How ‘Jaws’ Made a Template for the Modern Blockbuster
Much more than a mere creature feature, “Jaws” created a playbook that filmmakers have followed closely for 50 years.
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Peacock/Universal Pictures, via Associated Press
By Rumsey Taylor and Eve Washington
The reporters cataloged more than 50 films, which include scores of deaths by sharks, dinosaurs, piranhas, anacondas, spiders, "Graboids," tornadoes, aliens and more sharks.
June 18, 2025
Fifty years ago, Steven Spielberg’s “Jaws” terrified moviegoers. Its shocks still reverberate.
Its blueprint is now so recognizable that you have probably seen “Jaws” — even if you haven’t actually seen “Jaws.”
Here’s a breakdown of the plot (spoilers abound):
Those nine points are what make “Jaws” “Jaws.” Put together the right way, they maximize suspense and spectacle without losing the human stakes.
“Jaws” didn’t invent the creature feature. By 1975, there had been 15 Godzilla movies and four King Kongs, as well as dozens of Hammer and Universal horror films, including “Creature from the Black Lagoon” in 1954. And Mr. Spielberg’s film included techniques popularized by other filmmakers, including Alfred Hitchcock and the famed B-movie producer Roger Corman.
Even if other films put similar elements into practice, none were as phenomenally successful as “Jaws,” boosted by a large budget and given a wide release on June 20, 1975.
These elements worked so well that dozens of films since then have more or less followed its playbook, to varying degrees of success.
These elements worked so well that dozens of films since then have more or less followed its playbook, to varying degrees of success.
To capture how widely “Jaws” has influenced Hollywood, we watched over 50 films that include most or all of those nine points.
To capture how widely “Jaws” has influenced Hollywood, we watched over 50 films that include most or all of those nine points.
Some are direct knock-offs, like “Great White” (1982), which was pulled from theaters after the distributor of “Jaws” claimed copyright infringement.
Some are direct knock-offs, like “Great White” (1982), which was pulled from theaters after the distributor of “Jaws” claimed copyright infringement.
Others used the “Jaws” structure in new genres. “Alien” (1979) is said to have been pitched as “‘Jaws’ in space.”
Others used the “Jaws” structure in new genres. “Alien” (1979) is said to have been pitched as “‘Jaws’ in space.”
This template can even be seen in films as recent as “Nope,” from 2022.
This template can even be seen in films as recent as “Nope,” from 2022.
With this in mind, you can find “Jaws” DNA in countless other films: creature features, action movies, supernatural thrillers and even some of Mr. Spielberg’s later blockbusters. Here’s how it works:
Great white shark
Jaws, 1975
Grizzly bear
Grizzly, 1976
Octopus
Tentacles, 1977
Alien
Alien, 1979
Alligator
Alligator, 1980
Wild boar
Razorback, 1984
Some “Graboids”
Tremors, 1990
Some dinosaurs
Jurassic Park, 1993
Tornadoes
Twister, 1996
Some anacondas
Anaconda, 1997
Some large bugs
The Mist, 2007
A lethal virus
Contagion, 2011
A U.F.O.
Nope, 2022
Almost anything can be a creature in a monster movie.
Yes, there are sharks galore, but we also found killer whales, piranhas, octopuses, alligators and crocodiles. And on land: grizzly bears, carnivorous worms, wild boar, dinosaurs and 40-foot snakes. Even the tornadoes in “Twister” (1996) or the viral outbreak in “Contagion” (2011) are like living forces whose patterns of destruction are much like the shark’s in “Jaws.”
Crucially, in “Jaws” we don’t actually see the shark until well into the second hour. This was reportedly not intentional — the shark was portrayed by a full-size animatronic puppet that rarely worked on command.
“There were a lot less shark shots in the film, probably, than what they originally planned,” said Dennis Muren, a retired visual effects supervisor at Industrial Light and Magic. “But it helped the film so much.”
