# Jaws 3-D
**Jaws 3-D** (also released as *Jaws III*) is a 1983 American horror thriller directed by Joe Alves, the third film in the Jaws series, in which a 35-foot great white shark becomes trapped inside the SeaWorld theme park in [Orlando, Florida](https://www.edgepedia.org/orlando-florida), and the sons of police chief Martin Brody must rescue the visitors and staff.[1](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0085750/credits/) It was the first Jaws film shot in stereoscopic 3-D, using the Arrivision single-camera split-lens system, and it opened nationwide in the United States on 22 July 1983.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/57994)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | 22 July 1983, nationwide; Los Angeles premiere 17 July, Orlando premiere 21 July[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/57994) |
| Director | Joe Alves, production designer of the first two Jaws films, in his directorial debut[3](https://www.academymuseum.org/en/programs/detail/designing-jaws-with-joe-alves-0a9c9de5-1ff2-08d9-a84a-f7b53241a78f) |
| Cast | Dennis Quaid (Mike Brody), Bess Armstrong, Simon MacCorkindale, Louis Gossett Jr., Lea Thompson[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/57994) |
| Format | Filmed in Arrivision 3-D with a single camera and split lens; additional 3-D by Stereovision; Dolby Stereo in selected theaters[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/57994) • [4](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/57994-JAWS-3-D?cp=1&cxt=Filmography2&pos=9&sid=6c520935-2b20-46b8-9624-55afee56ec27&sr=0.15918642) |
| Box office | Domestic opening $13,422,500; domestic total $45,517,055; worldwide $87,987,055[1](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0085750/credits/) |
| Critical standing | 10% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 40 reviews[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jaws_3) |
| Rating and length | PG; 98 minutes[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/57994) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and setting
The film abandons the small-town Amity Island setting of the first two entries for a souped-up, futuristic version of Sea World in Florida. A team of water skiers performs at the park while a great white shark swims just below the surface. Park owner Calvin Bouchard ([Louis Gossett Jr.](https://www.edgepedia.org/louis-gossett-jr)) has just unveiled the Undersea Kingdom, an attraction of four plexiglass viewing tunnels, a control center, and the Neptune Room restaurant and lounge.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/57994) Workers capture a young great white, but a much larger mother shark then enters the park in search of its offspring, and marine biologist Kathryn Morgan ([Bess Armstrong](https://www.edgepedia.org/bess-armstrong)), engineer Mike Brody ([Dennis Quaid](https://www.edgepedia.org/dennis-quaid)), and a pair of dolphins must fight it.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jaws_3)
Mike and Sean Brody are the sons of police chief Martin Brody from the earlier films; [Roy Scheider](https://www.edgepedia.org/roy-scheider) declined to return for a third installment.[6](https://www.ruthlessreviews.com/movies/jaws-3-d-1983/) The screenplay is credited to [Richard Matheson](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-matheson) and Carl Gottlieb, from a story by Guerdon Trueblood, and the film is suggested by [Peter Benchley](https://www.edgepedia.org/peter-benchley)'s novel *Jaws*.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/57994) • [1](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0085750/credits/)
## Development
The project began very differently. In April 1979, Variety announced a planned joint production by [Universal Pictures](https://www.edgepedia.org/universal-pictures) and National Lampoon magazine titled *Jaws 3, People 0*, a parody of the studio's shark franchise, with the scenario written by National Lampoon president Matty Simmons, who intended to pick three of the magazine's editors as screenwriters.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/57994) The studio reportedly did not want to turn Jaws into a deliberate joke, and the parody was scrapped.[7](https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/jumping-the-shark-remembering-jaws-3-d-on-its-40th-anniversary)
