11 Movies That Shamelessly Ripped Off 'Jaws'
Forty years after its release (on June 20,1975), "Jaws" often takes the blame for spawning the soulless summer blockbuster, a charge that's not entirely fair, given the Steven Spielberg film's surprisingly personal artistry. But you can blame it for launching a decades-long wave of toothy imitators.
It wasn't just all the shark movies, from "Open Water" to SyFy's "Sharknado" franchise. There were also films that took place far from the ocean. "Alien" got made because it was pitched as "'Jaws' in space." Lion-hunting thriller "The Ghost and the Darkness" was dubbed "'Jaws' with paws." And those are just the pedigreed imitators. What of the even more gloriously exploitative knock-offs? (And we don't just mean the three "Jaws" sequels.)
In honor of Spielberg's classic celebrating its 40th anniversary this week, here are 10 of the "Jaws" rip-offs homages that will give you a chuckle over their cheerful cynicism -- and might also just scare the Speedos off you.