According to the book "Roy Scheider: a film biography" (2002) by Diane C. Kachmar, Scheider, who starred in the first two Jaws movies, once said, "Mephistopheles couldn't talk me into doing (it). They knew better than to even ask." Reportedly, Scheider agreed to make Blue Thunder (1983) in order to ensure that he was definitely and contractually unavailable for this film. Scheider had made Jaws 2 (1978) reluctantly due to a contract issue with Universal Pictures, whereby he owed the studio two films after withdrawing from The Deer Hunter (1978). To get out of this situation, he opted to do Jaws 2 (1978), a movie on which he didn't want to work, in exchange for the studio releasing him from his contract.
The filmmakers initially planned to have very few "pop-out" effects where objects extend beyond the screen in 3-D. Studio executives ultimately pressured them to include more, worried that audiences would leave disappointed and spread bad word-of-mouth if the 3-D were used mainly for depth.
David Brown and Richard D. Zanuck, producers of the first two films, originally pitched this as a spoof, based on a suggestion by Matty Simmons and John Hughes. Titled "National Lampoon's Jaws 3, People 0", it was about a movie studio trying to make a second sequel to Jaws (1975). It opened with author Peter Benchley being eaten in his pool by a shark, and included a naked Bo Derek and shark-costumed aliens. Joe Dante was attached as director. Steven Spielberg rejected the idea and threatened to walk from his deal with Universal. When Zanuck and Brown learned of the rejection, they quit the studio.