Imagine you’re floating along on an inner tube, peacefully enjoying the serene night, when all of a sudden you feel something brush up against your leg. If that sentence gave you the heebie-jeebies, then you’re going to want to stay far, far away from Austin, Texas this weekend. In celebration of the 40th anniversary of Steven Spielberg’s shark thriller Jaws, the Alamo Drafthouse is bringing back their wildly popular “Jaws On The Water” event this Saturday, July 11th and again on Saturday, July 25th. They’ll probably use those two weeks between showtimes to clear out any victims and re-chum the water.
The Alamo Drafthouse first experimented with this combination of a galeophobic’s worst fears back in 2002 when a select number of people watched on inner tubes as Jaws was projected onto their Rolling Roadshow screen at the water’s edge. Those lucky (?) viewers apparently had a blast, as the 2002 event has become legend in the annals of Austin, Texas:
It’s one of the most talked about events we’ve ever produced: back in 2002, we invited the brave people of Austin to join us for a special screening of JAWS where we would point our giant outdoor Rolling Roadshow screen toward the water, and the audience would all watch while floating on inner tubes. People who were lucky enough to be there speak of it in hushed tones. People who didn’t get a chance to attend sometimes lie and say they were there, because they know how amazing it was. Almost everyone we know mentions it when they tell an out of town friend about the Alamo Drafthouse, “that movie theater that one time made people sit in a lake to watch JAWS…”
Now, I can personally think of roughly 16 billion things that I would rather do than sit in a lake while watching Jaws. That number skyrockets well into the stratosphere when you consider that the Alamo Drafthouse has also promised to have at least 10 sharks in the water during the movie. These obviously won’t be real sharks, probably just scuba divers, or RC sharks,but that hardly even matters. Attendees are required to sign a waiver before attending, so even if you get the actual literal poop scared out of you – or anything worse – Alamo Drafthouse is reminding you that you chose this path of your own volition.
If you want to attend but don’t want to get into the water that’s OK too. There will be seating available along the beach, though Alamo Drafthouse won’t promise that other, braver attendees won’t poke some fun at you. Check out the event page here to buy tickets if you’re in Austin and feeling brave.
Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
