screenwriters, a short turnaround from the green light to release, and some truly questionable budget-cutting measures. The most infamous of the cost-saving attempts included the special effects, one of the original Jaws's strongest points. Most cast and crew, especially director Joseph Sargent, repeatedly stated that the production was a ticking time bomb doomed from the start.

Like the film before, Jaws: The Revenge leaves Amity Island for a new location--this time, the Bahamas--but unlike 3-D, an original cast member returned: Lorraine Gary as Ellen Brody. Actually, Jaws: The Revenge seemingly cuts 3-D completely out of the franchise's continuity, as the film completely recast the Brody sons for the third time. Having the Brody family mostly together again, and the star power of Michael Caine, sounds like a positive in Jaws: The Revenge's favor. But, the other major story changes--like Ellen Brody's telepathic connection to the new fishy foe--led to the infamous flop that killed the Jaws franchise. Additionally, the script seemed to be in constant change, leading to a ton of re-shoots. Not only did these re-shoots make the final film more confusing, but they also prevented Michael Caine from receiving his Oscar in-person; Roger Ebert joked about this scheduling mishap in his review of the film. The irony of missing accepting the industry's highest award for troubled re-shoots on a bad film wasn't lost on Ebert or Michael Caine himself. Infamously, Caine wrote in his autobiography that Jaws: The Revenge "…will go down in my memory as the time when I won an Oscar, paid for a house and had a great holiday. Not bad for a flop movie."

The Best thing about Jaws 4 The Revenge

Best Thing About It: The Story Is Utterly Bonkers...In A Fun Way

I love so-bad-they’re-good movies like Batman & Robin, so please forgive me for saying that I think Jaws: The Revenge is the best of these sequels.

It's just utterly bonkers, and the plot is right there in the title. The shark has followed the Brody family to the Bahamas and is exacting revenge on them.

Why exactly is it exacting revenge? Well, it’s never truly explained (besides the mention of possible voodoo), nor should it be, since it is all the more hilarious without clarification. The whole movie is just one bizarre event after the other. Michael Caine makes an appearance as a pilot, and the shark actually attacks the plane and submerges in it the ocean.

The ending makes absolutely no sense, and the shark even roars like a dinosaur at one point. It is an absolute train wreck of a film, and I kind of love it to pieces, just like I love Mortal Kombat Annihilation, which I know is bad, but I enjoy it anyway.

The Worst thing about Jaws 4 the Revenge

Worst Thing About It: It Was So Hated, It Effectively Ended The Franchise

Let’s be real. Jaws probably would have been better off if there weren’t any sequels. But, since there are, I applaud The Revenge for being as far from the seriousness of the original as possible.

Unfortunately, audiences didn’t feel the same way, as this sequel is often cited as being not only the very worst movie in the franchise, but also one of the worst movies of all time. It was a laughing stock, and rightfully so.

Further Watching and Reading

There was even a Jaws computer game to tie in with Jaws 4 the Revenge it wasn’t very good by all accounts you can find a video about it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb-ILuDLuUk&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=319

For more context on what makes Jaws III and 4 so bad watch this video exploring those terrible Jaws sequels by clicking here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3ta3vhzIfE&list=PL17vqAEJv6CV1syq4_fFKgBwSqGdJzH9z&index=336

Did you know that Jaws 4 the Revenge has the Dubious honor of having one of the lowest scores ever on the film rating site Rottern Tomatoes the Game rant website published the story here https://gamerant.com/jaws-revenge-0-rotten-tomatoes/

To watch a video called 10 things you didn’t know about Jaws 4 the Revenge click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9IFgf6enyw&t=38s

Pictures

Poster for Jaws 2 1978

Poster for Jaws 3D 1983

Poster for Jaws the Revenge 1987

Captain EO shown at Disney theme parks

Notes thank you to the following websites for their help in creating this blog Google images for the pictures Minty comedic arts for the video documentaries on all of the Jaws films the Oliver Harper Youtube for his retrospective on Jaws 3D and Screenrant on the excellant article on what sunk the Jaws Franchise

#Jaws #jaws 2 #Jaws 3D #jaws the revenge #Oliver Harper You Tube channel #captain eo #The Playlist.net #Screenrant #You tube #joe dante #game rant #Rottern tomatoes #Remind magazine #visual capitalist.com #tolerance project #Tolorance Project blog #Cinema Blend website

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