Guided by the disembodied voice of Obi-Wan's spirit, Luke turns off his targeting computer and uses the Force to guide his torpedoes into the exhaust port, destroying the Death Star moments before it fires on the Rebel base. [35] United Artists also passed on Lucas' space-opera concept, which he shelved for the time being. [7] For the film's 20th anniversary in 1997, Star Wars was digitally remastered with some altered scenes and re-released to theaters, along with The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, under the campaign title Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition. Concurrently with the release of the 1997 Special Edition, Special Photographic Effects Supervisor —, Special Production and Mechanical Effects Supervisor —, Computer Animation and Graphic Displays —, Optical Effects Lineup and Plotting (Ray Mercer & Co.) —, Special Edition Digital Remastering Provided by —, Additional Footage Photographer and Additional Material Editing —, Digital Effects Artists (Pacific Title Digital) —, Digital Effects Resource Assistant (ILM) —. "[230] In his 2009 review, Robert Hatch of The Nation called the film "an outrageously successful, what will be called a 'classic,' compilation of nonsense, largely derived but thoroughly reconditioned. "[121], The Death Star assault scene was modeled after the World War II film The Dam Busters (1955), in which Royal Air Force Lancaster bombers fly along heavily defended reservoirs and aim bouncing bombs at dams, in order to cripple the heavy industry of Germany's Ruhr region. "[166][167][168], Star Wars required extensive recovery of misplaced footage and restoration of the whole film before Lucas's Special Edition modifications could be attempted. Zito, Stephen (April 1977). I'm raised in England. "[169], In 1989, the 1977 theatrical version of Star Wars was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry of the United States Library of Congress. I'd stick things on them and we'd make things look old. [6] Although Lucas declined to provide the Library with a workable copy of the original film upon request (instead offering the Special Edition), a viewable scan was made of the original copyright deposit print. [125], The opening shot of Star Wars, in which a detailed spaceship fills the screen overhead, is a reference to the scene introducing the interplanetary spacecraft Discovery One in Stanley Kubrick's seminal 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey. [89], Star Wars was originally slated for release on Christmas 1976; however, its production delays pushed the film's release to mid-1977. Lucas showed his draft to his friends. We had Westerns, pirate movies, all kinds of great things. [43] Frustrated that his story was too difficult to understand,[44] Lucas then began writing a 13-page treatment called The Star Wars on April 17, 1973, which had narrative parallels with Kurosawa's 1958 film The Hidden Fortress. [180], The trilogy was re-released on separate two-disc limited edition DVD sets from September 12 to December 31, 2006, and again in a limited edition tin box set on November 4, 2008;[181] the original versions of the films were added as bonus material. [237] John Williams's soundtrack album won the Grammy Award for Best Album of Original Score for a Motion Picture or Television Program,[238] and the film attained the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation. A breakdown of characters, symbols, archetypes, irony, and the theme in Star Wars: Episode 4 - A New Hope [112], In March 1977, Williams conducted the London Symphony Orchestra to record the Star Wars soundtrack in 12 days. [7][268][269], Filmmakers who have said to have been influenced by Star Wars include James Cameron, J.J. Abrams, Damon Lindelof, Dean Devlin, Gareth Edwards,[270] Roland Emmerich, John Lasseter,[271] David Fincher, Peter Jackson, Joss Whedon, Christopher Nolan, Ridley Scott, John Singleton, and Kevin Smith. Jung had twelve basic archetypes; Campbell had eight. All character tropes should go on the Star Wars character pages. The Death Star has a docking bay reminiscent of the one on the orbiting space station in 2001. [267], Film critic Roger Ebert wrote in his book The Great Movies, "Like The Birth of a Nation and Citizen Kane, Star Wars was a technical watershed that influenced many of the movies that came after." "[100] In an examination of this early cut, which has come to be called the "Lost Cut", David West Reynolds noted the film adopted a "documentary-like" approach that emphasized "clarity, especially in geographic and spatial relationships" over "dramatic or artistic concerns". Obi-Wan tells Luke of his days as one of the Jedi Knights, the former