Mr. Muren worked on many of Mr. Spielberg’s post-“Jaws” films, including “Jurassic Park” (1993) and “War of the Worlds” (2005).
In many of these films, the creature is at first withheld, either by necessity or design. In “Jurassic Park” we hear (and feel) the T. rex’s footsteps well before we see it.
“When you first see the T. rex breaking through the fence,” Mr. Muren said, referring to the creature’s introduction an hour into the film, “how well do you want to see him?”
Note how in many of these films, the creature is onscreen for sometimes no more than a few minutes. In “Razorback” (1984), which is just over 90 minutes long, there is no shot of the creature, in full or out of shadow, that lasts more than a few seconds.
“Not showing the shark means the shark is forever the creature in our minds,” Matt Singer, critic and author of “Opposable Thumbs: How Siskel & Ebert Changed Movies Forever,” said in an interview. “Even the best special effects of any time can’t measure up to the horrors that you can conceive in your mind.”
Amity Island
Jaws, 1975
Spaceship
Alien, 1979
The Antarctic
The Thing, 1982
The outback
Razorback, 1984
Rural Nevada
Tremors, 1990
Rural Kenya
The Ghost and the Darkness, 1996
River
Anaconda, 1997
Ocean
Open Water, 2003
North Australia
Rogue, 2007
Ocean
The Reef, 2010
Rocky outcrop
The Shallows, 2016
Shark cage
47 Meters Down, 2017
Flooded basement
Crawl, 2019
The location is key to the suspense. The characters are often isolated from outside help, ill-prepared or otherwise limited in how far they can run or hide.
The bulk of “Jaws” is set on an island; nearly the last hour takes place entirely on a boat on the open sea.
The ocean is a natural and frequently used setting. Other stories happen in the frigid outskirts of Antarctica (“The Thing,” 1982), the Australian outback (“Razorback”) or the expanses of the Kenyan wilderness (“The Ghost and the Darkness,” 1996).
Two scuba-diving thrillers, “Open Water” (2003) and “The Reef” (2010), up the ante by dispensing with land altogether, isolating characters entirely in water frequented by (what else?) sharks.
And “Alien,” set in the far reaches of outer space, is more isolated than any of these films. The crew of a spaceship is light years away from earth — a hazardous scenario even without the alien slithering around the ship’s poorly lit corridors.
Skinny-dipper
Jaws, 1975
Antique dealer
Squirm, 1976
Cow
Kingdom of the Spiders, 1977
A baby
Tentacles, 1977
Two skinny-dippers
Piranha, 1978
Officer
Alien, 1979
Fisherman
Slugs, 1988
Old man
Tremors, 1990
Dinosaur handler
Jurassic Park, 1993
Vagrant
Species, 1995
A dad
Twister, 1996
Poacher
Anaconda, 1997
Horse trainer
Nope, 2022
An early, anonymous death is a longstanding horror tradition. In “Jaws,” it’s a young woman skinny-dipping at dusk. The shark snatches her away minutes into the film. Her gnarled remains wash ashore the next morning.
“Who gets killed is very important,” said John Sayles, a filmmaker who began his career working for Mr. Corman. Mr. Sayles wrote both “Piranha” (1978) and “Alligator” (1980); both knowingly resemble “Jaws.” “Very often the first people you get killed are marginal people,” he said. “We haven’t even met them yet.”
The first victim establishes what the creature can do without showing it. In the Nevada-set “Tremors” (1990), the first victim is found clinging to the top of a telephone pole, apparently having preferred to starve than descend back to the ground.
Some aren’t even human. In “Kingdom of the Spiders” (1977), a cow is cornered and dispatched by small, eight-legged predators.
