Jaws (franchise)

Jaws is an American film series that started with a 1975 film that expanded into three sequels, a theme park ride, and other tiein merchandise, based on a 1974 novel. The main subject of the saga is a great white shark, and its attacks on people in specific areas of the United States. The Brody family is featured in all of the films as the primary antithesis to the shark. The original film was based on a novel written by Peter Benchley, which itself was inspired by the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916. Benchley would adapt his novel, along with help from Carl Gottlieb and Howard Sackler, into the 1975 film Jaws, which was directed by Steven Spielberg. Although Gottlieb would go on to pen two of the three sequels, neither Benchley nor Spielberg would return to the film series in any capacity.

The original Jaws, directed by Steven Spielberg, is based on Peter Benchleys novel of the same name. It tells the story of Police Chief Martin Brody portrayed by Roy Scheider of Amity Island a fictional summer resort town, in his quest to protect beachgoers from a great white shark by closing the beach. This is overruled by the town council, headed by the Mayor Murray Hamilton that wants the beach to remain open in order to sustain the local tourist economy. After several attacks, the Police Chief enlists the help of marine biologist Matt Hooper Richard Dreyfuss and a professional shark hunter, named Quint Robert Shaw. The three voyage out onto the ocean in Quints boat the Orca. The shark kills Quint, but Brody manages to destroy it by shooting at the highly pressurized air tank that he has wedged in its mouth. In the end, Brody and Hooper are seen swimming away from the sinking Orca, having both of them managed to survive uninjured the shark attack on the boat.The first sequel, Jaws 2, depicts the same town four years after the events of the original film, when another great white shark arrives on the shores of the fictional seaside resort of Amity Island. Directed by Jeannot Szwarc and starring Roy Scheider again as Police Chief Martin Brody, who, after a series of deaths and disappearances, suspects that the culprit is another shark. However, he has trouble convincing the towns selectmen. He has to act alone to save a group of teenagers, including his two sons, who encounter the shark whilst out sailing. ........

Source: Wikipedia