Jaws The Revenge’s Original First Victim Would Have Completely Changed The Franchise

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Jaws: The Revenge has earned a reputation as one of the worst films Hollywood has ever made — however, the original plan for the shark’s first victim would have changed the way many fans viewed the Jaws franchise entirely. After the mixed results of Jaws 3D in 1983, the Jaws series looked to be over. A few years later though Universal Studios was in financial difficulties and needed a quick hit, fast-tracking Jaws '87 (as it was originally known) for a summer release. The script was hastily put together in five weeks, but it wasn't finished before shooting began. During this time, one of the first ideas mooted for Jaws 4 had a different character as the shark's first kill.

Jaws: The Revenge's ludicrous premise has a great white shark specifically terrorizing the Brody family, seemingly out for revenge for Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) killing the sharks in Jaws and Jaws 2 (in the Jaws 4 novelization it's a voodoo curse, which is even sillier). As the now-infamous tagline says, "This time, it's personal." Audiences and critics though were unimpressed with the bizarre concept, shoddy filmmaking, and laughable creative decisions. The film was the lowest-grossing Jaws movie, leaving the franchise on a bum note from which it never recovered.

Related: Jaws: The Revenge Contains One Of The Franchise's Most Terrifying Scenes

Roy Scheider didn't want to be in Jaws 2 but was contractually obliged, and he made sure he was unavailable for Jaws 3D. Still, the producers hoped they could lure him back to the franchise with the promise that Chief Brody would be killed by the shark in the opening attack. This didn't sway Scheider though, and so the scene was changed to have Chief Brody's grown-up son, Sean (now a police deputy) be the