How else could we preface this? Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water, John Williams' acclaimed score to Steven Spielberg's JAWS is rising up from the depths for its 50th anniversary.

And this time, the bites are big. Williams' longtime archivist Mike Matessino has remixed the original film score for a new release available digitally this Friday, June 20 through Universal Pictures' Back Lot Music and on a new 180-gram, 45 RPM 2LP vinyl pressing from Mondo (available on marbled red and blue "blood and water" vinyl). These original tracks heard in the film remained unreleased until the early 2000s, but have never been heard with such clarity and precision. Mondo's luxe package, featuring new notes by Matessino, will be housed in a pop up "shark fin" jacket, housed in an O-card slipcase with a gold metallic 50th anniversary band and changeable inner sleeves, all designed by art director Alan Hynes. Additionally, Mondo will release JAWS - Selections & Studio Rarities, a collectible "chum red," 33 1/3 RPM 10" EP (die-cut to look like the shark has bitten it!), featuring two of the film tracks and unreleased alternates of each.

But that's not all: UMe will reissue the Grammy-winning original soundtrack album, arranged, conducted and recorded by Williams between the original sessions and the film's groundbreaking 1975 release, on vinyl in two ways. First up is a new color pressing of the LP on "blood in the water" blue/red splatter vinyl. On October 17, a "shark-infested" water-filled vinyl pressing will be released, featuring a new mix of the LP by Matessino and limited to 1975 copies. Both pressings will replicate the original LP packaging.

Finally, later this year, Intrada will release a new set on CD that features both of Matessino's remixes of the score and soundtrack, along with rare and previously unreleased material. (The label issued a previous mix of the score by Matessino in 2015.)

"What we are dealing with here is a perfect engine...an eating machine." That line of dialogue could just as easily describe Spielberg's film as its fearsome leviathan. Peter Benchley's novel about a great white shark wreaking havoc on a beach town was a massive bestseller in 1974, and Spielberg - only the director of one major theatrical film, that year's The Sugarland Express, and a host of TV work for Universal - was tapped to realize the cinematic version. JAWS was plagued by a mythic, cursed location shoot on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts - one that saw its animatronic shark frequently malfunction and both budgets and production schedules balloon to three times the allotted amount. But Spielberg's brilliant camerawork, dazzling Oscar-winning editing by Verna Fields, and committed performances by leads Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss made JAWS more than a great film but a masterpiece like no other - one that audiences flocked to during the summer season, then not known for mass-appeal crowd pleasers. A new era of high-concept motion pictures was born with JAWS, the first film to gross more than $100 million - and Spielberg would only become more immortalized as a master pop filmmaker as time went on.

And he'd be the first to tell you that the work of John Williams - a favorite of Spielberg's and a fast friend since working on Sugarland - played a major part of the film's success. The driving, Herrmann-esque shark theme, recognizable by its ostinato that primarily spanned two low notes on strings, took home one of the picture's three Academy Awards - and positive reactions by preview audiences facilitated the recording of a separate soundtrack album whose lead cut became an unlikely Top 40 hit on the Billboard Hot 100. Matessino's deft mixing and mastering ensures that both recordings will be heard with total fidelity, with additional audio treasures that even devoted fans who've owned a copy or two will want to check out.

With the Fourth of July just weeks away and a whole full-court 50th anniversary campaign for JAWS planned - from a new National Geographic documentary to a 4K re-release on disc and set for theaters later this year - now is the perfect time to dive into this classic film score.

Pre-order links to Mondo's vinyl titles are below and will go live soon. (The JAWS - Selections & Studio Rarities EP will be a timed, four-week exclusive.) Pre-orders for UMe's vinyl titles are also available below; the water-filled vinyl with the soundtrack album remix will be available October 17. Additional information on Intrada's release will come from the label later this year. Info on all releases can be found at JAWS50music.com.

JAWS (Original Motion Picture Score - 50th Anniversary Edition) (Mondo, 2025)

LP 1

Side A

1. JAWS - Main Title
2. The First Victim
3. Remains on the Beach
4. The Empty Raft
5. The Pier Incident
6. Father and Son
7. The Alimentary Canal
8. Ben Gardner's Boat

Side B

1. Tourist Montage
2. Into the Estuary
3. Heading Out to Sea
4. Tug on the Line
5. Man Against Beast

LP 2

Side C

1. Quint's Tale
2. Brody Panics
3. Barrel Off Starboard
4. Great Chase
5. Shark Tows Orca
6. Three Barrels Under
7. From Bad to Worse

Side D

1. Quint Thinks It Over
2. Work Montage (The Shark Cage Fugue)
3. The Shark Approaches
4. The Shark Hits the Cage
5. Quint Meets His End
6. Blown to Bits
7. JAWS - End Title

JAWS - Selections & Studio Rarities EP (Mondo, 2025)

* previously unreleased

Side A

1. JAWS - Main Title
2. JAWS - Main Title (Alternate)

Side B

1. The Pier Incident
2. The Pier Incident (Alternate) *

JAWS (Music from the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (originally released as MCA Records 2087, 1975 - reissued Geffen/UMe, 2025)

"Blood in the Water" blue/red splatter (1975 mix): uDiscover Music / The Sound of Vinyl
"Shark Infested" water-filled LP (2025 mix): uDiscover Music / The Sound of Vinyl

Side A

1. Main Title (Theme from JAWS)
2. Chrissie's Death
3. Promenade (Tourists on the Menu)
4. Out to Sea
5. The Indianapolis Story
6. Sea Attack Number One
7. One Barrel Chase

Side B

1. Preparing the Cage
2. Night Search
3. Underwater Siege
4. Hand to Hand Combat
5. End Title (Theme from JAWS)