My God you guys just don't get it at all, do you? First off, one question: are you huge Jaws fans? I'm talking...do you know the movie by heart and know what it's supposed to sound like? I'm assuming not because if you did, those added sound effects would stick out like a sore thumb. It's not the remix, per se, that people object to. It's the addition of the new sound effects which tend to sound fake and gimmicky when compared to the original sound mix. The two that drive me absolutely insane both occur at the end: the shark breaking through the hull and the gunshots that ultimately destroy the shark. Totally takes me out of the movie and those gunshots ruin the momentum at the end of the movie for me.

Again, this is coming from the perspective of someone who KNOWS the film. Obviously you guys don't.

And btw...to get back on topic, we had a screening here in NYC last year of Jaws with Richard Dreyfuss and one of the producers and luckily, I got to ask the last question after it was over. I know I posted this in another thread a while ago (Julie should have used the search button) but I'll repeat. I asked if they were thinking of or having any plans for a 30th anniversary for the film. Richard turned to the producer and said something about wanting to milk the movie for a little more money and the producer came back with something that he thought was witty. And that was that. But, i guess it was pretty telling that they completely avoided the question and they quickly wrapped it up after that.

I think it was because they wanted to squeeze it down to a one-disc release.

I'm not obsessed with Jaws. And it's not that I 'just don't get it'. I do... but you know what, not everybody on this planet is going to have that much passion about Jaws to the point where they practically sound like they're willing to throw themselves on a live grenade in order to save the original soundtrack. I am well aware how many of you activist 'give us the original!' nuts there are out there for ANY film that exists. And I would be quite disappointed for a movie that I'm head over heals with to change. But as far as Jaws is concerned, I personally, PERSONALLY, do not see the big deal. Some of you people need to find better things to do than sit around pulling your hair out over a 5.1 track that doesn't sound that bad. Wow, you're amazing, you know this movie inside out. Wow, I envy you, you have the entire movie memorized word for word. I understand why this little change upsets you, I understand how it goes. But me buddy, it just doesn't make a difference to me. I'm willing to watch the movie to watch the story and the excitement and the action, not nit-pick. Life is short. Live it.

Jaws - Chomp Biting 30th Anniversary Edition
Extras: Forced Trailers of Jaws 2, Jaws 3 and Jaws: The Revenge

we could just chalk it up to a divide between DVD collectors and cinephiles. i couldn't imagine a true film-lover claiming there's something wrong with preferring to hear an academy award winning sound mix. on the other hand, i couldn't imagine a home theatre enthusiast hunting down a rare copy of Antonioni's The Red Desert despite the DVD's known flaws. life is short, indeed. short enough for me to look beyond 'entertainment value' and place the study of film and the art of filmmaking at the forefront of my life's pursuits.

thank you

if you don't care about 1 film...then you don't really care about any at all. let dis-respect be shown to 1 film...might as well let the entire catalog of films suffer. perfect example of people who really see no need with films being presented properly. the new mix? maybe it's not that bad. to me, thats not the point. include the fucking original track with it, like it should be(no-brainer) and we can avoid all this weeping.

i gotta pretty simple comment, lol, basically i'd like to see this get a 'boxset' type treatment. basically in a slip case with 2 or three discs jam packed with extras that do the movie justice. like how they done shawshank redemption... but again, with features that do the movie justice, haha!

thanks!!

Then after your little rant, it begs one question: why exactly are in here? To tell us all we whine too much?

Thanks but no thanks.

Digital,I think some people just hate people not prefering a 5.1 remix. Since you know,since it's 5.1,its 'newer',which means 'better' and we are just old fossils living in the 'past' man,you know,mono is like so 1900!

I am not against all 5.1 remixes and in fact thought the 5.1 mixes of Carrie and The Fog sounded excellent(compared to their obviously unrestored mono mixes on the dvd). Meanwhile MGMs release of Dressed To Kill,the mono mix sounds superior while the 5.1 sounds more superficial and less atmospheric.

Oh I just watched my laserdisc tonight,since I have'nt watched the film in a couple years. I hooked up my laserdisc player to my sound system,cranked the volume up nicely and was blown away. I don't know how anyone who laughs about mono would find this mix 'outdated' 'cramped' and 'lacking'.

It was extremely atmospheric and powerful..and obviouslly in no need of an 'upgrade'. So it would be nice if it were released on dvd. That is the logical thing to do,but unfortunately most studios listen to those who think 5.1 is 'god' more than those who appreciate the real original film(O.A.R. and original audio).

He's completely missing the point, of course.

When I listen to a commentary, I'm not watching the movie. I'm actually listening to someone talk about a movie, as if I was attending a lecture.

In fact, I often find the the film distracts my listening to the commentary (especially if they leave the film audio too high), and will often turn the tv off so the images don't interfere.

The image is there during a commentary solely so that you can something that might be discussed during the commentary. It's not there to watch the film.

