Academy of Motion Pictures Celebrates the 50th Anniversary of Jaws

The Exhibition

Story and photography by Academy Museum of Motion Pictures

On September 14 the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures will open Jaws: The Exhibition.  This is the museum’s first large-scale exhibition dedicated to a single film, and the largest exhibition ever mounted showcasing Universal Pictures’ landmark summer blockbuster, which earned three Academy Awards® and was nominated for Best Picture. The exhibition celebrates the 50th anniversary of Steven Spielberg’s Jaws (1975) and will remain on view through July 26, 2026. The Academy Museum has also announced that in 2028, it will honor the legacy of Steven Spielberg and mount the first-ever retrospective exhibition dedicated to Spielberg’s era-defining career, providing visitors with insight into his creative process and bringing them closer than ever to his filmography.

“This exhibition is awesome,” said Spielberg. “Every room has the minutiae of how this picture came together and it proves how this motion picture industry is really, truly a collaborative art form. This is an art form that only survives by getting the best people in all the right positions. I am so proud to be part of it . . . and people have a chance between now and July to come here to the Academy Museum and live it for the first time.”

©Academy Museum Foundation, Photos by: Emily Shur

“We are so excited for visitors to experience Jaws: The Exhibition,” said Academy Museum Director and President Amy Homma. “With its innovative storytelling, Jaws changed popular culture and film history in ways that are still reverberating. We invite people to come immerse themselves in all things Jaws and are honored to continue the collaboration on the 2028 retrospective exhibition celebrating Steven Spielberg’s filmography. We can’t wait to share more about this amazing new exhibition, and we are so grateful for this new partnership that celebrates cinema.”

Senior Exhibitions Curator, Jenny He, said: “It’s hard to believe this day is finally here. By now, I’ve stopped counting how many times I’ve watched Jaws. But I can tell you, it still thrills and captivates me, just as it has thrilled and captivated worldwide audiences over the past five decades; and continues to do so today. It has been a joy to work with so many outstanding collaborators to tell the story of Jaws through an exhibition.”

Director Steven Spielberg, kneeling with camera, during production of Jaws (1975). Others unidentified. Courtesy of Margaret Herrick Library, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

On view in the Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg Gallery, Jaws: The Exhibition translates the movie into a multi-gallery experience for audiences of all ages. It features scene breakdowns, interactive experiences, behind-the-scenes stories, and some 200 original objects, many never before publicly displayed. The galleries include materials from the personal collections of Steven Spielberg and the Amblin Hearth Archive, the NBCUniversal Archives & Collections, and the vast Academy Collection.

The exhibition follows the film’s narrative, taking visitors from the opening credits to the film’s gripping conclusion. Expanding on the three-act structure of the film, the story is told in six sections: “The Unseen Danger,” “Amity Island Welcomes You,” “Sunday at the Beach,” “The Shark’s Rampage,” “Adventure Ahead,” and “Into the Deep.” A seventh, concluding gallery explores the enduring impact of the film.

The exhibition includes:

 – Behind-the-scenes photos of Spielberg on set, the construction of the mechanical shark used in production, location scouting, and the cast and crew during filming, as well as Super 8 foot-age shot by Steven Spielberg during the making of Jaws

 – Handwritten and hand-sketched materials, including Steven Spielberg’s annotated script, storyboards and original concept illustrations of the shark by production designer Joe Alves, composer John Williams’s sheet music, and sketches of a shark rising from the depths by the artist behind the iconic Jaws poster image, Roger Kastel

 – Filming and editing equipment, including the Moviola machine used by the film’s editor Verna Fields, the original Jaws clapper board from the collection of Steven Spielberg, and the Panavision Underwater Camera used to shoot key scenes

 – Original props, including the prop head of Ben Gardner used for the film’s indelible “jump scare,” Quint’s fighting chair and the shark weathervane from his shack, Hooper’s shark cage, components of the Orca, and the “Beach Closed” sign

– Recreations of the “Amity Island Welcomes You” billboards, orange and white striped beach cabanas, and the shark chalkboard drawing featured during Quint’s introduction (remade for the Academy Museum by production designer Joe Alves)

 – Promotional items, from original theatrical release posters from around the world to innovative merchandise such as the Jaws “Feeding Time” cereal box, iron-on patches, toys, accessories and even products from Universal theme parks around the globe

 – Interactives, including opportunities to recreate the film’s dolly zoom effect, play John Williams’s two-note score that signals the shark’s approach, and operate a scale replica of the mechanical shark

©Academy Museum Foundation, Photos by: Emily Shur

The Academy Museum will celebrate the exhibition’s opening with a screening of Jaws in 4K on September 14. At the same time, the Academy Museum Store will launch an exclusive line of Jaws-inspired merchandise, including a commemorative 50th anniversary vinyl pressing of John Williams’s Oscar®-winning film score in collaboration with Mondo, an exclusive 1975 variant screen printed poster, a Jaws Amity Island ringer tee, Jaws hoodie, “The Game of Jaws” 50th anniversary edition, and Jaws Amity Island billboard scaled prop replica.

Jaws: The Exhibition will be the museum’s fifth large-scale exhibition in its Marilyn and Jeffrey Katzenberg Gallery, following Hayao Miyazaki (2021–22), Regeneration: Black Cinema 1898–1971 (2022–23), John Waters: Pope of Trash (2023–24), and Color in Motion: Chromatic Explorations of Cinema . The exhibition’s advisory group comprises ocean conservationist and marine policy advocate Wendy Benchley; Associate Professor in the Division of Cinema and Media Studies at USC J.D. Connor; sound mixer Peter J. Devlin; and editor Terilyn A. Shropshire.

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