Who Directed Jaws 2 And Why Did Steven Spielberg Refuse?

"Jaws" became a massive success back in 1975, launching up-and-coming director Steven Spielberg into the Hollywood stratosphere. In the years that followed, he got the chance to direct such classics as "E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," "Raiders of the Lost Ark," and "Jurassic Park," to name a few, though he never returned to the world of "Jaws." The 1978 sequel, "Jaws 2," came to be directed by future "Supergirl" and "Santa Claus: The Movie" director, Jeannot Szwarc, who took over for John D. Hancock during production. Given the standout success of the first film, this begs the question: why didn't Spielberg direct "Jaws 2"?

Spielberg's choice to pass on "Jaws 2" was influenced by multiple factors. First and foremost is the fact that filming "Jaws" was a nightmare given that so much of the production took place on the water. As the famed director told Entertainment Weekly, "I would have done the sequel if I hadn't had such a horrible time at sea on the first film." This, coupled with the infamously temperamental mechanical shark and the movie's ever-increasing budget, seemed to turn Spielberg away from pursuing a second "Jaws" outing.

Since "Jaws" and Szwarc's "Jaws 2" swam into theaters, numerous sequels have followed, doing little more than harming the reputation of the overall franchise due to their lackluster quality. Meanwhile, Spielberg has tried out sequels to some of his other films, though he's not the proudest of them.

Though Steven Spielberg has very much maintained a steady workflow of fresh films, he hasn't shied away from going back to the well here and there. However, he has failed to stick the landing on occasion. Some of his most famous sequels that fall into this category include "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" — follow-ups to "Jurassic Park" and the "Indiana Jones" trilogy. The director is aware he fumbled with these, and he puts the blame for their shortcomings squarely on his own shoulders.

"My sequels aren't as good as my originals because I go onto every sequel I've made and I'm too confident. This movie made a ka-zillion dollars, which justifies the sequel, so I come in like it's going to be a slam dunk and I wind up making an inferior movie to the one before," Spielberg admitted to The New York Times during a 2016 chat, speaking specifically on "The Lost World." 

With all of that in mind, maybe it's for the best that Steven Spielberg never signed the dotted line to direct "Jaws 2" after all. It was an uphill battle for him to get the first one made, and the odds of the sequel matching or surpassing the legendary original were slim to none anyway.