During the summer of 1975 the American movie exhibition business shifted its gears A new style in the strategy for producing, promoting and exhibiting feature films appeared. On June 20th, the greatest monster flick of all-time opened on 465 screens, coast-to-coast. When “Jaws” became an unprecedented box office smash, the era of the blockbuster was underway.
It was my fourth summertime serving as the manager of the Biograph Theatre. Before "Jaws," it was standard practice for top of the line product to premiere in the most popular movie houses in a selected handful of large cities. The next day reviews written by the well-known critics for daily newspapers were published. It was tradition. And, among other things, it meant the advertising buys were made locally.
So, the space for distributors' daily newspaper ads, the time for local radio spots, etc., were usually bought by local ad agencies for their theater-owning clients, or directly from the theaters. Then "Jaws" ushered in the era of the blockbuster, with national ad campaigns and simultaneous opening days, coast-to-coast. It was bold.
Everything to do with the project to produce that film and market it was bold. Back then, it was said the producers of "Jaws" had its ad campaign designed before they even started shooting the movie. The whole sleeker marketing strategy for “Jaws” required enormous confidence. Its distributor, Universal, not only had to spend zillions on national advertising, it also had to strike enough prints of the film -- right off the bat -- to serve all of the theaters playing the film in simultaneous runs. That, instead of staggered runs, starting with the best markets getting the best new movies first.
In those days, Washington D.C. was a regional hub for film distribution. Part of the strategy for releasing “Jaws” was that Universal chose not to screen the film for booking agents and exhibitors in the usual way. Ordinarily, a feature about to be released would be shown a few times in a small screening room downtown. Run by the National Association of Theater Owners, it probably seated about 50 people.
Well, we didn’t get the money, but it was privately satisfying upon seeing that “Jaws” went on to set new records for its box office grosses. Its unprecedented success put its director, Steven Spielberg, on the map. And, of course, once on the map, Spielberg has stayed there ever since.
Another thing “Jaws” did that summer was to make some young men who were occasionally too self-absorbed feel intimidated by Spielberg’s outrageous success at such a tender age. I can still remember reading that he was younger than me.
Although I had a great job for a 27-year-old movie-lover who liked to work without a lot of supervision, it offered no direct connection to filmmaking. At this time I had one nine-minute film and one animated sequence in a 30-second television commercial, both shot in 16mm, to my credit. 1975’s Boy Wonder, Steven Spielberg, made me feel like I was on the wrong track. That might have been the first time I gave much thought to how and when to leave the Biograph.
Fast-forward 34 years to when I watched a BBC-produced documentary, “Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood.” It's about filmmaking in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Directors and other players from that time were interviewed. Made in 2003, it was thoroughly entertaining. I saw it on Turner Classic Movies in 2009.
Dreyfuss, who was one of the stars of "Jaws," speaks of attending one of those pre-release screenings. He said he got caught up in the experience of seeing it for the first time in a crowded theater; there were moments when he forgot himself as the actor on the screen.
Actress Margot Kidder (best known for her Lois Lane portrayals in the Superman series of movie) appeared on camera several times. She made a joke out of how Spielberg had begun to fib about his age, once he became famous. She had known him before his sudden notoriety, so she noticed it when he went from being older than her to being younger. Kidder claimed Spielberg was fudging his birth date by a couple of years.
Well, flashing back on my absurd jealousy to do with Spielberg’s rise to stardom, when he was supposedly younger than me, I had to laugh out loud. Then I looked up Spielberg’s age on the Internet. He’s older than both Margot (who died in 2018) and me.
So, I searched for more on the age-change and found some old articles about “Jaws” and Spielberg. Yes, it looks like Kidder was right. Back in the ‘70s, perhaps to play up the Boy Wonder aspect of the story, Spielberg’s birth date was being massaged. Somewhere along the line, since then, it looks like it got straightened out.
The point?
Yet, before the summer was over, "Jaws” was besting all-time box office records and every cocaine-snorting dealmaker in LA wanted to do the same thing and create the next blockbuster.
In those days, Washington D.C. was a regional hub for film distribution. Part of the strategy for releasing “Jaws” was that Universal chose not to screen the film for booking agents and exhibitors in the usual way. Ordinarily, a feature about to be released would be shown a few times in a small screening room downtown. Run by the National Association of Theater Owners, it probably seated about 50 people.
Bookers for theater chains in the D.C. region would watch the new films to help them weigh how much money should be bid, if any, for the rights to exhibit the picture in a given market. One booker would typically represent 100, 200, or more, screens.