What I mean by life is short, is that the movie is on DVD now. It has the 5.1 track and if that's how it is, I'm going to buy it. I'm not going to forget about watching a movie because the soundtrack has been altered to try and fit my home theater systems capabilities. So many people I see saying 'well I'm not going to be such and such a movie because it doesn't have exactly what I want on it'. Kudos to you for not wasting your money on something you don't want, but I believe if you truly love a film, just buy it, and watch it. You may never get the version of the film you're looking for on DVD, and to me, that's just not worth waiting years and year of waiting for a better mix, an original mix. I'm not saying 5.1 sound to Jaws is SUPERIOR, but that's what has been given to me in the stores and I'll bite. If you want the original mix and it eventually comes out, then buy it again. All these people when Star Wars came out, 'Well, I'm going to wait until 2007 or 2008 to buy a possibly coming out thirty year anniversary collectors set'. That's a huge chunk of time to wait for something, instead of enjoying it now. Be upset about it if you want reguarding things that have changed for movies you love, but to neglect the movie entirely, you so called 'movie lovers', is like dropping a baby off in orphanage just because it may have a birth defect. Once again, I'm not one of the types who are completely for 5.1 instead of mono, as I've said in prior posts, if they ever released a movie I own in mono (which was originally recorded in mono of course), in 5.1, I wouldn't purchase it. But since Jaws is here for me NOW in 5.1, I'll take it. 5.1 doesn't always mean 'better', I'm well aware of it.

Again, you seem to be missing the point. I think a lot of people are complaining more about the 5.1 remix including sound effects that don't fit and were not a part of the original mix more than it just simply being "remixed" to 5.1. At least, that's my big beef with it.

Also, some genius invented "paragraphs" for a reason. Mzupeman...i'd look into that option. Makes for an easier read.

Someone alluded to this earlier but it deserves to be pointed out explicitly:

This movie won an Oscar for Best Sound.

The sound that won the Oscar was the original mono mix.

To not include the Oscar-winning soundtrack in a DVD re-release is just... stupid.

RichC

Well sure it's stupid. I mean, I do agree with that. I do wish it was the original soundtrack but again, I won't pass up owning a movie because of it. I'll still enjoy the movie for what it is. I am remembering that there were a couple of parts in the soundtrack that did seem kind of odd when I watched it, now that I've been kind of dwelling on this subject a bit. But still, as much as those couple of parts may have been like nails on a chalk board or distracting, I'm still not going to disown a movie over something like this. Production studios are messing things up like this all of the time, and I'm not going to disown a movie just because they're not the brightest bunch. I'll still enjoy a movie for it's story. I'm just saying I won't not buy a movie, because if I'm given no choice, I'm not given a choice. I'll live. If you guys want to hold off, that's fine, but to me, I'd rather get the movie and be able to watch it any time I want, some issues like this or not.

mzupeman2, i haven't seen anyone say they've refused to buy the current release of Jaws on DVD in this thread. I've only seen posts that say a re-release which includes the original mono mix would be a big selling point for them.

digitalfreaknyc, i know very little about 5.1 mixes but i just read an article in 'Film & Video' magazine where the engineer said you can't just take a sound and throw it in the surrounds to create a spatial effect. for example, a gunshot; the sound has to be re-processed with reverb effects for each speaker that the sound appears in. if they don't have the original effect stems to work with, i suppose this is why they opt to use new ones.

FYI...2 disc 30th anniversary edition. Coming this year

Jaws (2-disc 30th anniversary edition) on 8/15 in Holland

good news...hope the mono mix...the full doc....and plenty of new extras

i have given up hope on a commentary by Speilberg.

Good news! I hope they don't duplicate the extras from the previous 25th Anniversary disc.

Ummm...I'm thinking that people are hoping they DO! They just need to provide the COMPLETE extras...like the 2 hour documentary and all the outtakes/deleted scenes.

Personally, I'd be surprised if they included the DTS, dd5.1 AND mono tracks. Might be too much to wish for at this point.

It just seems the way things go nowadays, they'll stick the movie on one disc and extras on the second disc. I'd hate to see them put all the old material on the 2nd disc and not have room for much new stuff.

If they can include all the old stuff along with a slew of new stuff, then I'm there. I just don't a half-assed re-release with no bite

I'll buy it! Depending on whether or not it has DTS, I'll likely keep my current DTS disc.

To be honest, i'm a HUUUUUUUUGE DTS freak. If they release this one with a DD mono, then I'd never listen to the DTS again. I want those newly recorded sound effects OUT. But like I said, the screening I went to last year was a brand new print. And that brand new print was made from the brand new sound mix (complete with bad sound effects and all). I doubt that Universal will make new prints and go through all this work just to push it to the side. Maybe we'll be lucky but who knows.

As far as the extras disc, if it's dual layered then I'm sure they could fit the 2 hour documentary plus some other extras. The E! THS is great but I already have that on DVD so I'm hoping for something else. I don't think they'd put two long documentaries on the same disc especially when there's some overlap...including interviews as well.

As long as it has the 2HR doc,and maybe new extras,then I'll def buy. Can't wait
Jaws may be my favorite Animal-Monster movie...

*CELEBRATES*