Martin Brody
Jaws, 1975
Officer
Alien, 1979
Detective
Alligator, 1980
Doctor
Arachnophobia, 1990
Two scientists
Jurassic Park, 1993
Engineer
The Ghost and the Darkness, 1996
Cook
Deep Blue Sea, 1999
A dad
War of the Worlds, 2005
Kiosk employee
The Host, 2006
Surfer
The Shallows, 2016
Diver
The Meg, 2018
Swimmer
Crawl, 2019
Horse trainers
Nope, 2022
Someone has to face the creature — often someone who doesn’t want to, but does so out of moral obligation. In “Jaws,” that person is the local police chief, Brody.
Amy Nicholson, film critic for The Los Angeles Times, described his archetype as “the only person who sees the problem clearly, the person that nobody trusts because they don’t think he gets a say in the matter.”
“But I think the way that Spielberg sketches Brody has a subtlety that I don’t think most copycats get right,” she said. “You just see him pour a giant glug of red wine into what appears to be his tallboy of Scotch because he cannot handle how bad things are getting.”
Brody is openly afraid — making him alert to how dangerous the creature is. “Arachnophobia” (1990) is about a small-town doctor whose chief characteristic is indicated in the film’s title. Naturally, spiders invade his house by the end.
The heroes are also usually parents or caretakers. In “Jaws,” Brody has two children, one of them nearly taken by the shark. In “The Host” (2006), Gang-du risks his life diving into the Han River, where a creature has taken his daughter.
Mayor Larry Vaughn
Jaws, 1975
Park supervisor
Grizzly, 1976
Local doctor
Barracuda, 1977
Kingpin
The Deep, 1977
Business owner
Tentacles, 1977
Scientist
Piranha, 1978
Hotel manager
Up from the Depths, 1979
Computer
Alien, 1979
Mayor
Great White, 1982
Park owner
Jurassic Park, 1993
Financier
The Ghost and the Darkness, 1996
Hunter
Anaconda, 1997
Doctor
The Host, 2006
The creatures, deadly as they are, aren’t necessarily evil.
“They gotta eat something,” said Mr. Sayles of the swarm of genetically engineered piranha descending upon a popular lake resort in “Piranha.” “If it’s somebody who sticks their foot in the water, they’re not trying to be mean, they are just being piranha.”
And piranhas, like most of the creatures, don’t talk. The conflicts in these stories need to be amplified by other people. That’s where the local authority comes in.
“It’s like a board game and you have these obstacles,” Mr. Sayles said. “What are the human obstacles?”
In “Jaws,” it’s Mayor Vaughn, who insists on keeping the town beaches open after the shark’s rampage begins. He displays all the characteristics of the local authority — greed, condescension, arrogance, moral indifference.
These characters like to talk loudly on the phone and favor garish blazers (“Tentacles,” 1977; “Up from the Depths,” 1979). Some even confront the creature themselves and perish in spectacular fashion (“Great White”; “Anaconda,” 1997).
Quint, a fisherman Hooper, an oceanographer
Jaws, 1975
Naturalist
Grizzly, 1976
Cetologist
Orca, 1977
Scientist
Piranha, 1978
Science officer
Alien, 1979
Hunter
Great White, 1982
Hunter
Razorback, 1984
Hunters
Tremors, 1990
Hunter and mathematician
Jurassic Park, 1993
Hunter
The Ghost and the Darkness, 1996
Two scientists, empath and mercenary
Species, 1996
Biologists
The Relic, 1997
Tech guy and director
Nope, 2022
Our heroes are often ill-equipped to defeat the creatures on their own, so they enlist experts — or are forced to work with them.
In “Jaws,” Brody finds himself in an uneasy alliance with two experts, who are mostly incompatible: an oceanographer named Hooper and a bedraggled fisherman named Quint.
“I don’t know if I could make the case that any of our clashing protagonists, for lack of a better word, are right about how to deal with the shark,” Ms. Nicholson said. “The problem is so much bigger than you think.”
In these films, the experts help the heroes while making their job harder in other ways. They have traits critical in defeating the creature, but they’re often too narrow-minded to survive.
