VIDEO: How Jaws invented the summer blockbuster

To celebrate its anniversary, Mark Evans describes the legacy of Spielberg’s shark movie - how it invented the summer blockbuster and made millions afraid to go in the water

LOOK up the list of the all-time biggest grossing films and you’ll find that Avatar still lords over all with a box office take of almost $2.8 billion.

Drill down into the list and you’ll find an anomaly nestled between 2012’s Wreck-It Ralph and last year’s The Lego Movie. It is a film that grossed $470.7m worldwide. Not bad for a movie released in 1975. Not bad for a movie that was the Avatar of its time, the biggest grossing film ever made until it lost its title to Star Wars. In today’s money its revenue would put it snapping at the heels of Avatar with a haul of about $2bn.