“Jaws” is returning from the scrap heap to the Hollywood big time.

After many years in a junkyard, the prop shark from the classic 1975 Steven Spielberg movie has been donated to the forthcoming Academy Museum of Motion Pictures.

When the museum opens next year, next to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the shark will be displayed alongside other iconic movie props including the horse’s head from “The Godfather” and the ruby red slippers from “The Wizard of Oz.”

The 25-foot-long piece of cinematic history will have had quite a journey to get there.

Created for the film and affectionately nicknamed Bruce – after Spielberg’s lawyer Bruce Ramer – the animatronic prop constantly broke down during filming and got discarded after shooting was completed.

“Bruce” was discovered years later in a Universal Studios Inc. parking lot by junkyard owner Sam Adlen who expressed an interest and was asked by studio storage staff to take it away at no charge.

He put it on display in a bid to attract more business to his Sun Valley junkyard Aadlen Brothers Auto Wrecking – Aadlen was spelled with two A’s to be nearer the front of the phone book.

It remained there for more than 25 years, but when the business closed last month, the late owner’s son, Nathan Adlen, decided to donate it to the museum.

“No one made a hard offer to buy the shark and no one would have been able to see it if a private person had bought it,” he said. “Now, by making it public, people will be able to see it in a museum.”

– Olga Grigoryants