In 1974, when legendary filmmaker Steven Spielberg was making shark thriller Jaws in Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts, it was the first movie made on the ocean, rather than in a tank.

It made history for a stack of reasons – from the dysfunctional mechanical sharks nicknamed Bruce to the iconic heartbeat music – but none more so that it set the benchmark for all shark movies made since that summer.

Exactly 50 years later, Australia is making history with our own shark thriller, building Australia’s largest indoor water tank at Screen Queensland Studios in Brisbane for World War II film, Beast of War.

“This year is an important one in terms of shark cinema as it marks 50 years since Jaws began filming [the film was released with a PG rating in 1975] … a watershed not just for shark films but still a high point for great cinema,” The Daily Jaws fan site founder Ross Williams said.

“Arguably, without the success of Jaws and its sequels … we wouldn’t have all the shark films set for release in 2024, and film and shark fans still can’t get enough of seeing dorsal fins slicing through the water toward their next victim.”

Williams says the debate “still rages” about whether these “sharksploitation films are bad for the reputation of sharks or whether we can separate fin fiction from fact”.

“We can be both entertained by poor CGI sharks that act as a gateway to better shark cinema and at the same time help create a better environment for sharks in the real world.

“All of which means shark films – in all their forms – are ultimately a force for good.”

And good for business with a massive 12 films set for release or in production this year thanks to advances in technology and CGI.

Beast of War has an Aussie cast that includes the star of Boy Swallows Universe, Lee Tiger Hally (who played Gus). There’s more than 100 jobs for crew, with Screen NSW and Screen Queensland supporting post, digital and visual effects including the “creature effects” and volume screens to bring the ocean to life.

No need to film on oceans any more for shark thrillers.

“[The film] brings unprecedented, groundbreaking technology to the Queensland film industry,” Bronte Pictures said.

Despite all the challenges of filming, Spielberg’s eight-metre Jaws remains a hard act to follow. Photo: IMDb

Shark cinema has recently enjoyed success with Meg 2: The Trench starring former Commonwealth Games diver Jason Statham, sci-fi thriller The Black Demon, and we even saw shark action in The Little Mermaid.

Under Paris, released to coincide with the Paris Olympics, is about a giant shark that appears in the River Seine.

All up, 183 shark films have been made, with the Sharknado, Jaws and the recent Meg franchises still enjoying box office success.

For example, Spielberg’s original was made on a budget of $US7 million ($10.7 million) and has global box office earnings of $US477 million.

Why do audiences love a shark thriller?

British director Hayley Easton Street recently made survivor thriller, Something in the Water, about a group of women stranded at sea.

She tells the BBC, as fan of shark films, she “absolutely wanted” to make the movie.

“It’s the fear of what could be going on with the unknown of [the sea],” she said.

“Just being stuck in the middle of the ocean is scary enough … you’re trapped in something else’s world and anything could happen.”

Beast of War. Photo: Bronte Pictures/tompaulbyrnes

‘Transforming the ocean into a hellscape’

The Aussie film Beast of War is not set in a sci-fi world, the Mariana Trench or on a make-believe Hollywood island.

Instead, it’s loosely based story on real-life events, set in 1942 during World War II.

“A warship carrying hundreds of Australian soldiers across the Timor Sea is suddenly attacked by Japanese fighter jets, transforming the ocean into a hellscape of steel, fire, oil and blood,” reads the official synopsis from Byron Bay-based producers Bronte Pictures.

“With their vessel destroyed, a handful of soldiers construct a makeshift raft from floating debris, clinging to their lives amidst rising tensions.

“However, their greatest battle is yet to come as a great white shark, drawn to the scent of blood, hunts them in the wreckage below.”

The Australian War Memorial describes 1942 as “the most perilous year” of WWII, detailing the ships that did cross the Timor Sea, and the fate of its soldiers.

Joining Hally are Mark Coles Smith (Last Cab To Darwin, Mystery Road: Origin), newcomer Joel Nankervis and Sam Delich (Last Days Of The Space Age, Spiderhead).

“These actors are primed for action, ready to spend intense weeks in the tank portraying a band of soldiers stranded in the open ocean, hunted by the ultimate apex predator.”

Producers promise “a thrilling experience, with heroes emerging and personal conflicts boiling to the surface as the soldiers fight to survive against the monstrous shark”.