To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jaws this month, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment has just released a new 4K copy of the iconic Steven Spielberg film. The 50th Anniversary edition comes as either a standard 4K with a slipcover or a new SteelBook with some great cover art. There’s even an addition Blu-ray disc with this edition that includes the new Jaws @ 50 documentary. I’ve been able to check out a copy firsthand and this is genuinely an all-around great release. The issue, however, is that it doesn’t exactly feel necessary.
Again, the Jaws 50th Anniversary 4K is an awesome release in its own right, so this isn’t any criticism of the product itself. But outside of the inclusion of the Jaws @ 50 doc, there’s no real reason for any fans who already have a copy of Jaws on 4K to purchase this one.
For example, I have the 45th Anniversary 4K of Jaws that was put out back in 2020. That comes in sturdy box with a pretty lenticular cover. It’s got a booklet with concept art, photos, and writing about the film. The disc includes the heavily praised restoration of Jaws and a slew of special features.
Five years later, Universal releases the 50th Anniversary Edition, where the only upgrade of any kind is the documentary. The restoration is the same (still absolutely brilliant), there aren’t any new features, and the standard slipcover isn’t anything special, certainly not compared to the previous release. If you’re a SteelBook collector, there may be some value to you in purchasing that version of this release, but that’s it.
A lot of people have asked the same question of the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World trilogies that also got new 4K SteelBook releases this week. At least with those there’s the addition of Dolby Vision, which wasn’t present on the previous collections. Between that and the new SteelBooks, it’s a little easier to justify making another purchase.
To Universal’s credit, the Jaws 50th Anniversary 4K isn’t being listed for a high price point. The standard version is currently less than $23 on Amazon, just a couple dollars more than a copy of the 45th Anniversary Edition and about $6 more than the regular Jaws 4K. It’s not going to set you back much if you’re a die hard collector of the film and want to get every new copy. And it may be worth it to you to spend that in order to get the documentary and sell the previous copy you bought.
Now if you’re new to the 4K Blu-ray game and don’t already have Jaws, this is certainly a purchase worth your money and time. The point of this article isn’t to discourage anyone from buying Jaws — it’s one of the greatest movies of all time and physical media is never a bad investment if you love the films you’re buying.
I’m simply just trying to say that, as time goes on, the movies we love most are going to continue having big anniversaries and studios are going to be tempted to re-release new editions of the 4Ks and Blu-rays every time — just think about what’ll happen when some of these iconic early Hollywood films start hitting the century mark in the next decade or so. My hope is that, if this is going to be the play for these movies going forward, at least make the new releases worthwhile for longtime collectors. Include some new features! Get crazy with the packaging! Throw in a classic poster or two!
Those of us that love physical media and adore these movies are going to keep spending money on them, you just have to keep giving us a reason to do so.
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