As a lifelong fan of Universal Studios and a devotee of all things Spielberg, I can’t help but feel a sense of nostalgic awe when reflecting on the history of the Jaws experience at Universal Studios Hollywood. Having grown up with the iconic film and its subsequent impact on popular culture, witnessing the integration of Amity Island into the tram tour was nothing short of magical.
Enjoying the warmth of summer is an ideal moment to rewatch Steven Spielberg’s inaugural summer blockbuster, Jaws, now accessible from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment. First released in 1975, it ignited a cinematic franchise and further expanded into theme parks at Universal Studios Hollywood.
When the “Jaws” encounter was integrated into the Universal Studios Tram Tour in 1976, it proved to be an enormous success with both film enthusiasts and tourists. Moreover, this demonstration served as a convincing proof of concept for the park designers, indicating that if Universal included more intricate rides and experiences within their backlot tour, visitors would flock to them in great numbers.
As summer theme park excitement kicks off, SYFY WIRE chose to delve into the past and explore the legacy of the Jaws backlot experience, introduced mere years after the blockbuster film’s release. Nowadays, it remains a key component of the Studio Tour at Universal Studios Hollywood and a standalone attraction in Universal Studios Japan.
Delving deeper into the making of “Jaws”: Insights on Lee Marvin as Quint, Jon Voight as Hooper, and uncovering three distinct creative influences behind Steven Spielberg’s iconic shark thriller. The legendary filmmaker shares an intriguing story of how a poignant father-son moment in “Jaws” sparked the idea that eventually led to the creation of “E.T.”. Furthermore, Spielberg expresses his genuine remorse over the negative portrayal of sharks and the damaging impact of “shark-hunting” activities caused by “Jaws”.
Looking Back on the History of the Jaws Experience at Universal Studios
In the ’70s, Universal Studios’ Hollywood Tram tour offered visitors a behind-the-scenes look at their operational lot, complete with live stunt shows and special effects demonstrations. When Jaws turned out to be a massive success for them, they chose to integrate actual sets and props from the film into the tour. They utilized the Singapore Lake location, which provided a “storm experience” with a wave machine and wind machine, to construct a smaller replica of Amity Island around it.
In an effort to rebrand it as “Jaws Lake”, the studio enlisted the skills of special effects artist Robert A. Mattey, who was responsible for the animatronic sharks in Jaws and the technology behind Disneyland’s Jungle Cruise ride. The aim was to offer visitors an awe-inspiring experience themed around Jaws. As the tram journeyed into the lake area, it would pass under an Amity Island movie poster that welcomed guests into a replica of the town. Inside the lake, they positioned the real screen-used boat from the film, the Orca, and fisherman Ben Gardner’s partially submerged boat.
Initially, when the Jaws attraction premiered in April 1976, visitors aboard the tram watched as an actor portrayed Gardner fishing on a boat in the lake. The eerie music of John Williams played simultaneously. Inside the water, a shark fin would surface, knocking Gardner’s boat into the lake, causing it to turn crimson with what appeared to be blood. A buoy marked with a yellow barrel would then float, indicating the location of the great white until it tugged a small dock away from the shore, just as in the film. The shark would then jump out of the water in front of the tram and swim along its entire length, frightening passengers. Regrettably, the Jaws shark model lacked realism, featuring an excessive number of teeth and a less fear-inducing profile.
Despite its overly-toothed shark, the Jaws segment of the tour proved to be a massive draw, serving as the foundation for later additions like the King Kong and Earthquake experiences within the tram tour.
By the end of the first year of the Jaws experience, the shark was given some dental work to focus just on a single line of scary teeth which improved his overall menace. In the late ‘80s, a new round of refurbishment took away the dock scene and replaced it with a gas station on a pier that would be attacked by the shark. It allowed for an impressive pyrotechnic element to be added to the experience, which blew flames near the riders and amped up the physical stakes. And then in 1986, the removal of the screen-used Orca caused a big stir when Spielberg found out about it after the fact.
As an ardent enthusiast, I found myself utterly shocked when, without so much as a whisper, the Orca mysteriously vanished from our collective movie landscape. In retrospect, it’s clear no one could foresee the priceless value these sets and props would hold in the future. At that moment, they were merely decaying remnants, deemed hazardous and hastily discarded for safety purposes.
In the ’90s, there was a significant revamp of the shark and its workings, which is still the same shark encountered by visitors on the Universal Studios Hollywood Studio Tour today. At that time, the fisherman in the middle of the lake was swapped out for a police scuba diver who gets attacked in a violent, foamy scene. Additionally, more dramatic fire effects were reintroduced to the experience. In 2005, Ben Gardner’s prop boat was removed from the lake and destroyed due to the deterioration of the wood.
In 1990, Universal Studios Florida introduced a standalone attraction called The Jaws Ride. Since there are no tram rides at this Florida theme park, Universal constructed an independent Jaws-themed ride. Utilizing technology from Mattey’s water rides, visitors boarded a tour boat led by a narrator/skipper from Amity Island who would take you on a sightseeing tour until a shark attack disrupted the enjoyable experience for everyone.
1. The initial version of the ride experienced numerous technical problems and needed major changes, so it was redesigned by a different company for a 1993 relaunch. In 2012, the entire Amity Island area in Universal Studios Florida was shut down to accommodate the expansion of Diagon Alley within The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
2001 saw the launch of a fresh take on the solo “Jaws” adventure. Just like its updated Florida counterpart, it offers thrilling effects like pyrotechnics and life-like figures, all staged in water surroundings where guests ride boats near Amity Island. It has been running continuously since then.
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2024-08-26 18:03