In 1975, Steven Spielberg released his tense horror-thriller, Jaws. The movie – about a Great White shark, which terrorises a small US coastal town – terrified audiences around the world and made millions of people afraid to step into the sea.
Although the movie was a fairly self-contained tale, due to its immense popularity at the box office Jaws was soon joined by a sequel in 1978, via the appropriately titled Jaws 2. This film wasn’t directed by Spielberg, Jeannot Szwarc took over directing duties for this one, but this follow-up once again made audiences afraid to step back in the water.
Following the release of Jaws 2, the franchise continued with Jaws 3D (1983) from director Joe Alves, and Jaws: The Revenge (1987) from director Joseph Sargent. As with the previous instalments, these additional sequels centred around a shark who liked to munch on people, and focused on the death and devastation it caused.
But if you’re new to the Jaws franchise, you may be wondering how one shark can cause so much carnage to so many people? This may also lead you to ask the question: Is it the same shark in all of the Jaws movies?
Well, if you’ve been pondering that particular question, then the answer is no. It is not the same shark in the Jaws movies.
Each Jaws movie features a completely different shark. Unlike a lot of horror movies, which reuse the same blood-thirsty antagonist from sequel to sequel (Friday the 13th, Halloween, Child’s Play etc), the Jaws series introduces a new ‘killer’ with each instalment.
But why isn’t it the same shark, you might ask? Well, that’s because the sharks die in their respective movies.
The shark in Jaws is killed when a gas canister explodes. Meanwhile, the shark in Jaws 2 dies after it is electrocuted when biting into a power line.
For Jaws 3D, there are actually two sharks in the movie: a baby shark and its mother. The baby dies when it is taken into captivity, while the mother – the main killer of the film – is killed in an explosion involving a hand grenade.
As for Jaws: The Revenge, the shark in this movie is impaled on the bowsprit of a boat. The shark then instantaneously explodes, because of an electronic device it swallowed… which makes no real sense in the context of the scene, but believe me, there are a number of odd things in Jaws: The Revenge and this is far from the oddest.
Although there were only four entries in the Jaws movie series, the Jaws films have inspired many imitators over the years, with one of the best being the 1999 action adventure movie, Deep Blue Sea. The film – from director Renny Harlin – follows the story of a team of scientists who experiment on a group of genetically engineered mako sharks, with disastrous consequences.
If you’ve not seen it, the film is a lot of fun and a superb shark movie. But do you want to know something cool? When it comes to killing off the sharks in Deep Blue Sea, the movie draws inspiration from the Jaws franchise.
The first shark to be killed in Deep Blue Sea dies in a gas explosion (Jaws), while the second shark dies through electrocution (Jaws 2). As for the third and final shark, this one is killed by yet another explosion (Jaws 3D/Jaws: The Revenge).
But moving back to the Jaws franchise, and the subject of the connective tissue between the films, and if the movies aren’t about the same shark, what does connect each movie? Well, that would be the Brody family.
The one thing that is consistent about the series is that every Jaws film, from Jaws through to Jaws: The Revenge, features members of the Brody clan in some capacity. The family consistently find themselves in a battle for survival with a shark, and that is the overriding theme of the Jaws film series.
So, no, the Jaws films do not feature the same ‘killer’ shark. However, each film sees members of the Brody family take on a shark and this is what remains consistent across the series.
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Thank you for taking the time to read this post about the Jaws movies. For more posts, be sure to check out the recommended reads below.
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