This Steven Spielberg Film, 48 Years Ago Was The 1st Film To Cross $100 Million Collection, Do You Know How Much Was The Profit? ( Photo Credit – Wikimedia; IMDb )
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The film business these days is more and more about numbers. Every day we count on some new records, some new figures, and some new statistics. But, amidst today’s fast-paced number game at the Box Office, we take you to the time when numbers were achieved not so quickly. They were derived slowly with each ticket sold, each parameter crossed. And so we thought to appreciate a little about the time when achieving numbers was altogether a different and much more difficult task!
So we take you back to 1975 when the number game on the millions and billions started at the Box Office. We talk about trade figures every day but do you know, when did the box office open its arms to welcome the first 100 million dollar earnings of a film?
Well, you would not be surprised by the name as it was none other than Steven Spielberg who achieved this milestone with his 1975 released film Jaws. The film was released on 20 June 1975, 48 years ago, on only on 20 June 1975, 48 years ago, on merely 464 screens initially, out of which 409 were in the US and the rest in Canada, according to a report in Guinness World Records.
While a report in The Numbers suggests that the film was made on a budget of $12 M, many other reports suggest that the Jaws was made on a budget of $9 M. However, it was reported that earlier, the film was allotted 55 days of shoot and a $3.5 M budget. But being the perfectionist Spielberg is, he shot for 159 days inflating the budget to an unimaginable number at that time.
However, none was sure that the horror film would boom at the Box Office like a miracle! Jaws opened to rave reviews with a collection of $7 M in its first weekend, paving the way for a shark number. It was the highest-grossing film ever at the time of its release, and the records were broken only after two years when Star Wars was released in 1977.
According to reported numbers in the Washington Post and The Numbers, Jaws earned a lifetime collection of $272,257,035 at the domestic Box Office and $482,947,378 at the Worldwide Box office. The film, which was made on a meagre budget of $9 M – $ 12 M, collected around $ 467.5 M in its lifetime. This ends up a profit of 5194% for the Steven Spielberg film.
The director made a lot of effort during the shoot. He made sure that the horror scenes in the film were good enough to send a shiver down everyone’s spine. The bone-chilling scenes of the thriller, based on a novel by Peter Benchley, also won accolades for its gut-wrenching soundtrack.
The film achieved the $ 100 million mark within 59 days of its release. After an initial release on less than 500 screens, the screen count increased after two months to 900 across North America. Jaws was followed by two sequels, none of which could touch the achievements grabbed by the first film. The film starred Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss, Lorraine Gary, and Murray Hamilton in the lead roles.
Note: Box office numbers are based on estimates and various sources. Numbers have not been independently verified by Koimoi.
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