Following the success of Steven Spielberg’s 1975 cinematic masterpiece Jaws, which captivated audiences with its tense and frightening portrayal of a great white shark terrorizing a beach town, the movie became an inspiration for upcoming thrillers. But there was one film in particular that shockingly used Jaws as a humorous dig.
Well, in 1978, after Universal Studios released the sequel to Jaws, director Joe Dante came up with Piranha, which was a playful parody version of Steven Spielberg’s suspenseful thriller. Taking a humorous approach, exaggerating the dangers of a school of deadly piranhas, the movie deliberately departed from Jaws’ serious and suspenseful tone.
However, Joe Dante’s campy spoof movie seemingly annoyed Universal Studios, which almost led to a lawsuit, until Steven Spielberg intervened to save the day.
Joe Dante Took a Playful Dig at Steven Spielberg’s Jaws
Three years after the global success of Steven Spielberg‘s 1975 thriller, Jaws, Universal Studios planned to release a sequel to the masterpiece. However, as the studio came up with Jaws 2 in 1978, renowned film director Joe Dante simultaneously released a horror/thriller that playfully parodied the suspenseful thriller Jaws.
Coming up with Piranha, filmmaker Joe Dante and producer Roger Corma poked fun at the fears and anxieties that made Jaws a cultural phenomenon. While Steven Spielberg’s cult classic captivated fans with the frightening story of a shark terrorizing a beach town, Dante’s parody exaggerated the dangers of deadly piranhas.
Although the Piranha franchise later turned out to be a renowned film series, the 1978 film was certainly a spoof movie, and its box office collection is proof of it. According to The Numbers, while Steven Spielberg’s Jaws earned $483M worldwide, Piranha bagged a global collection of $320.
Steven Spielberg Saved Piranha from Universal Studio
However, ahead of the declaration of box office collection, as Joe Dante’s Piranha hit the theatres alongside Jaws 2, Universal Studios took the film a little too seriously. Considering it a competition at the box office, given that the two films share a similar genre and concept, the studio seemingly pursued an injunction against Piranha.
That’s when Steven Spielberg had to step in and save the day. According to the documentary movie Sharksploitation via EW, Joe Dante explained how Universal Studios was hell-bent on dragging him and his film to the court when Spielberg intervened and allowed the Jaws parody to see the light of day.
The second Jaws movie had come out right around the time of Piranha. Universal was very concerned and annoyed that Roger was putting out his rip-off of Jaws the same year that Jaws 2 was coming out and so they apparently threatened an injunction.
I discovered much later that Spielberg had stepped in and said: ‘No, you don’t get it, this is a spoof, this isn’t really a rip-off’, although it is a rip-off. And we basically got away with it, I guess is the phrase.
In a surprising turn of events, Steven Spielberg went against Universal Studios to preserve the parody of his iconic film Jaws. Instead of feeling outraged by Joe Dante’s spoof, Spielberg took it sportingly and even protected it from getting dragged to the courtroom. The acclaimed filmmaker’s bold move ultimately allowed the likes of James Cameron to associate with the Piranha franchise.
Jaws movies are available on Prime Video.
Piranha is available on Prime Video.
