LOS ANGELES — Bruce the shark could take a big bite out of this weekend’s box office when “Jaws” returns to the big screen.
The 1975 Steven Spielberg classic is being re-released for the Labor Day holiday, starting Thursday.
“It feels like the right time to bring ‘Jaws’ back at the end of the summer. It’s just a classic summer film,” said Craig Dehmel, head of global distribution for IMAX Entertainment, which has 35 screens in Southern California. Universal Pictures’ week-long re-release is the first time “Jaws” can be seen in the extra-large, immersive format known as IMAX.
“The scares are bigger, and it’s just got that intensity,” Dehmel said of the film about a man-munching great white shark attacking sun-loving tourists in Martha’s Vineyard.
Shown on IMAX, Bruce’s bite will look as if it could swallow entire audiences. Some IMAX screens are as wide as 100 feet. They are the only type of screen where “Jaws” can be seen in 2D. The other movie theaters that are showing “Jaws” this weekend are 3D.
On Sept. 3, for National Cinema Day, “Jaws” can even be seen for a price that’s more similar to what movie goers would have paid back in the day when the movie was first released. Thousands of local theaters will charge just $3 for films on Sept. 3, including many IMAX theaters.
“Jaws” was the very first summer blockbuster when it was released in June 1975. It was the highest-grossing film for two years until “Star Wars” came along in 1977. The last time Universal Pictures re-released “Jaws” in the U.S. was in June 2020 for its 45th anniversary, but ticket sales were nominal because of COVID and ensuing theater closures.
Shortly after the pandemic first began, IMAX started thinking about bringing back classic titles, knowing that movie studios were delaying film releases and shutting down productions. With the new-movie pipeline continuing at a trickle, IMAX screened the 1982 Spielberg classic “E.T.” in August and will show the James Cameron blockbuster “Avatar” before its highly anticipated follow-up, “Avatar: The Way of the Water,” debuts this December.