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In 1982 , the ItalianJawsrip - off , Great White , made a ample wave at the box office . Just a few weeks into its run , an injunction from Universal went into effect , overstretch the film from field .
ThoughJaws 2had been a money - maker in the summertime of 1978 , a follow - up take several years to get together . Both David Brown and Richard Zanuck , producers for bothJawsfilms , were concerned into turning the next chapter into a funniness . Feeling that the formula had already run itself out , a spoof of the submarine sandwich - genre they had help create would inject new lifespan into the dealership . Partnering with Matty Simmons , who has just produced the comedy hit , National Lampoon ’s Animal House , a book was commissioned with the working titleJaws 3 , People 0 . Before pre - production even began , studio heads reconsider the idea and shelved the project for well .
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While Universal was having a hard meter coming up with an appropriate vehicle for their favourite shark , other studios had no problem finding aspiration in the popular franchise . puppet featuressuch asTintorera : Killer Shark ( 1977),Piranha(1978),Barracuda(1978),Up From the Depths(1979 ) andAlligator(1980 ) all took low bites of the box office in in the wake of the popular shark saga . Most of these films portion out a like formula ; people are attacked and killed while swimming at a popular locating while authorities push to keep it loose for fiscal reasons . By 1980 , the shark / maneater wedge - genre had decline , with most main studios caught up in make cheap slasher films exchangeable toFriday the 13th .
Jaws: Why Universal Killed The Italian Rip-Off Of Spielberg’s Movie
A few eld after the comedicJawssequel was nixed , docudrama producer Alan Landsburg grease one’s palms the rights and commence developing a new film . By 1982 , pre - yield was well underway with a script that several writers helped shape . While most studios had go on from shark - centric photographic film , Film Ventures took a fortune and acquired an Italian film calledL’ultimo Squalo , a.k.a . The Last Shark . Directed by Enzo G. Castellari , the motion picture shared several constituent with the Universal films , including a outstanding ashen shark assail bather on a democratic beach . Film Ventures retitled the filmGreat Whiteand came up with a huge ad safari evocative of bothJawsfilms .
The political campaign alone was enough for Universal Pictures , whose current fight with AMC Theaters has been well document , to take the production company to homage for plagiarism . They undertake to block off the release , but the U. S. District Court denied the request , provide for the celluloid to open as planned on March 5 , 1982.Great Whiteopened to a big box office , with saturation campaign in most major markets . Unfortunately , just a few calendar week into its successful run , a federal judge agreed that there were too many law of similarity betweenGreat Whiteand Universal’sJawsfilms . The movie was straight off pulled from release , but not before gross around $ 18 million in the United States . This was good intelligence for Universal , as it solidified their belief thatthe public was still concerned in human being - eat up sharks .
The lead film , 1983’sJaws3 - D , performed well at the box bureau , though earned nowhere near the numeral that the late movie generated . The film was also viciously pick apart , with many complain that the 3 - D technique used collapse the film a meretricious , cloudy look . It would be another four years before Universal attempted another pic in the dealership . By then , public involvement in the make had all but vanish . The lawsuit againstGreat Whitekept the film from public view for geezerhood , though European markets were not restricted from access . moonshine copies of the movie began to surface in the late 1990s , with copies of the Italian voice communication variation leaked to platform such as YouTube in the 2000s . A RiffTrax version of the film , underThe Last Sharkmoniker , is currently usable for streaming as of this writing .
Next : Why Batman ’s Michael Caine Agreed To Star In Jaws 4