Yet since security on admission to the screening room wasn't tight, any industry insider, entertainment writer, etc. might have been in the audience on a given day. I saw a few movies in the D.C. screening room over the years I worked in the movie business. However, this time the prior-to-premiere regional screening process for “Jaws” took place in a different way.
"Jaws" was shown to theater owners, bookers and their guests in selected cinemas in maybe a dozen cities. As I remember it, those invitation-only screenings were all done on the same night, nationally. Maybe it was two consecutive nights.
As a treat, my bosses gave me four of their allotment of tickets to the special screening of “Jaws” at the old Ontario in D.C. My ex, Valerie, and I were part of a full house turnout and I have to say the movie, itself, went over like gangbusters. The jaded audience of show people shrieked at all the appropriate times and applauded as the movie’s closing credits were lighting up the screen.
Not only was I knocked out by the presentation, I came back to Richmond convinced “Jaws” would be a gold mine. It was the slickest monster movie I’d ever seen. I probably talked my wife's ear off about it on the way home to Richmond.
Not only was I knocked out by the presentation, I came back to Richmond convinced “Jaws” would be a gold mine. It was the slickest monster movie I’d ever seen. I probably talked my wife's ear off about it on the way home to Richmond.
The next day, still caught up in that mania, I tried to convince my bosses to borrow a lot of money to support a bid on “Jaws” that would call for a substantial cash advance. I wanted to bet everything we could borrow to out-bid Neighborhood Theatres for the Richmond market. Toward that end, I even convinced a Fan District branch bank manager to try to help us get the dough.
Well, we didn’t get the money, but it was privately satisfying upon seeing that “Jaws” went on to set new records for its box office grosses. Its unprecedented success put its director, Steven Spielberg, on the map. And, of course, once on the map, Spielberg has stayed there ever since.
Another thing “Jaws” did that summer was to make some young men who were occasionally too self-absorbed feel intimidated by Spielberg’s outrageous success at such a tender age. I can still remember reading that he was younger than me.
Although I had a great job for a 27-year-old movie-lover who liked to work without a lot of supervision, it offered no direct connection to filmmaking. At this time I had one nine-minute film and one animated sequence in a 30-second television commercial, both shot in 16mm, to my credit. 1975’s Boy Wonder, Steven Spielberg, made me feel like I was on the wrong track. That might have been the first time I gave much thought to how and when to leave the Biograph.
*
Fast-forward 34 years to when I watched a BBC-produced documentary, “Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex, Drugs and Rock 'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood.” It's about filmmaking in the ‘60s and ‘70s. Directors and other players from that time were interviewed. Made in 2003, it was thoroughly entertaining. I saw it on Turner Classic Movies in 2009.
Among those who made comments in the documentary were Tony Bill, Karen Black, Peter Bogdanovich, Roger Corman, Richard Dreyfuss, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, László Kovács, Kris Kristofferson, Arthur Penn and Cybill Shepherd.
Dreyfuss, who was one of the stars of "Jaws," speaks of attending one of those pre-release screenings. He said he got caught up in the experience of seeing it for the first time in a crowded theater; there were moments when he forgot himself as the actor on the screen.
Actress Margot Kidder (best known for her Lois Lane portrayals in the Superman series of movie) appeared on camera several times. She made a joke out of how Spielberg had begun to fib about his age, once he became famous. She had known him before his sudden notoriety, so she noticed it when he went from being older than her to being younger. Kidder claimed Spielberg was fudging his birth date by a couple of years.
Well, flashing back on my absurd jealousy to do with Spielberg’s rise to stardom, when he was supposedly younger than me, I had to laugh out loud. Then I looked up Spielberg’s age on the Internet. He’s older than both Margot (who died in 2018) and me.
So, I searched for more on the age-change and found some old articles about “Jaws” and Spielberg. Yes, it looks like Kidder was right. Back in the ‘70s, perhaps to play up the Boy Wonder aspect of the story, Spielberg’s birth date was being massaged. Somewhere along the line, since then, it looks like it got straightened out.
The point?
Well, laughing at one’s own foolishness is usually a healthy exercise. Yes, and when the laugh has been aging for over three decades, it can be more satisfying. After all, before "Jaws," or after, what's ever been more typical of Tinsel Town’s way of presenting itself to the public than making up harmless fibs about their celebrities' backgrounds.
Especially about their age ... same as it ever was.
All rights reserved by the artist/writer, F.T. Rea.
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