I know that this might be tough to answer today, knowing what we know about film, but just for a moment, imagine if JAWS was released today. Say that no other major shark attack film had been released and it was released as a summer tentpole picture for Universal and Spielberg directed it. Say the cast was as follows:

Brody: Geroge Clooney
Hooper: Paul Giammatti
Quint: Clint Eastwood

Now that is a pretty cool cast and the film would be launched in about 3600 theaters. With the subject matter being what it is, John Williams score what it is and the film climate the way it is today, do you still think it would do well?

I do, and I'll tell you why later, but I want to hear from some of you. How do you think it would do and why? How much would it make and so on? Put some thought into it.

It would probably do SIGNS type numbers.

It'd probably make over $200 million with a cast like that and a director like that.

Since this is the originator of the Summer Blockbuster and a trendsetter, besides being a fantastic movie, with similar conditions of 1975, it would make over 600M easily.

You know what baumer? If Spielberg would re-release the original, without any changes, just the 1975 version, right now, I bet you it would make $100m+. The film is so good, even by today's standards, and it has so many fans, it would be a big hit even now.

Again, I'm not going to get into it large, but I think Clint as a crusty old sailor would be very interesting. He would fit the role to a tee and I think he would a shot at an oscar. Plus, think about this: the fact that there has not been that many shark movies is a testament to JAWS itself, but if you created the right trailer for this, with the same cello sounds in the original trailer, you'd create a huge interest in the film.

I agree with you Box. I have never seen JAWS on the big screen. And I would pay big money to do so. It is just done of those movies that needs to be seen on the big sc reen.

ET arguably is more popular and yet it grossed much less than $100m. Though, there were some changes, but I doubt it would help even if no changes. So, don't really buy this $100m re-release of Jaws.

Would be great though.

I'd like to play along but it's impossible to answer because the movie is so much a part of movie history and affected the way other movies are made. It seems like it would be derivative now, but derivative of what? It's own legacy? I'm not talking about shark films, but about summer blockbusters in general, it helped spur that trend and was one of the films that helped shape their basic framework.

The internet whiners would be complaining about how the CGI shark looks fake. They would bash it as if their life depended on it. They would post crowd reports about how the whole audience snickered and bashed it when the trailer was shown in front of a movie they attended, and it would still rake in over 200 million, because those types of internet bashers have basically become nothing more than a joke, and the rest of the world still moves on. =D>

I agree with that.

It is impossible to say how much it would have made today, but I would say less than it made originally, due to the fact that back then it was the first of its kind (and I don't mean shark movies by that). It'd open bigger (about 5-7 times bigger actually, hehe), have decent legs, but it would not be a phenomenon nowadays it was back then. The marketplace has changed.

You mean the internet bashers who bashed The Hulk?

Yes, the internet bashers who spend their lives being negative on the net. Those who bashed the Hulk and other films. Nobody to take seriously.

But apparently the Hulk bashing was justified, when you look at its box-office run, right?

Not at all. Do you really gauge quality by box office? Obviously, you do. #-o

Who said I was talking about qulity. This is a thread about box-office ](*,)

I actually forgot about that. Mav. If the film was made today, it would be CGI Bruce. Maybe that would take away from some of the raw power that made JAWS so palpable.

I don't know, who said anything about qulity. I don't even know what that is. :razz:

Yep, what was that movie with the bad looking CGI sharks, Deep Blue Sea or something? I think the mechanical shark looked cool and menacing, but I have a feeling that the cynical internet world would have cut it up pretty bad if the same was released today. Just like Star Wars would have been cut up today for having "cheesy" effects. (I hate that word, and I really stop reading anytime I see it used)

But obviously there aren't similar conditions today, so it would have been a hit (~200m), no doubt about that, but a far cry from a phenomenon.

A better question is what would Titanic make if it came today... but I think Jaws could get around $260 million...

The conditions that exist today is the result of Jaws and Star Wars. The landscape would be entirely different if they had not been made at all. That is as disingenious as saying whether What would happen if Microsoft introduced an operating system like DOS today. If there were none released until now that would be the craze today.

Let's say if they could compensate Jaws with just STAR WARS, and Jaws wasn't released. Think Jaws would be popular today?

Absolutely. Remember that Jurassic Park, 18 years after Jaws, was a mega blockbuster and was the number 1 movie worldwide till Titanic.

Yeah but Jurassic Park is a little different because it was more "new" and we've seen all these creature-features and Jaws wouldn't exactly be a phenomenom.