peacekeepers of the Galactic Republic who drew mystical abilities from a metaphysical energy field known as "the Force", but were ultimately hunted to near-extinction by the Empire. ", "The Force Is Still Strong with John Williams", "The Cinema Behind Star Wars: The Dam Busters", "How accurate was Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' about the future? It's like a poem." Star Wars, together with Lucas, is the subject of the 2010 documentary film The People vs. George Lucas that details the issues of filmmaking and fanaticism pertaining to the film franchise and its creator. While cleaning R2-D2, Luke accidentally triggers part of a holographic recording of Leia, in which she requests help from Obi-Wan Kenobi. [151][152][c], The retronymic inclusion of subtitles brought the film into line with the introduction to its sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, which was reconcieved during rewrites as "Episode V" and eventually released as such in 1980. "George Lucas Goes Far Out". [78] For four to five months, in a studio in Kensal Rise, England,[78][82] they attempted to plan the creation of the props and sets with "no money." [7][89], During production, the cast attempted to make Lucas laugh or smile, as he often appeared depressed. In 2004, its soundtrack was added to the U.S. National Recording Registry, and was additionally listed by the American Film Institute as the best movie score of all time a year later. The film's success led to two critically and commercially successful sequels, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983), and later to a prequel trilogy, a sequel trilogy, two anthology films and various spin-off TV series. Let me sit down and write this for you." Two months after Star Wars opened, the Hildebrandts' poster was replaced by Chantrell's Style ‘C’ poster in UK cinemas. The release was met with criticism as the unaltered versions were from the 1993 non-anamorphic LaserDisc masters and were not re-transferred using modern video standards. However, a few of Williams' eventual pieces were influenced by the temp track: the "Main Title Theme" was inspired by the theme from the 1942 film Kings Row, scored by Erich Wolfgang Korngold;[114] and the track "Dune Sea of Tatooine" drew from the soundtrack of Bicycle Thieves, scored by Alessandro Cicognini. Test your knowledge on this movies quiz and compare your score to others. While in Hawaii, it was not until he watched Walter Cronkite discuss the gigantic crowds for Star Wars on the CBS Evening News that Lucas realized he had become very wealthy. I told him it wouldn't work, but he said that was the way he wanted to do the entire film, all diffused." On his decision, Lucas said: "I thought they were good, eccentrically photographed pictures with a strong documentary flavor. He said, "What finally emerged through the many drafts of the script has obviously been influenced by science-fiction and action-adventure I've read and seen. [143], Star Wars was re-released theatrically in 1978, 1979, 1981 and 1982,[144] with the subtitle Episode IV – A New Hope being added in 1981. After a turbulent production, Star Wars was released in a limited number of theaters in the United States on May 25, 1977, and quickly became a blockbuster hit, leading to it being expanded to a much wider release. It replaced Jaws as the highest-earning film in North America just six months into release,[194] eventually earning over $220 million during its initial theatrical run ($928 million in 2019 dollars). After the screening, the audience was silent, leading him to fear that the film would be unsuccessful. Pursued by stormtroopers, Obi-Wan, Luke, R2-D2 and C-3PO flee Tatooine with Han and his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca on their ship the Millennium Falcon. They had a conversation with Lucas on what he would like the film to appear like, with them creating the desired sets. [106], In February 1977, Lucas screened an early cut of the film for Fox executives, several director friends, along with Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin of Marvel Comics who were preparing a Star Wars comic book. "[213] A.D. Murphy of Variety described the film as "magnificent" and said George Lucas had succeeded in his attempt to create the "biggest possible adventure fantasy" based on the serials and older action epics from his childhood. The Original, "The 10 Greatest Motion Picture Trilogies of All Time", "Good Things Come In Threes: Great Movie Trilogies". Annikin became Luke's father, a wise Jedi knight. [210] At the North American box office, it ranks second behind Gone with the Wind on the inflation-adjusted list. [252][253][254] Writing for The