Where To Watch Jaws I - IV

If you know anything about film history, and what it was like to see "Jaws" back in 1975, you know that director Steven Spielberg became a household name after the picture was released. Based on the best-selling Peter Benchley novel released a year prior, the film starred Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss in a powerful motion picture that furthered the New Hollywood Era of filmmaking. To say it was a massive hit would be a colossal understatement. Proving to the industry that blockbusters were important investments, "Jaws" raked in over $260 million on a modest $7 million budget. 

Even though the big bad shark was defeated in the end, "Jaws" spawned a series of sequels that opened the door to a larger franchise. But where can one watch each installment of the "Jaws" series today? And how many are there exactly? Well, we've got the answers for you. So pack your life preserver and grab a harpoon, we're going hunting for sharks. 

Right off the bat, there are only four "Jaws" films. If you've heard that there are five, you've heard wrong. The unofficial fifth "Jaws" film was an Italian picture called "Cruel Jaws," "The Beast," and sometimes "Jaws 5: Cruel Jaws." The film illegally utilized footage from the originals (as well as the Italian film "Great White"), though it bares no true connection to the series. That being said, there are only four official "Jaws" productions, and almost all of them are available on streaming. The first three "Jaws" movies can be streamed on Netflix, while the fourth installment, "Jaws: The Revenge," is only available for rent on digital platforms.

• "Jaws" (1975) is available for streaming on Netflix
• "Jaws 2" (1978) is available for streaming on Netflix
• "Jaws 3-D" (1983) is available for streaming on Netflix
• "Jaws: The Revenge" is available for rent digitally on Apple TV and Prime Video

To say that the original "Jaws" is still the best of the franchise, if not one of the greatest films ever made, is neither an overstatement or surprising for fans of the series to hear. Spielberg's clear direction, the tight script by Peter Benchley and Carl Gottlieb, and the spectacular performances by the three leads have set "Jaws" apart as a triumph of cinema. Unfortunately, that only means that the quality from then-on spirals downward, and eventually sinks altogether. Each sequel is worse than the last, and while "Jaws 2" received mixed reviews, it's not actually that bad of a movie. Most of the cast (minus Richard Dreyfuss and obviously Robert Shaw) returns for the sequel, though future "Supergirl" director Jeannot Szwarc took over from Spielberg.

Then there's "Jaws 3-D" (commonly called "Jaws 3") and "Jaws: The Revenge." Neither film cares much for the other, and both are a mess. In fact, "The Revenge" actively ignores the events of the third film, and acts as a direct sequel to "Jaws 2" instead. However, both fail to recapture the magic of the original film, and unlike the 1978 sequel, very few members from the original cast bothered to show up. While the original "Jaws" holds a 97% Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the sequels fail to capture a fraction of that, with the fourth and final picture garnering a 2% Rotten Tomatoes score.

Though Universal Pictures jokingly teased more sequels leading up to even a faux "Jaws 19" because of a certain scene in "Back to the Future Part II," the truth is that there is currently no "Jaws" continuation in development. After the massive disappointment that was "Jaws: The Revenge," it seems that the franchise has been slowed to a halt. Admittedly, there's really not much room for "Jaws" to grow as a franchise. After one or two killer sharks (even if they don't show up until later in the movie), there's not much more to say, and with every new installment, each "Jaws" sequel felt more derivative of the original.

Though there was a time where rumors of a remake swam about, the truth is, we have more than our fill of shark movies these days. Between "The Meg" and its sequel, and the six-part "Sharknado" franchise, another "Jaws" would be just (great) white noise in comparison. Besides, nothing beats the original classic, which (despite its inaccuracies about sharks), still feels timeless all these years later.