You’re sitting on the couch, scrolling through a streaming service, and you see that iconic jagged tooth logo. You know the one. John Williams’ tuba starts thumping in your head—dun dun, dun dun. Most people can name the first one. It’s the 1975 masterpiece that made everyone afraid of the bathtub. But then things get a little blurry. Was there a three? Did he go to Italy? How many Jaws movies were there exactly?
The short answer is four. Four official films produced by Universal Pictures.
But if you start digging into the weird, wild world of international knockoffs and "spiritual sequels," that number explodes. Honestly, the history of the Jaws franchise is a cautionary tale of how to turn a perfect piece of cinema into a punchline involving a roaring shark and Michael Caine. Steven Spielberg changed the world with the first one, and then, well, the sequels happened.
The Core Four: The Official Universal Timeline
To understand the franchise, you have to look at the "official" canon. These are the four films that Universal actually put their name on.
It started with Jaws (1975). This wasn't just a movie; it was a cultural shift. Based on Peter Benchley’s novel, it stayed in theaters for months. It created the "summer blockbuster." It follows Chief Martin Brody, played by Roy Scheider, as he tries to stop a Great White from eating the tourists of Amity Island. Simple. Effective. Terrifying.
Then came Jaws 2 (1978). People often forget that this was actually a massive hit, even though production was a total nightmare. Director John D. Hancock was fired, Jeannot Szwarc took over, and Roy Scheider only did the movie to settle a contract dispute with Universal. Surprisingly, it’s pretty good. It’s basically a slasher movie where the shark is the killer and the victims are teenagers on sailboats. "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water." That tagline lived longer than the movie’s actual plot.
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Then things got weird. Jaws 3-D (1983) arrived during the brief 80s obsession with 3D glasses. It stars a young Dennis Quaid as Mike Brody, the son of the Chief from the first two. They’re at SeaWorld in Orlando. There’s a giant shark in the park. It’s cheesy, the effects look like cardboard cutouts today, and it barely feels like the same universe.
Finally, we hit the bottom of the ocean with Jaws: The Revenge (1987). This movie is legendary for all the wrong reasons. Lorraine Gary returns as Ellen Brody. The shark... follows her to the Bahamas? It supposedly has a psychic connection to the family? Michael Caine famously said he never saw the film, but he saw the house it built for his mother, and it was "terrific." This is the one where the shark actually roars like a lion. It killed the franchise for good.
The "Italian Jaws" and the Great Confusion
If you go to a flea market or a weird corner of the internet, you might find something called Cruel Jaws or The Last Shark. This is where the question of how many Jaws movies were there gets complicated.
In the late 70s and 80s, Italian filmmakers were notorious for making "unofficial" sequels to American hits. Bruno Mattei’s Cruel Jaws (1995) was actually marketed in some regions as Jaws 5: Cruel Jaws. It even uses footage from the actual Jaws movies and Deep Blood. It’s not official. It’s a pirate movie, basically.
Then there’s L'ultimo squalo (The Last Shark), released in 1981. It was so similar to Spielberg’s original that Universal sued and had it pulled from US theaters. For years, fans thought this was a "lost" sequel. It’s not. It’s just a very dedicated rip-off.
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Why We Stopped at Four
Hollywood loves money. Usually, if a franchise has four movies, a fifth is inevitable. Look at Fast & Furious or Halloween. So why did the Jaws series stop in 1987?
The answer is simple: Jaws: The Revenge was a disaster. It cost about $23 million to make and barely cleared $20 million at the domestic box office. In the 80s, that was a death sentence. Critics absolutely mauled it. It holds a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes. When your main antagonist is a mechanical fish that looks like it’s made of grey socks and it explodes for no logical reason when poked by a boat, people stop buying tickets.
There have been rumors of a reboot for decades. Spielberg has famously said he would never "remake" his own classic, and Universal seems to respect that—or they're just scared of another flop. They’ve moved the "shark" energy into things like the Jurassic World franchise instead.
The Brody Family Tree (How the Movies Connect)
The only thing holding these four movies together is the Brody family.
- Martin Brody: The hero of 1 and 2. He dies off-screen before the fourth movie (supposedly of a heart attack because he was so scared of sharks).
- Ellen Brody: Martin's wife. She’s a side character in the first two, mostly worried about her husband. In the fourth, she’s the protagonist who thinks the shark is "haunting" her family.
- Michael Brody: The oldest son. He’s a kid in the first two, a park engineer in 3, and a marine biologist in 4. He's played by a different actor in every single movie.
- Sean Brody: The younger son. He gets eaten in the opening minutes of the fourth movie, which kicks off the whole "revenge" plot.
It's a very loose continuity. If you try to watch them all in a row, the timeline feels like it’s melting. Michael’s age doesn't really make sense between the third and fourth films, and the tone shifts from "gritty prestige thriller" to "Saturday morning cartoon" remarkably fast.
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Legacy of the 1975 Original
Even though there are four films, the first one is the only one that truly matters to film history. It was the first movie to ever reach $100 million at the box office. It’s the reason we have summer tentpole movies.
Before 1975, big movies were usually released in the winter, near the Oscars. Universal decided to dump Jaws in June, thinking it was a "beach movie." It worked too well. It actually kept people away from real beaches that summer.
The sequels didn't have Peter Benchley’s writing (he actually regretted how the book made sharks look like monsters) or Verna Fields' tight editing. Fields won an Oscar for the first movie; she’s often called "the mother of the summer blockbuster" because she cut around the broken mechanical shark (nicknamed Bruce) so perfectly that the audience's imagination did all the work. By the fourth movie, they showed the shark way too much, and the magic was gone.
What to Watch If You’ve Seen All Four
If you’ve binged the official quartet and you're still hungry for more, you’re basically looking at the "Sharksploitation" genre.
- The Shallows (2016): Probably the best "serious" shark movie since the original.
- Deep Blue Sea (1999): It’s smart sharks in a lab. It’s ridiculous and great.
- Open Water (2003): If you want that raw, "I'm never swimming again" dread.
- The Meg (2018): This is what Jaws 3 wanted to be—big, loud, and expensive.
Practical Next Steps for Jaws Fans
If you're looking to dive deeper into the franchise, don't just watch the sequels. The real gold is in the behind-the-scenes history.
- Read "The Jaws Log" by Carl Gottlieb. He was the screenwriter on the first film. It’s one of the best books ever written about how a movie almost falls apart during production.
- Watch "The Shark is Still Working." It’s a feature-length documentary about the legacy of the film. It covers the sequels briefly but focuses on why the first one is a "perfect" movie.
- Visit Martha’s Vineyard. That’s where they filmed Amity Island. Many of the original locations, like the bridge Sean Brody plays on, are still there.
- Skip Jaws: The Revenge. Seriously. Unless you have a group of friends and a lot of popcorn to throw at the screen, it’s a rough 90 minutes. Stick to the first two if you want to maintain your respect for the Brody family.
The "official" count remains at four, but in the hearts of most cinephiles, there is only one Jaws. Everything else is just a ripple in the water.
Next Steps for Your Movie Marathon:
Check the current streaming status of the "Jaws" collection on platforms like Max or Netflix, as they frequently rotate. If you're a physical media collector, look for the 4K restoration of the original—it's widely considered one of the best transfers of a classic film ever produced. For the sequels, the "Jaws 2, 3, and Revenge" multi-packs are usually very cheap in bargain bins.