“Great White,” “Razorback,” “Jurassic Park” and “The Ghost and the Darkness” (1996) all feature hyper-focused, hardscrabble hunters armed with huge guns. Like Quint, the “Jaws” fisherman, they all die in the end.
Unusually, “Species” (1995) has only experts, and no traditional hero. When a rapidly evolving and very attractive alien played by Natasha Henstridge is on the loose in Los Angeles, an anthropologist, a molecular biologist, an empath and an armed mercenary are assembled to stop her. (She seduces and kills the anthropologist.)
Quint
Jaws, 1975
Naturalist
Grizzly, 1976
Captain
Alien, 1979
Mayor
Great White, 1982
Mechanic
The Thing, 1982
Grocer
Tremors, 1990
Hunter
Jurassic Park, 1993
Storm chaser
Twister, 1996
Filmmaker
Anaconda, 1997
Executive
Deep Blue Sea, 1999
A father
The Host, 2006
A local
Rogue, 2007
Director
Nope, 2022
Ordinarily there needs to be one more death before the end — one that hits harder, or surprises the audience, in a way that magnifies the threat of the creature. If the first victim is anonymous and early, the sacrifice comes later with someone we’ve gotten to know well.
Quint is eaten by the shark nearly two hours into the film, after he’s become endeared to the audience with his playful combativeness and affinity for crude sea shanties.
There’s a hierarchy to victims in these films. Describing his titular “Alligator,” Mr. Sayles said, “Let’s have him come up in a poor neighborhood and start eating people there, and nobody starts paying attention until it gets to the middle class.”
Eventually, to keep the audience on its toes, some films started positioning the sacrifice at unexpected points.
About 40 minutes into “Deep Blue Sea” (1999), an executive played by Samuel L. Jackson gives a speech to reassure his distraught comrades. A mako shark yanks him midsentence into oblivion.
“There is a moment in this movie when something happens that is completely unexpected,” said Roger Ebert in his review, “and the audience laughs in delight because it was so successfully surprised.”
Jaws, 1975
Grizzly, 1976
Orca, 1977
Alien, 1979
Alligator, 1980
Tremors, 1990
The Ghost and the Darkness, 1996
The Relic, 1997
War of the Worlds, 2005
The Host, 2006
The Shallows, 2016
The Meg, 2018
Nope, 2022
The final confrontation is typically between the creature and reluctant hero. It’s also often the first time the creature is fully visible.
Five minutes before the end of “Jaws,” our police chief is left to face the shark on a sinking boat using tools left by his allies — an oxygen tank from Hooper (which he tosses into the shark’s mouth) and a rifle from Quint.
Other movies draw out their confrontations. In “The Shallows” (2016), an injured surfer spends the bulk of the film stranded on a rocky outcrop patrolled by a shark. Near the start of “Crawl” (2019), the hero becomes trapped in a flooded basement with at least one vicious alligator.
Explosion
Jaws, 1975
Explosion
Up from the Depths, 1979
Explosion
Alligator, 1980
Gunshot
Venom, 1981
Explosion
The Thing, 1982
Meat grinder
Razorback, 1984
Flamethrower
Devil Fish, 1984
Headshot
Species, 1995
Explosion
The Relic, 1997
Explosion
Anaconda, 1997
Stabbing
The Meg, 2018
Explosion
Underwater, 2020
Explosion
Nope, 2022
Here’s what the audience has been waiting for. It’s also frequently the moment the director gets to bend reality in favor of pure spectacle.
Mr. Spielberg was not a fan of the way Peter Benchley’s original “Jaws” novel ended. (In it, the shark dies mostly of exhaustion.)
“He said to me, ‘The ending of the book is a downer,’” Mr. Benchley said in a 1995 interview. “‘That is not a big rousing ending. And I need a big rousing ending.’”
