Historical Events  Movies
Jaws

Alternate:
We're gonna need a bigger boat

Current:
You're gonna need a bigger boat

Famous quote

Ask anyone to repeat the best known line from Jaws and, unless they have cottoned on to the Mass Memory Discrepancy Effect, they will probably say "We're gonna need a bigger boat".

This isn't what is seen today - it's "You're gonna need a bigger boat."

The quote itself has become part of internet folklore. Just try Googling "We're gona need" and you'll see many, many refs which clearly are giving some kind of nod to the original line. It's one of the better-known internet memes.

In the plot, "We're" makes more sense because Brody, the character who says the line, is part of the team, not "You're" which suggests they are separate.

References

The first Sharknado movie had the quote as "We're going to need a bigger chopper", but that was a parody.

There's a funny story about how the line arose. It was in fact a reference to the film crew being frugal with their budget.

[David] Zanik and [Richard] Brown were very stingy producers so everyone kept telling them 'You're gonna need a bigger boat.' It became a catchphrase for anytime anything went wrong—if lunch was late or the swells were rocking the camera, someone would say 'You're gonna need a bigger boat.'

-- Carl Gottlieb