JAWS 3-D 4K release A.I. enhancements make people look faker than shark!

The vast majority of cinephiles and casual viewers have very few negative things to say about Steven Spielberg's Jaws. The most common complaint is that "the shark looks fake." Considering it was a relatively low-budget film from 1975, the mechanical shark still looks pretty intimidating today. However, the sharks in the three sequels? Their appearances become increasingly laughable.

The original Jaws film received one of the best 4K remasters for a '70s movie to date, while the Jaws 2 release was decent—nothing spectacular, but acceptable. The same could be said of the movie itself, while the third and fourth films were major disappointments, both in quality and in their upcoming 4K treatment. Universal Pictures has revealed that they are using AI upscaling for the 4K releases of Jaws 3 and Jaws: The Revenge. This means the already poorly regarded films are likely to suffer further, with one being an unintentional 90-minute joke and the other a baffling tale of a telepathic, vengeful shark.

Physical Media on X (formerly Twitter) first shared an image of the AI ‘enhanced’ JAWS 3-D

Another image from the AI ‘enhanced’ JAWS 3-D

AI upscaling has been used for a few 4K releases already, most notably in the home media editions of James Cameron's Aliens, True Lies, and The Abyss. Fans excited for these releases were largely disappointed, especially with The Abyss, which had not previously been released on Blu-ray until the 4K/Blu-ray combo came out. Even the occasionally plastic-looking True Lies gets a pass, but leaked screenshots from the Jaws 3 4K release do not inspire confidence. Without a master like Cameron overseeing the process, the AI upscaling seems unlikely to improve the quality of these much-maligned films. If AI upscaling is the future, there's a risk that better films than the latter Jaws sequels could have scenes—or their entirety—ruined.

For collectors, Jaws 3 and Jaws: The Revenge will still be released in 4K on July 23. Will die-hard Jaws fans avoid purchasing these now that the AI tweaking has been revealed? Not entirely, but if someone is going to spend $30 on a 40-year-old, critically panned movie, they'll want a good reason. Fortunately, there's always the original Jaws in 4K, as well as Ridley Scott's Alien, which also received an impressive Ultra HD home video edition.

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