The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures opened a 50th anniversary exhibition of Steven Spielberg’s 1975 blockbuster Jaws on Sunday, showcasing more than 200 artifacts from the film and marking the institution’s first full show dedicated to a single picture since the museum opened in 2021.
The exhibit takes visitors through the film’s three acts with relics and recreations from virtually every scene, and will run through July. The museum, operated by the organization that awards the Oscars, held a media preview attended by Spielberg and accompanied by a 68-piece orchestra performing John Williams’ score.
“I’m just so proud of the work they’ve done,” Spielberg, now 78, said after touring the show. He called the exhibition “awesome” and said it demonstrates that filmmaking is “really truly a collaborative art form.” Museum director Amy Homma said the show is “a very historic initiative for us” and announced plans for a full Spielberg retrospective in 2028.
Many of the items are original production pieces. The only surviving full-scale mechanical shark from the production, 25 feet long and nicknamed "Bruce," has hung permanently over the museum escalators since the institution opened and is a central element of the new exhibit. Other objects on display include a buoy kept for decades by a marine mechanic who worked on the film, a dorsal fin prop, a real great white shark jaw used as a reference, and cameras used by cinematographer Bill Butler.
The presentation blends behind-the-scenes artifacts with interactive features. Visitors can play John Williams’ two-note motif on a keyboard, operate a small scale model of the mechanical sharks, step into a recreated galley of the Orca where Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss and Robert Shaw shared scenes, and mount their phone on a dolly-zoom setup to recreate one of the film’s most famous shots.
Curators arranged the show chronologically to reflect the film’s three-act structure, and included equipment and documents from both sides of the camera: a Moviola used by editor Verna Fields, casting paperwork from Shari Rhodes, and pages from the writers’ room, which included work by Peter Benchley, the author of the novel that inspired the film.
Spielberg recalled the production as a test of endurance for a then-26-year-old director. The shoot was plagued by mechanical failures, unfavorable weather and delays that extended filming by roughly 100 days, he said. Crew members battled seasickness and long periods of inactivity between setups, he added, but the camaraderie of the team kept the production on track.
“My hubris was we could take a Hollywood crew and go out 12 miles into the Atlantic Ocean and shoot an entire movie with a mechanical shark,” Spielberg said. “I just really was not ready to endure the amount of obstacles that were thrown in our path, starting with Mother Nature.” He said the film cost him “a pound of flesh” but delivered “a ton of career.”
The exhibit arrives amid wider commemorations of Jaws’ five-decade cultural impact, including a theatrical re-release staged the week before the museum opening. Museum officials said the display underscores the film’s role in defining the institution—Bruce the shark has been described by staff as an unofficial mascot that helped shape the museum’s identity since its 2021 debut.
The show aims to draw both longtime fans and new audiences by combining original artifacts, technical material that highlights the collaborative craft of filmmaking, and hands-on experiences that demonstrate how specific effects and editing choices contributed to the film’s suspense. The Academy Museum said the exhibition will remain on view through July as part of a season of programming that celebrates landmark American films and filmmakers.