**From television to 3-D feature.** The film that emerged was originally intended as a television production with a modest budget. Joe Alves, who had been production designer on *Jaws* and production designer, associate producer, and second unit director on *Jaws 2*, saw the project as his chance to direct and convinced Sid Sheinberg and MCA chairman Lew Wasserman to make it a 3-D theatrical film instead.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/57994) • [3](https://www.academymuseum.org/en/programs/detail/designing-jaws-with-joe-alves-0a9c9de5-1ff2-08d9-a84a-f7b53241a78f) By September 1982 the film had an advertising campaign that predated its finished screenplay.[4](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/57994-JAWS-3-D?cp=1&cxt=Filmography2&pos=9&sid=6c520935-2b20-46b8-9624-55afee56ec27&sr=0.15918642)
## The 3-D process
Jaws 3-D arrived in the middle of an early-1980s 3-D revival that also included *Friday the 13th Part 3* (1982) and *Amityville 3-D* (1983).[8](https://digilib.stekom.ac.id/assets/dokumen/ebook/feb_5cb1aa0d1080c4d794bc0a8a0df7f606c1758702_1652283842.pdf) According to production notes in the AMPAS library files, a new three-dimensional system was developed for the picture that required only one camera with a split lens, rather than the traditional two-camera setup, which kept costs down.[4](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/57994-JAWS-3-D?cp=1&cxt=Filmography2&pos=9&sid=6c520935-2b20-46b8-9624-55afee56ec27&sr=0.15918642) • [9](https://nixpixdvdmoviereviewsandmore.blogspot.com/2016/06/jaws-3-blu-ray-universal-1983-universal.html?showComment=1466397352755) The AFI catalog lists the film as shot in Arrivision 3-D with additional 3-D by Stereovision.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/57994)
The choice of system was contested. Producer Rupert Hitzig had planned to use the Optimax III system, but a redesign by [Panavision](https://www.edgepedia.org/panavision) caused delays and prevented its use, so production provisionally used StereoVision.[10](https://www.filmatlas.com/entry/271) Stereoscopic consultant Daniel Symmes, whose [Dimension](https://www.edgepedia.org/dimension) 3 system won a 3-D "bakeoff" of competing systems in 1982, later said the Arriflex system ultimately used produced poor image quality, including chromatic aberration, made worse by what he called lazy and improper lighting.[11](https://www.jaws-3d.com/blog/?p=1700) The film was shot with two separate 3-D camera systems, and any differences between them had to be corrected in printing.[12](https://stereoworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/SW_V10_4.pdf)
**Production troubles.** [Principal photography](https://www.edgepedia.org/principal-photography) began 11 October 1982 in Orlando and continued into January 1983, with some work in San Diego.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/57994) An article in the 31 January 1983 Daily Variety stated that the first nine days' worth of film were rejected because of inadequate results using the "Optomax" system.[4](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/57994-JAWS-3-D?cp=1&cxt=Filmography2&pos=9&sid=6c520935-2b20-46b8-9624-55afee56ec27&sr=0.15918642) Alves nevertheless completed photography in eighty-five days, thirty of them devoted to underwater scenes, and later said the process was better suited to narrow objects, remarking that the effects would have worked better with a barracuda than a shark.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/57994)
## Release and box office
The general release was preceded by the syndicated one-hour television special *The Making of Jaws 3-D: Sharks Don't Die*, produced by Alan Landsburg Productions and sold to 108 American television stations, with narration by Louis Gossett Jr.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/57994) The film opened nationwide on 22 July 1983 in 1,300 theaters and earned a domestic opening weekend of $13,422,500, which was the second-highest-grossing opening weekend of 1983.[1](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0085750/credits/) The Los Angeles Herald-Examiner reported it as the most successful opening in Universal Pictures' history and the second biggest opening of the summer, behind only *Return of the Jedi*.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/57994)
The run then fell away quickly: weekly grosses dropped 46 percent in the second weekend and the film finished with a domestic total of $45,517,055 and a worldwide total of $87,987,055 by [Box Office Mojo](https://www.edgepedia.org/box-office-mojo)'s accounting.[1](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0085750/credits/) The Numbers records slightly different totals, $42,245,180 domestic and $84,715,180 worldwide.[13](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Jaws-3-D-%281983%29) Either way the film earned far less than *Jaws 2* ($208,900,376 worldwide) and the original ($497,900,923 worldwide), a pattern of diminishing returns across the series.[14](https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Jaws)
