‘Jaws’ Returns To The Orpheum For 50th Anniversary

CHATHAM – Since the Chatham Orpheum Theater opened in 2013, “Jaws” has been its signature summer feature. With the iconic film celebrating its 50th anniversary this summer, the downtown moviehouse will be holding a number of special events, including screening the blockbuster ahead of its official re-release.

 “Everybody’s really getting into the spirit,” said theater Executive Director Kevin McLain. 

Even though Steven Spielberg’s film about a great white shark terrorizing a New England seaside town is widely available on video and streaming, nothing compares to the experience of seeing it in a theater with others, McLain said.

 “‘Jaws’ is one of those unique films that are a unique experience,” he said. “You can’t get that watching it in your house. You cannot duplicate the energy, the nervous tension, of a room filled with 150 people.”

Add to that the presence of great white sharks in Cape water as well as the shark-related art and merchandise around town, walking out of the theater after seeing the film is like “seeing it in 4D,” he said. “You’re still in the milieu of the movie.”

He added, “Even though it was shot on the Vineyard, it’s still culturally a part of Chatham and the Cape.”

 “Jaws” will be shown on NBC on June 20, the official anniversary of its original release. Universal Studios, which owns the film, gave the theater a special license to screen the film theatrically now after looking at the Orpheum’s more than decade-long tradition of showing it, McLain said.

 “It’s a reflection on how much the community supported this film and this theater, and we’re grateful to them,” he said.

Next Thursday, June 26, the theater will hold a special screening of the National Geographic documentary “Jaws @ 50” to benefit the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy. The event will include Wendy Benchley, wife of the law “Jaws” author Peter Benchley, and Justin Falvey, co-president of Amblin Television, the small-screen division of Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment, a frequent Chatham summer visitor, McLain said. Massachusetts state shark biologist Dr. Greg Skomal and AWSC’s Chief Executive Officer Cynthia Wigren will also attend. The fundraiser is sold out, McLain said.

But the documentary, about the filming of “Jaws” and its impact on cinema, will return for free screenings June 27 to July 1 at 5 p.m.; tickets are currently available at the box office.

 “Great White Shark,” an IMAX documentary, will screen June 27, 29 and July 1 at noon, and “In the Whale,” about a Provincetown diver who was swallowed by a humpback whale and survived, will be shown June 28 and 30 at noon.

 “It’s anything that can eat you in the water,” quipped McLain.

 “Jaws” itself will play July 2 to 6 at 9 p.m. ahead of its official 50th anniversary re-release scheduled for Labor Day. The film will play the Orpheum again then, McLain said.

 The July 5 screening will feature a special “Crush it Like Quint” night. Cans of Narragansett Beer will be available, and during the scene in “Jaws” when Captain Quint crushes his beer can, the audience will do the same.

 “We’re going to film it,” McLain said. “It would make a great commercial!” 

Tickets for all of the events are already going fast, he added.