By Lisa Richwine and Rollo Ross
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) -A half-century ago, in June 1975, “Jaws” swam into theaters, gave audiences a good scare and rewrote movie history.
The shark thriller became the first summer blockbuster with a playbook that Hollywood studios still follow today.
“Jaws” was heavily marketed, creating buzz that positioned the movie as a must-see event. It became a runaway hit that changed the career of its young director, 26-year-old Steven Spielberg, and shifted the scheduling of movies.
“Before ‘Jaws,’ there wasn’t really a well-defined summer movie season,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior movie analyst at Comscore.
“You could have big movies coming out at any time of the year, but there was never a season that encapsulated what young people wanted to do in the summer, which was go to the movie theater,” he added. “It really changed everything.”
“Star Wars” took the same path in the summer of 1977, hitting screens over the U.S. Memorial Day weekend. Spielberg debuted his first “Indiana Jones” movies in June of 1981.
Now, Hollywood packs many of its most ambitious movies into theaters from the first weekend in May through Labor Day in September.
That season accounts for roughly 40% of the annual box office returns in the United States and Canada. In 2024, domestic theaters generated $3.7 billion in ticket sales during that time.
“The summer is what we look forward to in the movie business,” said Doreen Sayegh, owner and operator of the five-screen Cranford Theater in New Jersey. “It’s when some of the hottest movies, the biggest blockbusters come out, and kids are home from school so we see a lot of families.”
Hollywood is counting on this summer to reverse a downward trend. Tickets sales in the United States and Canada are running 11% behind the same point last year, according to Comscore data, and remain below pre-pandemic levels. Cinemas face competition from at-home streaming services such as Netflix.
BIG SUMMER BETS
This week, movie studios previewed their biggest summer bets at CinemaCon, an annual gathering of theater owners in Las Vegas. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer reminded the crowd that “Top Gun: Maverick” brought in $1.5 billion worldwide in 2022.
“We’re here to tell you that we’re ready to do it again,” Bruckheimer said, with Warner Bros action movie “F1” starring Brad Pitt as a Formula 1 driver. “We believe this is going to be the cinematic event of the summer.”
“F1,” scheduled for June, is among the few big-budget original movies in a slate of sequels, reboots and franchises.
Walt Disney’s Marvel Studios previewed “Thunderbolts,” the story of an irreverent team of superheroes starring Florence Pugh, David Harbour and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. “Thunderbolts” will kick off the summer movie season in May, and Marvel will follow-up with “The Fantastic Four: First Steps” in July.
Warner Bros touted its new “Superman” directed by “Guardians of the Galaxy” filmmaker James Gunn. Actor David Corenswet will don the famous red cape for the first time, part of the studio’s latest attempt to reinvigorate the DC Comics movies.
Comcast’s Universal Pictures promoted a new dinosaur movie, “Jurassic World: Rebirth,” starring Scarlett Johansson and Jonathan Bailey.
One of cinema’s biggest champions, Tom Cruise, teased “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,” the film that may be his last in the action franchise.
FAMILY FILMS AND ACTION
Sayegh said she was optimistic about upcoming family movies including a new “Smurfs,” a live-action remake of “How to Train Your Dragon” and “The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants.” Family films have been some of the top performers at cineplexes in recent years.
She also was impressed by the trailer for “Mission: Impossible.” This summer, “there’s a lot at once, a lot of adrenaline. I’m pretty excited over the slate I’ve seen.”
Other cinema operators welcomed the full schedule after disruptions from the pandemic and the 2023 Hollywood strikes, though some complained that studios should space the movies out more. “F1,” for example, comes out just five days before “Jurassic World.”
As people weigh their summer entertainment options, Republican U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs have sparked fears of a global economic downturn. Any economic uncertainty from federal policies could create a challenge for the movie business, said Michael O’Leary, president and CEO of trade organization Cinema United.
“We’re an industry which thrives on people having discretionary income,” O’Leary said. “When there is uncertainty in the economic markets, for any reason, people tend to not use that discretionary income as much as they otherwise would.”
When Hollywood starts to compile this summer’s receipts, a familiar star will return to the big screen. Universal plans to re-release “Jaws” in theaters in late August to celebrate its 50th anniversary.
(Reporting by Lisa Richwine;Editing by Mary Milliken and Nick Zieminski)
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