Star Wars Saga (OT/PT/ST) Discussion Thread

[Zurdo95D]

Little history:

Star Wars was released on a Wednesday, May 25, 1977, showing on 32 screens. Another 8-11 were added to that list over the next two days.
A famous story has it that George Lucas was taking his wife Marcia out for a meal during a brief break from mixing the foreign language prints of Star Wars. They came upon a crowd near Mann’s Chinese Theatre and initially had no idea that the phenomenon causing the commotion was George's movie.

But in short, to see the film on May 25, you had to be in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, New York, Boston, Cincinnati, Denver, Detroit, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Louisville, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Portland, Salt Lake City , Seattle, St Paul or Washington DC.

The film reached Kansas City on Thursday May 26 and Chicago, Dallas, Dayton, Des Moines, Houston, Omaha and St Louis on the Friday.

Despite the immediate furore, the film only reached two more screens on June 3 and another three on June 10. It was only on June 17 that the film’s release widened significantly, reaching 157 screens.

With 20th Century-Fox producing prints as fast as it could, Star Wars reached 360 cinemas by June 24. The height of the film’s US release would not come until August 5, when it was on 1,044 screens. And most of the world would have to wait much longer.

In the UK, unless you could get to the West End of London over Christmas, Star Wars was not a film of 1977 at all, but a film of 1978. And in some parts of the country, it was well into 1978 before people saw it.

The way films were released in the 1970s was very different from today, when major movies are released everywhere at once and live or die by their opening weekend’s box office. But even by the standards of the time, the opening of Star Wars was quite small.

Earlier blockbusters like The Godfather and Jaws had opened on hundreds of screens. One of the other big films of 1977 was the tedious actioner The Deep, based on a novel by Jaws author Peter Benchley which opened on more than 800.

Why did Star Wars open on so few screens? There are two theories, depending on who you chose to believe. One was that 20th Century-Fox was mounting a “prestige opening” – showing the film in a small number of venues equipped with the best sound and projection systems, in order to generate enthusiasm ahead of a wider release. The other possible explanation is that few cinemas wanted it. It's said that Fox even told some venues that unless they booked Star Wars, they wouldn’t be able to show the company’s expected hit of 1977 – The Other Side of Midnight.

Supposedly Spielberg to this day still receives 2.5% of profits from ANH.

Wow thanks for the info jye! I wish I could go in a time machine to watch them in the cinemas back in the day.. Heck, I’d be down for another theatrical run!

 

[jye4ever]

Wow thanks for the info jye! I wish I could go in a time machine to watch them in the cinemas back in the day.. Heck, I’d be down for another theatrical run!

Same here my forum friend lol

I saw it in summer 77 with 70mm/Dolby Stereo.

Most remember the Star Destroyer.

Not me.

For me it was the stark white stormtroopers, black Vader entrance thru the smoke and hallway Tantive battle.

 

[jye4ever]

 

[ironwez20]

I watched Adam the Woo's vlog on his stay there and it looked exausting. Not fun at all.

Lol it really doesn’t . Even the food looks nasty . I could think of a better hotel idea.

Instead of being in freaking space why not on a planet or something.

 

[jye4ever]

It was like $3.75 in 77 and $5.00 in 83.

For crappy audio lol

 

[jye4ever]

 

[Zurdo95D]

Man, those long, long lines! It makes me wonder if there’ll ever be another Pop Culture phenomenon like the introduction of those first three Star Wars films.

 

[Adam1138]

It’s really hard for kids these days to comprehend what a huge impact Star Wars had on us back then. I don’t think any film trilogy will ever come close again. As a 4 year old, watching Star Wars at the flicks, completely changed my life. From that first moment of the SW logo appearing on the screen, that actually made me jump because if the way the Williams score starts so suddenly. My mum always says that I was sat there motionless with my eyes staring at the screen and my jaw wide open throughout the film. It really did blow my mind from start to finish! I ended up watching it a further 6 times that month

 

[jye4ever]

Man, those long, long lines! It makes me wonder if there’ll ever be another Pop Culture phenomenon like the introduction of those first three Star Wars films.

