They say Hollywood is out of ideas thanks to endless retreads and a slavish devotion to known IP, but in all fairness, it’s been happening for decades. Jaws released in 1975 and dominated the summer box office, leading to sequels that just kept getting worse as they went on and eventually inspiring such cinematic masterpieces as Sharknado and The Meg. So long as there’s money to be made then there’s no idea that can’t be regurgitated, and that’s not even taking the licensing into account.
It’s not all bad, though, because even terrible movies like Johnny Mnemonic can be used as the basis for a great pinball machine. Somehow, though, in all these years Jaws has never had an official adaptation despite the original movie coming out during a relatively strong period in pinball’s history. If Elton John could get Capt. Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy, then Jaws should have had a table too.
That’s finally ready to change thanks to Stern officially revealing the layout for its new table. Jaws is an adaptation primarily of the original movie, but with references to the first two sequels, with the player taking the role of experienced fisherman and (spoilers for 49-year-old movie) eventual shark-chow Quint. Fortunately it’s narrated by a character with a lifespan that reaches the end of the movie, Richard Dreyfuss' Hooper, complete with all-new lines recorded specifically for the game. The table comes with all the bells and whistles that are now standard with Stern’s machines, including a TV in the backglass showing video clips, the ability to sync up with Insider Connect through the phone app for stat tracking, plus the Pro, Premium and LE models with varying levels of fanciness to justify the $3000 difference between each tier.
Focusing on the Premium version, the playfield is packed with toys, targets and ramps to aim for in the various game modes. The upper-left has a mini playfield with a ship’s wheel spinner, while below in the upper-center is a boat target with a captive ball inside. Hitting the boat’s targets brings out the star of the show, with the shark popping up from under the boat as a bash target. There are a good number of lanes and ramps to aim for as well, but for sheer thematic perfection, it’s hard to top the moving shark-fin target.
Jaws is a good-looking table with a lot going on, and it makes its official debut at CES 2024 next week. There’s more information to come, like the pre-order period and full release date, but for now just check out that playfield and hope that you’ve got a good pinball location to play it at:
