WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE TO GO BACK IN THE WATER…

Fifty years ago, a 28-year-old filmmaker changed the way the world looked at the ocean. His name: Steven Spielberg. His film, known in Brazil as Tubarão, was simply called Jaws.

Before Jaws, the American summer meant catching waves, taking vacations, and relaxing by the sea. But that enormous mechanical shark shattered our peace, and in doing so, gave us one of the most thrilling movie experiences in history, filling theaters around the world with screams and applause.

Released in 1975, Jaws didn’t just terrify audiences; it revolutionized Hollywood. It created the concept of the summer blockbuster, forever changing how major studios produced, marketed, and distributed films. The era of “high-concept cinema”, big ideas, bigger budgets, and unforgettable taglines was born.

Now, to celebrate the film’s 50th anniversary, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles is paying tribute with a spectacular new exhibition: “Jaws: The Exhibition.”

The show features more than 200 original artifacts, behind-the-scenes photos, storyboards, props, production equipment, and interactive displays spread across six immersive sections. Visitors can see the two versions of the Amity Island billboard (before and after the shark attacks), step aboard a recreation of the Orca’s cabin and stern, and marvel at the Panavision underwater camera used to film the shark’s chilling underwater shots. And, of course, greeting everyone at the entrance is “Bruce”, the original mechanical shark that terrified generations.

Unlike many of the young fans now discovering the film through this exhibition, I was lucky enough to see Jaws when it first premiered. At the time, I wore a beard, glasses, and had curly hair, not unlike Richard Dreyfuss, who played the marine biologist Hooper.

When the lights came up at the old Roxi Cinema IN Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, after that first screening, a few people actually thought I was him. I walked out of the theater feeling absurdly proud.

Years later, I had the chance to interview Dreyfuss. We took a photo together, both of us nearly bald and beardless by then. He could have been my brother.

The exhibition runs at the Academy Museum until July 26, 2026.

If you find yourself in Los Angeles, don’t miss it. It’s not just a tribute to a film, it’s a celebration of the moment cinema learned how to truly make us afraid to go back in the water.