History Trivia / JawsTheRevenge

** However, rumors are swimming around about a remake of Jaws.
* HarpoDoesSomethingFunny: As the script was a work-in-progress, Mario Van Peebles wrote most of his own dialogue.

* RealLifeRelative: Mario Van Peebles' father Creator/MelvinVanPeebles has a cameo in the film as Nassau's mayor.

** Creator/RoyScheider was originally asked to reprise his role as Martin Brody, but he flat-out refused to come back when he saw that his character was there just to be killed off in the first minutes. That's right - Sean's death scene was originally intended for Martin.

* TroubledProduction: Surprisingly enough, the film almost managed to avert this trope... ''almost''.
** Universal was in a financial rough patch after a disastrous slate of films during 1986, headlined by ''Film/HowardTheDuck''. CEO Sid Sheinberg, who noted the strong box office of ''Jaws 3D'' despite tepid reviews, ordered a new ''Jaws'' film fast-tracked into production to hopefully give a boost to the company's financial position.
** The problem was that producer-director Joseph Sargent was only given ''ten months'' from pre-production to release date. This resulted in a hastily written, hastily filmed production that Sargent later described as "a ticking time-bomb". While the process of filming was mostly free of trouble (and unlike prior films, within the budget), it still went over the allotted time due to storms and prevented Creator/MichaelCaine from accepting an Oscar he won for ''Film/HannahAndHerSisters''.
** Then the studio demanded the ending be reshot for international releases and home video due to test audiences having a negative reaction to the original US theatrical ending, allegedly refusing to give the production money to do so properly. This resulted in the infamous and widely mocked exploding shark ending, along with a big case of NotQuiteDead from a character last seen being chewed on by the shark.

* BoxOfficeBomb: This ''Jaws'' film was the first and only one to fail in American theaters, grossing $20,763,013 against a $20 million budget and an additional $3 million in marketing costs.

* BoxOfficeBomb: This ''Jaws'' film was the first and only one to fail in American theaters, grossing $20,763,013 against a $20 million budget and an additional $3 million in marketing costs. But it made enough money internationally to make more than its budget back (albeit just ''barely'').

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Murray Hamilton was asked to return as Mayor Vaughn, but died before any serious work began on the screenplay.

* {{Blooper}}: Hoagie infamously re-emerges from the water with a completely dry shirt in one scene.

* OrphanedReference: Hoagie's line about doing his laundry refers to a deleted subplot involving him smuggling drugs onto the island. The scenes were shot, then deleted during post-production, because it took away from the film's main premise involving the shark. It's fully detailed in the film's novelization.

* GenreKiller: While previous ''Jaws'' sequels were cheesy and not as intense as the original ''Jaws'', this film solidified the reputation of killer shark movies as over-the-top camp horror. Few shark films have ever venture into drama and serious themes, and fewer still have reached favorable comparison to the Spielberg's timeless classic.

* ActorInspiredElement:
** Creator/JudithBarsi wore her own swimsuit.
** Mario Van Peebles wrote his own part.

* OrphanedReference: Hoagie's line about doing his laundry refers to a deleted subplot involving him smuggling drugs onto the island. The scenes were shot, then deleted during post-production, because it took away from the film's main premise involving the shark. It's fully detailed in the film's novelization.
* RealLifeRelative: Mario Van Peebles' father Melvin has a cameo in the film as Nassau's mayor.

* WorkingTitle: ''Jaws '87''.

* TroubledProduction: Surprisingly enough, the film almost managed to completely avert this trope: the shooting mostly went smoothly, the cast and crew had a friendly relationship and unlike its predecessors, it managed to come in within the budget...though not in the scheduled time-frame. The main issue that producer-director Joseph Sargent had was only being given ten months to write, film and edit the whole thing, resulting in a hastily thrown-together script, the effects team having to salvage and spruce-up the mechanical shark from the third film instead of creating an entirely new one, and production being briefly delayed by a tropical storm, causing filming to over-run and preventing Creator/MichaelCaine from accepting the Oscar he won for ''Film/HannahAndHerSisters''. The film was found to be over-long in editing, resulting in most of the backstory of Caine's character being cut. The studio disliked the original ending, and had it re-filmed to show the shark suddenly exploding for no reason after being impaled, and a character who had been mauled and dragged underwater by the shark somehow surviving with only minor injuries. The end result of all this was the film being a BoxOfficeBomb, the CreatorKiller for Sargent, a StarDerailingRole for lead actress Lorraine Gary and co-star Lance Guest, and causing temporary damage to the careers of Caine and supporting actor Mario Van Peebles.

* SparedByTheCut: Jake was supposed to die originally. Test audiences liked him, so the film was reshot to have him survive.

* ActorInspiredElement: Mario Van Peebles wrote his own part.

** Creator/RoyScheider was originally asked to reprise his role as Martin Brody, but he flat-out refused to come back when he saw that his character was there just to be killed off in the first minutes. That's right - Sean's death scene was originally intended for Martin. Murray Hamilton was also asked to appear, but died before any serious work began on the screenplay.

** The original script featured a cameo for Matt Hooper. In Hooper's scene, he calls the Brodys and is greeted on the phone by Thea, who knows him as "Uncle Matt". Hooper is established as being close to Michael and Carla, who calls him "my second favorite marine biologist", and he gives them his condolences about Sean's death. Hooper and Michael discuss their careers, the late Martin Brody, and Hooper's once spending Christmas with the family, with Martin dressed as Santa Claus. The scene ends when Michael heads off to summon Ellen to the phone to talk to Hooper.