## Reception and legacy
Reviews were mixed to negative on release, with several critics declaring the film a failure as a horror film.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/57994) The Washington Post's review was titled "Toothless 'Jaws'" and argued that the cardboard polarizing glasses reduced both image size and illumination, making the experience resemble watching movies through a nickelodeon.[15](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1983/07/23/toothless-jaws/7584cc6f-f108-4fbc-bac7-95dee2295059/) British critics in the trade press called the film "a gimmick" and "like a visit to the theme park."[16](https://research-portal.uea.ac.uk/files/22750863/A_technician_s_dream_Critical_Reception_of_3D_in_Britain_HJFRT_32_2_2012_245_65.pdf) The film later received multiple Razzie nominations for its slow pace, weak plot, excessive characters, and the shark's minimal presence.[17](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/jaws-3-d/?ftag=MCD-06-10aaa1c) Its Rotten Tomatoes score stands at 10 percent from 40 reviews.[5](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jaws_3)
**The 2-D conversion problem.** The film was shot in 3-D but converted to 2-D for home video and television. Because the 3-D process placed the left-eye and right-eye images on a single strip of film, the conversion used only the left-eye half of the frame, leaving the 2-D version with poor image quality and visibly degraded composite shots.[18](https://soundsofcinema.com/review-archive/review-jaws-3-d-1983/) A 3-D viewing option later appeared on the Blu-ray edition.[18](https://soundsofcinema.com/review-archive/review-jaws-3-d-1983/)
The film's reputation has settled into camp. Retrospective accounts call it a guilty pleasure with a memorable glass-breaking scene, and note that its SeaWorld premise, in which a park willingly houses a dangerous predator, anticipated the theme-park-gone-wrong logic of *Jurassic Park*.[19](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/thriller-movies/best-shark-movies/) • [7](https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/jumping-the-shark-remembering-jaws-3-d-on-its-40th-anniversary) It was followed by one more sequel, *Jaws: The Revenge* (1987), the last film made under the official franchise banner.[6](https://www.ruthlessreviews.com/movies/jaws-3-d-1983/)
## References
1. [Jaws 3-D (1983), Box Office Mojo](https://www.boxofficemojo.com/title/tt0085750/credits/)
2. [Jaws 3-D (1983), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/57994)
3. [Designing Jaws with Joe Alves, Academy Museum](https://www.academymuseum.org/en/programs/detail/designing-jaws-with-joe-alves-0a9c9de5-1ff2-08d9-a84a-f7b53241a78f)
4. [Jaws 3-D, AFI Catalog (full history page)](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/57994-JAWS-3-D?cp=1&cxt=Filmography2&pos=9&sid=6c520935-2b20-46b8-9624-55afee56ec27&sr=0.15918642)
5. [Jaws III, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/jaws_3)
6. [Jaws 3-D (1983), Ruthless Reviews](https://www.ruthlessreviews.com/movies/jaws-3-d-1983/)
7. [When Jaws Jumped the Shark? Remembering Wild Sequel Jaws 3-D On its 40th Anniversary, SYFY WIRE](https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/jumping-the-shark-remembering-jaws-3-d-on-its-40th-anniversary)
8. [The Filmmaker's Handbook, 2013 Edition](https://digilib.stekom.ac.id/assets/dokumen/ebook/feb_5cb1aa0d1080c4d794bc0a8a0df7f606c1758702_1652283842.pdf)
9. [JAWS 3: Blu-ray review, NixPix](https://nixpixdvdmoviereviewsandmore.blogspot.com/2016/06/jaws-3-blu-ray-universal-1983-universal.html?showComment=1466397352755)
10. [FILM ATLAS, entry 271](https://www.filmatlas.com/entry/271)
11. [Interview with Daniel Symmes (Dimension 3), Jaws 3D fan site](https://www.jaws-3d.com/blog/?p=1700)
12. [Stereoworld, Vol. 10 No. 4](https://stereoworld.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/SW_V10_4.pdf)
13. [Jaws 3-D (1983), The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Jaws-3-D-%281983%29)
14. [Jaws Franchise Box Office History, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movies/franchise/Jaws)
15. [Toothless 'Jaws', The Washington Post, 22 July 1983](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1983/07/23/toothless-jaws/7584cc6f-f108-4fbc-bac7-95dee2295059/)
16. [A Technician's Dream? The Critical Reception of 3-D Films in Britain, Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television](https://research-portal.uea.ac.uk/files/22750863/A_technician_s_dream_Critical_Reception_of_3D_in_Britain_HJFRT_32_2_2012_245_65.pdf)
17. [Jaws 3-D Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/jaws-3-d/?ftag=MCD-06-10aaa1c)
18. [Review: Jaws 3-D (1983), Sounds of Cinema](https://soundsofcinema.com/review-archive/review-jaws-3-d-1983/)
19. [The 10 best shark movies to bite into this summer, GamesRadar](https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/thriller-movies/best-shark-movies/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Franchise and series entries as standalone works › Horror and slasher series film entries › 1970s and 1980s releases*
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