The Academy Museum’s Big Summer Blockbuster … Comes Out This Fall
You know that 25-foot-long fake shark hanging from the ceiling at the Academy Museum? If you look closely, you might just catch it rolling its eyes.
The museum recently announced it would be celebrating the 50th anniversary of Jaws with a “blockbuster” exhibit featuring original concept art, shark schematics, a re-creation of an Amity Island beach cabana and some 200 other objects from the 1975 film, including the police chief uniform worn by Roy Scheider. One interactive element even lets visitors play John Williams’ iconic two-note shark theme.
There’s just one hitch: The exhibit opens Sept. 14, nearly three months after the movie’s actual anniversary.
“We raised this question many times,” says a source close to Steven Spielberg who emphasizes that the delay had nothing to do with the director’s schedule or preferences (Spielberg is still lending the museum his personal Super 8 footage from the Martha’s Vineyard set as well as that aforementioned fiberglass shark — the last full-scale Jaws model still in existence — which has been dangling from the museum’s ceiling since it opened in 2021).
“Only the Academy would mount an exhibition in the fall for the most famous summer movie of all,” the source adds. “It had nothing to do with Steven and everything to do with the Academy missing the moment.”
Given how Jaws essentially invented the summer tentpole, you’d think that launching the anniversary exhibit closer to June 20 — the film’s actual release date and, by the way, the peak of L.A. tourist season — might have been a no-brainer. According to sources close to the museum, though, the cadences of its scheduling calendar made a summer Jaws exhibit impossible. The museum had already committed time and space to other summer exhibits — a design tribute to Barbie and Anna Karenina, a retrospective on South Korean auteur Bong Joon Ho and — in its big fourth-floor gallery, where the Jaws show will eventually set up — something called Color in Motion: Chromatic Explorations of Cinema.
Worthy programming, to be sure, but not exactly the kind of crowd-pleasing fare that has families lining up at Wilshire and Fairfax.
George Costanza: A Bobblehead About Nothing
Officially, the New York Yankees do not have a mascot. Unofficially, it’s beginning to look like they’ve found the perfect face for the franchise: George Costanza.
On Aug. 21 — Seinfeld Night at Yankee Stadium — the first 18,000 fans through the gates for a game against the Red Sox will receive a bobblehead of Jerry’s perpetually aggrieved best friend. And not just any bobblehead, but a re-creation of the classic season eight episode “The Nap,” during which George discovers that one of the perks to his short-lived job with the Yankees is that the space under his desk makes an ideal snoozing spot.
Yankee fans — and Seinfeld aficionados — will know this isn’t the first Costanza bobblehead giveaway at the stadium. Last summer, before a game against the Astros, the team handed out 18,000 head-bobbing figures of George swinging a baseball bat — an ode to “The Wink,” a season seven episode in which he pretends to be a Yankees hitting savant to impress a sick kid. That first bobblehead became an instant collector’s item, reselling on eBay for as much as $250. The new napping version is already fetching even more; a month before its release, presale listings are asking up to $300 (with promises like, “Will ship day after game”).
So, how does Jason Alexander feel about his character being immortalized as a Yankee Stadium giveaway? “Clearly there is something about me that screams bobblehead,” the actor tells Rambling Reporter. “Regardless, I’m very flattered that George continues to be a character that brings people joy.”
Pride and Prejudice: Target’s Closet-Friendly Collection
Remember when Target used to get criticized for being too gay? For selling “tuck-friendly” swimsuits to trans women and “Gay All Day” rainbow boiler suits to men? Those were the days.
Since Donald Trump took office, the retail giant has been bending over backward to avoid offending White House shoppers, canceling its DEI initiatives, pulling out of Pride event sponsorships and — the lowest blow — drastically scaling back its once outrageously colorful Pride Month merchandise. Indeed, this June’s gay apparel was so shockingly dull and demure — an ivory V-neck sweater with barely noticeable rainbow stitching, an oatmeal-colored hoodie with hard-to-see rainbow drawstrings, beige men’s shorts with a tiny “PROUD” emblem on a pocket — that noted queer cartoonist Molly Knox blasted the collection in a Bluesky post as “Cowardcore.” Others online offered similarly withering critiques. “The most aggressively ashamed Pride collection ever,” one noted.
A Target spokesperson insists the company remains “absolutely dedicated to fostering inclusivity for everyone.” But none of this has been a boon to Target’s bottom line. With progressives boycotting the company since January, foot traffic has dropped nearly 10 percent, and Target’s stock price has slid as much as $27 a share, erasing $12 billion in market value. Turns out those boring beige shorts may not have been the merchandising masterstroke Target was hoping for.
This story appeared in the July 9 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.