* DawsonCasting: 9-year old Creator/JudithBarsi as 5-year old Thea Brody. (She had a growth deformity that made her look much younger than she was).
* DeletedScene: [[https://youtu.be/4m6jYi_rtpU Here]]

** Roy Scheider was originally asked to reprise his role as Martin Brody, but he flat-out refused to come back when he saw that his character was there just to be killed off in the first minutes. That's right - Sean's death scene was originally intended for Martin. Murray Hamilton was also asked to appear, but died before any serious work began on the screenplay.

* DawsonCasting: 9-year old Creator/JudithBarsi as 5-year old Thea Brody. (She had a growth deformity that made her look much younger than she was)

* TroubledProduction: Surprisingly enough, the film almost managed to completely avert this trope: the shooting mostly went smoothly, the cast and crew had a friendly relationship and unlike its predecessors, it managed to come in within the budget...though not in the scheduled time-frame. The main issue that producer-director Joseph Sargent had was only being given ten months to write, film and edit the whole thing, resulting in a hastily thrown-together script, the effects team having to salvage and spruce-up the mechanical shark from the third film instead of creating an entirely new one, and production being briefly delayed by a tropical storm, causing filming to over-run and preventing Creator/MichaelCaine from accepting the Oscar he won for ''Film/HannahAndHerSisters''. The film was found to be over-long in editing, resulting in most of the backstory of Caine's character being cut, along with a subplot establishing that the shark was attacking the Brody family due to a [[VoodooShark voodoo curse]]; while the voodoo subplot didn't fit at all with the prior films, its removal very conspicuously left no explanation of how or why a shark was targeting the Brodys, and doing so by swimming from New England to the Bahamas in just a couple of days. On top of that, the studio disliked the original ending, and had it re-filmed to show the shark suddenly exploding for no reason after being impaled, and a character who had been mauled and dragged underwater by the shark somehow surviving with only minor injuries. The end result of all this was the film being a BoxOfficeBomb, the CreatorKiller for Sargent, a StarDerailingRole for lead actress Lorraine Gary and co-star Lance Guest, and causing temporary damage to the careers of Caine and supporting actor Mario Van Peebles.

** Earlier drafts of the script (titled ''Jaws: The Return'') re-used the "kill the shark via electrocution" ending of ''Film/Jaws2'', which was likely changed due to the film-makers wanting something different, and the script depicting it in such a way that it would also have killed Ellen as well. Other drafts had the shark being the shark from the second film out for revenge, the offspring of the shark from the second film out for revenge, or a witch doctor using the shark as a tool for revenge. The witch doctor version was used in the novelization.

** Director Joseph Sargent did [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2k_TmFU7Ao an interview]] with the Television Academy in 2006 when he was questioned about making this film. He even admitted in retrospect that the "shark seeking revenge on the Brodys" idea was ludicrous. In another interview, he described the set as a "ticking time bomb" due to the compressed schedule and studio interference, which he said accounted for much of the film.

* MoneyDearBoy: Creator/MichaelCaine only appeared because of it. In an interview given around the time of the movie's release, Caine said that he enjoyed shooting in the Bahamas and working with his costars, particularly Lorraine Gary, but largely viewed the movie as a working vacation. He did later regret being in the Bahamas shooting it instead of picking up his Academy Award for ''Film/HannahAndHerSisters'' (though [[http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2026891,00.html he also points out]] that, due to the studio's sluggish promotion of ''Hannah'', he had little expectation that he'd actually ''win'', otherwise he might have planned his schedule more carefully). Even today he's never even seen the film -- but he assures that it paid for a lovely house! [[note]]Though, if it's any consolation, he was able to pick up his second Oscar for ''Film/TheCiderHouseRules''.[[/note]]

** Director Joseph Sargent did [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2k_TmFU7Ao an interview]] with the Television Academy in 2006 when he was questioned about making this film. He even admitted in retrospect that the "shark seeking revenge on the Brodys" idea was ludicrous.

* MoneyDearBoy: Creator/MichaelCaine only appeared because of it. In an interview given around the time of the movie's release, Caine said that he enjoyed shooting in the Bahamas and working with Lorraine Gary, but largely viewed the movie itself as a working vacation. He did later regret being in the Bahamas shooting it instead of picking up his Academy Award for ''Film/HannahAndHerSisters''. He's never even seen the film -- but he assures that it paid for a lovely house! [[note]]Though, if it's any consolation, he was able to pick up his second Oscar for ''Film/TheCiderHouseRules''.[[/note]]

** Director Joseph Sargent did an interview with the Television Academy in 2006 when he was questioned about making this film. Judging by his expressions while answering the question, it appears that he wasn't very fond of it either.

* MoneyDearBoy: Michael Caine only appeared because of it. In an interview given around the time of the movie's release, Caine said that he enjoyed shooting in the Bahamas and working with Lorraine Gary, but largely viewed the movie itself as a working vacation. He did later regret being in the Bahamas shooting it instead of picking up his Academy Award for ''Film/HannahAndHerSisters''. He's never even seen the film -- but he assures that it paid for a lovely house! [[note]]Though, if it's any consolation, he was able to pick up his second Oscar for ''Film/TheCiderHouseRules''.[[/note]]

** Michael Caine generally prefers not to acknowledge his involvement in the film. As mentioned above, he's never even watched it, but is well aware of its terrible reputation. Universal became aware of that reputation '''immediately''', and embraced it, allowing Steven Spielberg to launch a TakeThat to this movie in the second ''Back To The Future'' film.

* GenreKiller: While previous ''Jaws'' sequels were cheesy and not as intense as the original ''Jaws'', this film solidified the reputation of killer shark movies as over-the-top camp horror. Few shark films have ever venture into drama and serious waters, and fewer still have reached favorable comparison to the Spielberg's timeless classic.