When I was young I loved the game of Jaws, it was a lot like Buckaroo with the exception of balancing items on a saddle, you placed items in the shark’s mouth then took it in turns to hook them out, but be careful, one false move and those jaws may snap.
Time moved on, as I earned money, it was time to revisit my youth so I did what any movie fan can do these days, head over to eBay and sure enough, on occasions you can get the game of Jaws.
Of course, eBay is not like a normal shop, its an auction so it did take me a few times but eventually I won a bid and memories of my youth came back to me, via the postman.
Thinking back however, other than badges, the game of Jaws was pretty much the centrepiece for a Jaws fan on its release!
How things have changed, If a film becomes a fan favourite, merchandise will follow! Jaws even has some great action figures including the shark via Funko
You can see the range Here
The film has gone from VHS to Laser Disc to DVD to BluRay! I myself own the 20th anniversary DVD and the BluRay edition
Thanks to Social Media targeting, every other day an advert is put in front of me for all sorts of other Jaws items, from T shirts to Posters
The film has a fantastic coffee table book called Memories of Martha’s Vineyard, with articles and 100’s of picture which all Jaws film fans will love.
More info on the book Here
When the original film came out, just as good but not as comprehensive, were the making of Jaws Paperback and Carl Gottlieb’s fantastic ‘The Jaws Log’ book, he wrote at the time (again both of which I own having found on eBay) althouth Carl’s book is easier to find, as it also recieved an Anniversary updated reprint.
You can also get a replica of Jaws himself, check out www.facebook.com/sharkcityozark for examples of their work
Of course, board games have moved on to Computer games now and even App’s to play the game on your phone or tablet, so you don’t even need the computer.
These merchandising ideas have even been great for the board companies, who have seen profits change by having film tie-ins and attracting an audience who they may have lost/missed out on.
Lego being the prime example, struggling they joined forces with George Lucas to release Star Wars themed sets and profits changed almost immediately!
So much so, Lego has looked for other franchises from The Hobbit to Ghostbusters and Back to the Future, and not forgetting their own range from their own box office movie!
But board games have been revived as well! Examples include Star Wars Monopoly; Lord of the Rings chess set; A Transformers version of the Game of Risk; James Bond Scalextric; Cluedo changed to include Scooby Doo and the Mystery gang as the clue solvers and even Operation but with the human patient now a Despicable Me Minion!
To complete the story, the original game Battleship then became a movie which then saw the game reissued as the Battleship movie edition.
It’s great there are now so many ways we can enjoy our favourite movie after the film from the toys and games to Social Media/Comic Conventions where we can share our love of the film with other like minded fans.
Our youth is also coming back to us via the movies, following the success of The Smurfs, we have a movie from Dreamworks Animation based on Trolls. View the trailer Here
Taking a page out of Lego’s book, a Playmobil movie is also now in development. Hasbro are also, following battleship are looking at their options, could be see a Monopoly or Hungry, Hungry Hippos movie soon?
Have you a Movie based toy or game from your younger days that you loved? What film would you like to see more merchandise for? What merchandise ideas do you think companies are missing out on?
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