The Jaws Sequel who almost became a ridiculous comedy called Jews 3, People 0

THE Jaw The franchising took a Nossutive after Steven SpielbergOriginal masterpiece. Jews 2 played safely. Jaws 3-D I tried an expedient and Jaws: The Revenge… well, that had a shark that hunted a specific family by spite. But in an alternative temporal sequence, Jaws’s third film could have completely gone out of the tracks!

It has almost become a full -blown comedy.

Immediately after Jews 2producers Richard Zanuck AND David Brown We were looking for a fresh corner. The audience was already saturated with Knockoff with films like Grizzly, ORCA, Tentaclesand so on. The horror was approaching the territory of Satire and Zanuck and Brown had just seen the Universal score great with National Lampoon Animal house. So they thought, why not lean on that energy?

Enter Matty Simmons by National Lampoon. In the documentary of 2023 SharksploitationSimmons recalled the surreal moment that it all started:

“I ended up at Universal. My neighbors were Dick Zanuck and David Brown. First thing [Brown] He said to me: “Dick and I’d like to make a movie with you guys.” So, suddenly – I just started joking – I just said: “Jaws 3, people nothing”.

“I said,” Peter Benchley leaves the house in a swimsuit, jumps in his swimming pool and disappears. And the next thing we see a fin that floats in the pool. “… he said:” I love it, I love it, I call you tomorrow.

That joke turned into a real momentum. Writers Tod Carroll and a then counterattack John Hughes they were led to write the script. Joe Dantewarm from his Piranha Spoof, the director’s chair was offered, thanks in part to Steven Spielberg himself, intervening to prevent Universal from suits Piranha.

As Dante explained:

“Universal was very worried and annoyed by the fact that Roger was turning off his jaw in the same year in which Jaws 2 was leaving, and therefore apparently threatened an injunction.

“I discovered much later that Spielberg had intervened … and I said:” No, you don’t understand, this is a parody, this is not really a rip -off “, even if it is a rip -off. And practically we managed to get away, I guess it is the phrase. And for this reason, I was offered Jews 3, People 0.”

The sets were under construction, mechanical sharks were built. Bo Derek He was even shooting the cast. It was happening … until it was.

The project went into pieces. Nobody is totally sure of why. Some points for Spielberg, others for producers who lose the nerve. But Dante believes that it was creative differences between the Lampoon crew and the Jaw Manufacturers:

“The National Lampoon people wanted to make a comedy in Raggio R, as Animal House. And the most conservative team of Zanuck and Brown wanted to make a PG and make him a family -released family photo …

“I think the project died because they could not agree on the film they were making. And you cannot enter a film with two powerful entities like National Lampoon at that moment and Zanuck and Brown and make them fight constantly during the entire film. It is only a bad idea, and I think they simply pulled the plug.”

Simmons put it even more without maximum terms:

“They had to choose between me and Spielberg and suspicion that they made the right choice.”

Looking back, Jaws 3, People 0 It looks like one of those legendary “What-Iph” projects, something that could have been spectacularly bombing or becoming a classic of worship. The horror genre eventually embraced the self-appropriate, but in 1983, this type of meta-commedia was still unexplored.

Would he work? Who knows. But a Jaw parody written by John Hughesdirected by Joe Danteand produced from Animal house The team is something that we would absolutely pay to see.

If Universal ever wants to revive Jows with a new corner, perhaps it is time to bring back the only idea that was too wild for 1983: a sequel that bites with a smile.