Special Series · The Art of the Tease(rs)
Jaws 3-D (1983)
I have a serious problem with movie trailers lately. It seems like nearly every preview that’s released is about 2:30 minutes long and gives away almost every aspect of the movie, acting more like a CliffsNotes version of the movie being advertised rather than something to entice an audience into coming back and seeing the full product.
In this day and age where all aspects of a movie are fairly well known before an inch of footage is seen, the subtlety of a well-crafted “teaser” trailer is totally gone…and I miss it…I miss it a lot. So I decided to go back to some of the teaser trailers I fondly remember and, in a way, reintroduce them. Whether the actual movie was good or bad is neither here nor there…but pay attention to how each of these teasers work in their own special way to grab the attention of movie-goers.
The One-Sheet
Lobby Card
Plot: Mike Brody, son of Amity police chief Martin Brody, is the engineer at Florida’s SeaWorld as the park gets ready to open its new underwater tunnels. When a great white shark slips into the park’s lagoon, he and marine biologist Kathryn Morgan have to keep the crowds safe.
Released: July 22, 1983
Directed by: Joe Alves
Starring: Dennis Quaid, Bess Armstrong, Simon MacCorkindale, Louis Gossett Jr., John Putch, Lea Thompson
Studio: Universal Pictures
Box office: $45.5 million domestic, $88.0 million worldwide
Trivia:
- Ahead of the release, producer Alan Landsburg’s company syndicated a one-hour TV special, The Making of Jaws 3-D: Sharks Don’t Die, narrated by Louis Gossett Jr., to 108 stations.
- The second Jaws sequel started out in 1979 as a National Lampoon spoof called Jaws 3, People 0, with a script by John Hughes and Todd Carroll, but Universal rejected it.
The Taglines
The third dimension is terror
Why It Works
It had been five years since JAWS 2 was released to boffo box office so the time was probably right for Universal Studios to revisit its popular franchise. What started as a second sequel intended to be more of a comedy, à la National Lampoon, turned into something different but no less silly. I have a certain fondness for JAWS 3-D with its ugly grainy picture and lame-o 3D effects…maybe it’s because it’s so earnestly goofy now or maybe it’s because JAWS: The Revenge was so much worse but the film has a certain (albeit resistible) charm.
I remember seeing this teaser trailer when YouTube first went up and thinking it was well done. 1983 was the year of the 3D resurgence and I’m sure audiences were unnerved not only about having another reminder about what dangers lurk in deep water but also wondering how the technique was going to bring that mean ’ole great white shark into another dimension. I’m not sure how well the movie played in theaters but having only ever seen it in 2D, I think the intended effect has been lost.
Bonus!
Check out the teaser for the final nail in the coffin of the Jaws franchise:
Jaws: The Revenge (1987)
And check out my reviews of the full slate of Jaws films: JAWS, JAWS 2, JAWS 3-D, JAWS: The Revenge
Written by Joe Botten
Joe Botten is The MN Movie Man, a Twin Cities film critic writing spoiler-free reviews since 2012. He also writes for Loud and Clear Reviews, a Rotten Tomatoes approved site. Find him on Instagram and Letterboxd.
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