No internet, no Amazon, no quick pay, zero convenience!

I’m not saying we don’t stand on lines today but back then was crazy lol

The MCU is the closest thing to SW 77 as far as cultural and cinematic technology impact goes but even then it still can’t match what SW did.

Reason it can’t match it is because the MCU didn’t create social wide pop culture, SW did.

Trilogy was not a normal word back in 77.

Good Bad Ugly was not a real trilogy.

Sure if you look hard enough you might find one or two but it was not the norm not even close.

Where the MCU has succeeded in shaping cinema and pop culture is a connected universe.

Bond failed miserably at a connected universe.

Everything post MCU has to be connected for obvious revenue reasons.

77 was bleak on the streets.

SW rode in like a boss and swept us off our feets.

 

[GhostBeard]

Agreed. MCU is the closest for impact but Star Wars was so different and revolutionary for its time that it’s not a one for one comparison.

 

[Wor-Gar]

MCU was an established IP, world though -- comics. The whole issue with the MCU early on was 'would it be faithful'.

Star Wars was this flash of never-seen-that-before... over and over again in rapid fire succession on the screen. Every shot, every frame had "a whole new world" written all over it. It was the antithesis of the 70's movies up to that point. Of course the rest is history.

MCU didn't revolutionize anything. It certainly took-over the action-adventure genre for a good 10 years -- but replacement is not necessarily innovation. The MCU was an great experiment -- an experiment to see if interconnected stories -- more related to television spin-offs than movie sequels -- would be accepted by audiences as well as a test on whether the cast would actually stick around that long. It definitely worked and the MCU 2008-2019 is a small miracle of cooperative film-making... but it did not reinvent the film industry. The momentary madness of filmmakers trying to make their own "universe" was silly: Shyamalan trying to tie his Glass trilogy together, etc. The insane network of interconnected stories works for comic book movies because that's the world they hail from. It's in keeping with the stories original medium. I have not seen it work elsewhere in films, and the interconnectedness is now becoming annoying and, quite frankly, a trap for the filmmakers (i.e. the multiverse). I think we'll see filmmakers move more and more away from that style of "universe"-driven storylines in the future.

Right now, the crutch to make it work is "nostalgia". And that's nearly burnt out. All that's left is the CGI-return of Christopher Reeves for a sea of Man-tears... and then its done.

 

[Mondragon]

AT 0:27

¿Quién es?
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Agreed. MCU is the closest for impact but Star Wars was so different and revolutionary for its time that it’s not a one for one comparison.

For me LOTR had the lasting impact closer to what I had once felt seeing Star Wars (also living in NY it came on the heals of 9/11 a moment I never wanted to escape more into a cinematic fantasy)
MCU has been fun, more expansive and I appreciate the incredible lasting impact it's still having, yet (for me) it's become mundane by comparison.

 

[wormlander]

Agreed. MCU is the closest for impact but Star Wars was so different and revolutionary for its time that it’s not a one for one comparison.

Here in Sweden LOTR had a very profound cultural impact as well. For my money It's the only cinematic experience that truly rivals the OT.

 

[Prime Clone]

And most of the world would have to wait much longer.

Yup, like Australia 1978

 

[Wor-Gar]

I saw Star Wars in its 2nd week of opening at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

 

[GhostBeard]

Here in Sweden LOTR had a very profound cultural impact as well. For my money It's the only cinematic experience that truly rivals the OT.

Absolutely fair point. And likewise for my family for loving a series of movies, and we include The Hobbit as well. I was thinking more broadly speaking earlier.

 

[jye4ever]

I saw Star Wars in its 2nd week of opening at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

JESUS H CHRIST!

 

[Wor-Gar]

JESUS H CHRIST!

For me... Yep!

My grandfather took me, let me "ditch" the day of school to avoid the ever-increasing lines. I'll never forget that whole day.

 

[jye4ever]

That’s a crazy flex lol

 

[Dave_W]

I saw Star Wars in its 2nd week of opening at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

You've peaked. End it now!!!