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'Jaws' wrote Hollywood's summer playbook

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Theaters hope this summer reverses box office slide

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'Jurassic World,' 'Thunderbolts' coming to theaters soon

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Cinemas face competition from at-home streaming services

By Lisa Richwine and Rollo Ross

LAS VEGAS, April 4 (Reuters) - A half-century ago, in

June 1975, "Jaws" swam into theaters, gave audiences a good

scare and rewrote movie history.

The shark thriller became the first summer blockbuster with

a playbook that Hollywood studios still follow today.

"Jaws" was heavily marketed, creating buzz that positioned

the movie as a must-see event. It became a runaway hit that

changed the career of its young director, 26-year-old Steven

Spielberg, and shifted the scheduling of movies.

"Before 'Jaws,' there wasn't really a well-defined summer

movie season," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior movie analyst at

Comscore.

"You could have big movies coming out at any time of the

year, but there was never a season that encapsulated what young

people wanted to do in the summer, which was go to the movie

theater," he added. "It really changed everything."

"Star Wars" took the same path in the summer of 1977,

hitting screens over the U.S. Memorial Day weekend. Spielberg

debuted his first "Indiana Jones" movies in June of 1981.

Now, Hollywood packs many of its most ambitious movies into

theaters from the first weekend in May through Labor Day in

September.

That season accounts for roughly 40% of the annual box

office returns in the United States and Canada. In 2024,

domestic theaters generated $3.7 billion in ticket sales during

that time.

"The summer is what we look forward to in the movie

business," said Doreen Sayegh, owner and operator of the

five-screen Cranford Theater in New Jersey. "It's when some of

the hottest movies, the biggest blockbusters come out, and kids

are home from school so we see a lot of families."

Hollywood is counting on this summer to reverse a downward

trend. Tickets sales in the United States and Canada are running

11% behind the same point last year, according to Comscore data,

and remain below pre-pandemic levels. Cinemas face competition

from at-home streaming services such as Netflix ( NFLX ).

BIG SUMMER BETS

This week, movie studios previewed their biggest summer bets

at CinemaCon, an annual gathering of theater owners in Las

Vegas. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer reminded the crowd that "Top

Gun: Maverick" brought in $1.5 billion worldwide in 2022.

"We're here to tell you that we're ready to do it again,"

Bruckheimer said, with Warner Bros action movie "F1"

starring Brad Pitt as a Formula 1 driver. "We believe this is

going to be the cinematic event of the summer."

"F1," scheduled for June, is among the few big-budget

original movies in a slate of sequels, reboots and franchises.

Walt Disney's ( DIS ) Marvel Studios previewed

"Thunderbolts," the story of an irreverent team of superheroes

starring Florence Pugh, David Harbour and Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

"Thunderbolts" will kick off the summer movie season in May, and

Marvel will follow-up with "The Fantastic Four: First Steps" in

July.

Warner Bros touted its new "Superman" directed by

"Guardians of the Galaxy" filmmaker James Gunn. Actor David

Corenswet will don the famous red cape for the first time, part

of the studio's latest attempt to reinvigorate the DC Comics

movies.

Comcast's ( CMCSA ) Universal Pictures promoted a new

dinosaur movie, "Jurassic World: Rebirth," starring Scarlett

Johansson and Jonathan Bailey.

One of cinema's biggest champions, Tom Cruise, teased

"Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning," the film that may

be his last in the action franchise.

FAMILY FILMS AND ACTION

Sayegh said she was optimistic about upcoming family movies

including a new "Smurfs," a live-action remake of "How to Train

Your Dragon" and "The SpongeBob Movie: Search for SquarePants."

Family films have been some of the top performers at cineplexes

in recent years.

She also was impressed by the trailer for "Mission:

Impossible." This summer, "there's a lot at once, a lot of

adrenaline. I'm pretty excited over the slate I've seen."

Other cinema operators welcomed the full schedule after

disruptions from the pandemic and the 2023 Hollywood strikes,

though some complained that studios should space the movies out

more. "F1," for example, comes out just five days before

"Jurassic World."

As people weigh their summer entertainment options,

Republican U.S. President Donald Trump's tariffs have sparked

fears of a global economic downturn. Any economic uncertainty

from federal policies could create a challenge for the movie

business, said Michael O'Leary, president and CEO of trade

organization Cinema United.

"We're an industry which thrives on people having

discretionary income," O'Leary said. "When there is uncertainty

in the economic markets, for any reason, people tend to not use

that discretionary income as much as they otherwise would."

When Hollywood starts to compile this summer's receipts, a

familiar star will return to the big screen. Universal plans to

re-release "Jaws" in theaters in late August to celebrate its

50th anniversary.