Say what you want about Star Wars (1977), no movie from the latter half of the 20th century changed the business of film more than Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975), which turned 50 this summer.
An unassailable masterpiece, Spielberg’s breakthrough film invented and inaugurated the idea of the “summer blockbuster” and paved the way for everything from George Lucas’ space-opera to Grease (1977) to Indiana Jones to the Marvel and Mission Impossible movies.
But we do a podcast about theme parks, don’t we?
In the Universal parks, Jaws was almost as fundamental as it was on the screen. Starting with an appearance by a cousin of Bruce (the problematic mechanical shark from the movie) in the Tram Tour of Universal Studios Hollywood and evolving into an elaborate, technically ambitious, boat-ride adventure in Universal Studios Florida, Jaws experiences were part of Universal’s DNA — like Disneyland and The Jungle Cruise.
But this wasn’t a simple Blue Sky, to design, to engineering, to build situation; the Jaws ride was a beast and as much as it was at the heart of what was supposed to sell the park in Florida to guests, it was also the attraction that almost destroyed Universal’s theme park ambitions forever.
35 years later the recriminations are still flying as to what happened in 1990 and how it went so very wrong.
Join Pete and Kelly for a trip back to Amity Island as they discuss the troubled history of Jaws at Universal Studios on this episode of The Lowdown on the Plus-Up!
Available here or wherever you get your podcasts:
Spotify:
Apple Podcasts:
Podcast Addict:
Or you can listen to us directly from here:
Join our Lowdown on the Plus-Up Bluesky profile or Facebook group for post-show discussion, supplementary media, and errata. (We make mistakes sometimes.)
Thanks for listening!
Please consider rating our show (This helps SO much!) and subscribing to it on your podcast platform of choice.
Be sure to follow Boardwalk Times for more coverage of The Walt Disney Company.
Support Boardwalk Times on Ko-Fi.
Support Boardwalk Times by visiting Boardwalk Store:
If you like this article. Subscribe to our free newsletter Boardwalk Times: Stories from the Seashore, a monthly dose of Disney and its businesses.
Kelly McCubbin is a columnist for Boardwalk Times