For over two hours, the rising tension in “Jaws” is carefully calibrated. But Mr. Spielberg cast that restraint aside in the last few moments. He didn’t think viewers would mind.
Just before his boat sinks, Brody fires his rifle at the oxygen tank in the shark’s maw. The shark explodes. Blood and viscera rain down in resplendent slow motion.
It’s not the most realistic sequence of events. But according to Mr. Benchley, Mr. Spielberg said, “If I have got them for two hours, they will believe whatever I do for the next three minutes.”
Those three minutes have become one of the film’s most influential hallmarks.
In “Leviathan” (1989), a giant sea creature explodes after a bomb is thrown into its mouth. In “Tremors,” one of the giant worms swallows a pipe bomb; its guts rain down afterward. In Mr. Spielberg’s “War of the Worlds,” one of the enormous, tripodal alien invaders is felled after it’s fed a belt of grenades. And in “Nope,” a large, airborne extraterrestrial invader ingests a cowboy-shaped balloon that pops. Then the creature explodes.
“‘Jaws’ hangs over you a little bit if you write for Steven,” said David Koepp, who has been a writer in several Spielberg films, including “Jurassic Park” and “War of the Worlds.”
“One of the first things you have to do is forget that you’re talking to Steven Spielberg and try to be a collaborator and not a fan.”
Below, you’ll find the complete results of our analysis, showing how closely the films we watched follow the “Jaws” blueprint. Our judgments are inescapably subjective and unscientific, but they yielded some surprises: “Twister,” set in rural Oklahoma, is a closer match than “Open Water,” set in shark-infested waters.
Title
Creature
Remote location
First victim
Reluctant hero
Local authority
Experts
Major sacrifice
Confrontation
Creature’s death
Title
The Creature
The Remote Location
The First Victim
The Flawed Hero
The Local Authority
The Experts
The Sacrifice
The Confrontation
The Creature’s End
Jaws 1975
Grizzly 1976
Squirm 1976
Mako: The Jaws of Death 1976
Day of the Animals 1977
Tentacles 1977
Orca 1977
Kingdom of the Spiders 1977
The Deep 1977
Piranha 1978
Barracuda 1978
Alien 1979
Up from the Depths 1979
Alligator 1980
Venom 1981
Blood Beach 1981
Great White 1982
The Thing 1982
Razorback 1984
Devil Fish 1986
Predator 1987
Slugs 1988
Leviathan 1989
Deep Blood 1989
Tremors 1990
Arachnophobia 1990
Jurassic Park 1993
Species 1995
The Ghost and the Darkness 1996
Twister 1996
Anaconda 1997
The Relic 1997
Deep Blue Sea 1999
Lake Placid 1999
Dreamcatcher 2003
Open Water 2003
War of the Worlds 2005
The Host 2006
The Mist 2007
Rogue 2007
The Reef 2010
Contagion 2011
Super 8 2011
The Shallows 2016
47 Meters Down 2017
The Meg 2018
A Quiet Place 2018
Crawl 2019
Underwater 2020
Nope 2022
Dangerous Animals 2025
Methodology
In our analysis we selected films that were theatrically released in the U.S. after “Jaws.” Sequels and remakes are omitted. For films with creatures, we favored natural predators who indiscriminately target prey, hence no “Halloween” (1978) or “Terminator” (1984). (The predator in “Predator” (1987) is believed to only attack when targeted. We included it.) Our corpus is drawn from different sources, including films produced by Steven Spielberg and Amblin Entertainment (Mr. Spielberg’s production company, started in 1980); films produced or written by Peter Benchley, William Girdler, Stephen King, David Koepp and John Sayles; user-generated lists or keyword search results on IMDb and Letterboxd; Wikipedia’s list of “Natural Horror Films”; and subjective curation. From those sources we limited our corpus to 50 films in order to broadly cover a chronological, commercial and topical range. This list is intended to be representative but not all-encompassing.
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