How the Marketing for Jaws Invented the Summer Blockbuster

Before there was Barbenheimer, there was Jaws.

Summer movie blockbusters are big business these days. That all started in 1975 with Spielberg’s Jaws.

Originally slated for a Christmas ‘74 release, months of production delays and disasters pushed it back. The summer marketing campaign was created as an afterthought. Universal began to license beach-themed merchandise like towels, swimwear and beach bags.

Today, the success of Jaws seems like a foregone conclusion. But the promotional effort around the movie was the largest in the studio’s history.

Many tactics marketing pros will recognize today started with Jaws. The studio behind Jaws ran 30-second adverts during primetime TV shows that would fit right in with today’s short video formats on TikTok or Instagram.

Marketers looked to grow book sales and generate hype for the film by sending copies of the novel to “opinion holders” including restaurant owners and company executives, not unlike influencer campaigns of today.

School’s Out for the Summer

Another way that Jaws pioneered the blockbuster era was the implementation of an instant wide release. Previously, movies were released in a few cities at a time. Universal and Spielberg pushed for Jaws to open at 600 theaters across the country for opening week, but they limited it to around 450. 

Tightening the scope ever so slightly helped create a balance between the film’s exposure and hype – lines were constantly circling the block as the film’s mystique grew.

Jaws was rated PG in 1975 (it would be a few more years until Spielberg pushed these limits further with Temple of Doom and Gremlins that led to the creation of PG-13). Combine this with towns full of kids on summer break and theaters being an ideal place to cool off, you have all the ingredients for a record-setting release.

And before Jaws was even out for two months, it did just that by being the first film to cross the $100 million barrier.