1975 Hit Film Was Just Named 'the Most Perfect Blockbuster Thriller' of All Time

With their gripping storylines and usually action-packed sequences, it's unsurprising that the thriller genre tends to produce widely popular films. The publication Collider recently highlighted some of the top-grossing and acclaimed movies from the stress-inducing genre by releasing a list of "the 5 most perfect blockbuster thriller movies."

The ranking featured films like 1993's The Fugitive and Die Hard, released in 1988, with the 1975 movie Jaws coming in at the top spot. According to Collider, Jaws, which grossed $261,300,121 worldwide per Box Office Mojo, not only tells a compelling, intense story involving a deadly shark and a terrorized beach town, but is also an extremely influential film.

Steven Spielberg Shared Details About Filming 'Jaws'

The director of Jaws,Steven Spielberg, shared some details about shooting the movie, based on Peter Benchley's 1974 book, in Martha's Vineyard in 1974 while filming the introduction for the 2025 documentaryJaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story. The famed director noted that making the movie wasn't exactly smooth sailing. He said that the film's cast and crew were only supposed to be out in Martha's Vineyard for a few weeks in May and June. However, they "did not wrap on Martha's Vineyard until the end of September." In addition, he said the film was "over budget and over schedule," causing Spielberg, who was 27 during the making of Jaws, to feel "over [his] head."

"That summer of 1974 was a bad dream before it ever became the dream of a lifetime," said Spielberg.

He said that he "truly believed that Jaws would be the last movie [he] would ever be given to direct" because of the issues that arose while shooting, specifically involving the famously temperamental mechanical shark. He said, however, that the success of the film allowed him to continue his career.

"Thankfully, a life preserver was thrown to me, and that preserver was thrown to me by audiences all over the world, beginning right here, with the very first audience who saw Jaws in Martha's Vineyard," said Spielberg.

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This story was originally published June 11, 2026 at 7:23 PM.