Steven Spielberg’s Jaws made a splash when it returned to the big screen for Labor Day weekend to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
The iconic Steven Spielberg thriller earned $8.1 million to open in second place at the holiday weekend box office, outpacing new releases Caught Stealing, Darren Aronofsky’s intense thriller, and The Roses, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Coleman.
Holding onto its place at the top of the charts for a fourth weekend was Zach Cregger’s horror film, Weapons, which earned $10.2 million.
50 Years of Jaws: What To Know
Spielberg’s Jaws, released in 1975, was so popular that it is credited with creating the concept of the modern “summer blockbuster.” It was the highest-grossing film of all time, earning more than $470 million at the box office, until Star Wars came out two years later.
It went on to win three Academy Awards, for Best Editing, Best Original Score, Best Sound, and was nominated for Best Picture.
Based on Peter Benchley’s 1974 novel of the same name, follows a small beach town terrorized by a massive great white shark, leading local Police Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) a marine biologist, and a grizzled shark hunter Quint (Craig Kingsbury) to team up and track it down.
Jaws spawned three sequels, although none of them were able to repeat the success of the original, and it even inspired a theme park ride at Universal Studios.
Generations of movie lovers have cited Jaws for their fear of the ocean while its theme, John Williams’ ominous two-note score (“da-dum, da-dum”) is one of the most recognizable in film.
Chief Brody’s iconic line, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat,” also became one of the most quoted lines in movie history.
Half a century after its release, Jaws proved it still has bite as it pulled in moviegoers despite a quiet holiday weekend.
A Disappointing Summer Box Office
The fact that a 50-year-old movie outperformed two high-profile new releases during a holiday weekend is symptomatic of a difficult summer for Hollywood.
Despite a lineup of big-budget releases, the domestic box office for summer 2025 closed at around $3.67 billion, according to the Hollywood Reporter. The figure falls notably short of the long-standing $4 billion benchmark for a successful blockbuster summer, and is a $7 million drop from 2024’s disappointing domestic summer ticket sales of $3.677 billion, Comscore shows.
This summer was marked by notable underperformers. Pixar‘s Elio, which likely didn’t turn a profit as its box office of $152.2 million barely surpassed its production budget of $150–200 million. Meanwhile, Disney‘s Snow White remake failed to capitalize on nostalgia, grossing under $210 million worldwide against a $240–270 million budget—and prompting Disney to halt its Tangled remake.
There were some successes, however, with the live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch grossing more than $1 billion worldwide, while James Gunn’s Superman has surpassed $600 million.
The downward trend at the box office is indicative of wider pressures on the industry, such as tariffs and declining production, as well as competition from streaming and financial pressures on consumers who may be less likely to splurge on a movie ticket when they can wait to watch it for free at home.
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