New York Times, Frank DeCaro said, "Star Wars littered pop culture of the late 1970s with a galaxy of space junk. Door opened, and George walked in with Gary behind him. Lucas would later claim he wanted to superimpose a stop-motion creature over the actor - which he did in the 1997 Special Edition with a computer-generated version of Jabba. [197] Its biggest international market was Japan, where it grossed $58.4 million. [77], According to Christian, the Millennium Falcon set was the most difficult to build. The recording was produced by George Lucas and Alan Livingston, and was narrated by Roscoe Lee Browne. [79] Finally, along with Steven Spielberg's Jaws, it shifted the film industry's focus away from personal filmmaking of the 1970s and towards fast-paced, big-budget blockbusters for younger audiences. [214] Writing for The Washington Post, Gary Arnold gave the film a positive review, writing that the film "is a new classic in a rousing movie tradition: a space swashbuckler. "[47] He said that "science fiction wasn't popular in the mid-'70s ... what seems to be the case generally is that the studio executives are looking for what was popular last year, rather than trying to look forward to what might be popular next year. [192], Star Wars remains one of the most financially successful films of all time. [39], Lucas went to United Artists and showed them the script for American Graffiti, but they passed on the film, which was then picked up by Universal Pictures. [7] Although the film's cultural neutrality helped it to gain international success, Ladd became anxious during the premiere in Japan. It's always been what you might call a good idea in search of a story. Taylor also said, "I took it upon myself to experiment with photographing the lightsabers and other things onstage before we moved on to our two weeks of location work in Tunisia. However, he eventually withdrew to work on the Vincente Minnelli-directed A Matter of Time (1976) instead, which "really annoy[ed]" Kurtz. The film has been reissued multiple times with Lucas's support—most significantly with its 20th-anniversary theatrical "Special Edition"—incorporating many changes including modified computer-generated effects, altered dialogue, re-edited shots, remixed soundtracks and added scenes. May 4, 2018 … [96] Editor John Jympson began cutting the film together while Lucas was still filming in Tunisia; as Lucas noted, the editor was in an "impossible position" because Lucas had not explained any of the film's material to him. [128][129], The logotype eventually selected for on-screen use originated in a promotional brochure that was distributed by Fox to cinema owners in 1976. [38] Believing that the bleak tone of THX 1138 led to its poor reception, Lucas chose to make Star Wars more optimistic; this is what led to its fun and adventurous tone. [33] Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, and currently marketed as simply Star Wars: A New Hope[4] is a 1977 film written and directed by George Lucas. [51] This script would be re-written for the fourth and final draft, dated January 1, 1976, as The Adventures of Luke Starkiller as taken from the Journal of the Whills, Saga I: The Star Wars. [170][171] The soundtrack was added to the United States National Recording Registry 15 years later (in 2004). Lucas was looking for a way of accelerating the storytelling, and removing Luke's early scenes would distinguish Star Wars from his earlier teenage drama and "get that American Graffiti feel out of it. After some feedback from Lucas, Rice decided to join the S and T of STAR and the R and S of WARS. He realized that it was too long for a single film, and decided to subdivide it into a trilogy. [101] Reynolds estimated this early cut contained "30-40%" different footage from the final cut, with most of the differences coming from extended cuts or alternate takes rather than deleted scenes. [136], Amidst Fox pessimism, Lucas elected to forgo his option to an extra $500,000 fee for directing Star Wars, in exchange for releasing ownership of the merchandising and sequel rights for the movie to Fox. ", "Star Wars on Blu-ray: what surprises does LucasFilm have in store? Approximately 400 mailboxes across the country were also designed to look like R2-D2. Spin-off films Rogue One and Solo: A Star Wars Story are set before and explore the backstory to the original film. The original Star Wars trilogy is considered one of the best film trilogies in history. [283] Star Wars has also been featured in several high-profile audience polls: in 1997, it ranked as the 10th Greatest American Film on the Los Angeles Daily News Readers' Poll;[284] in 2002, the film and its sequel The Empire Strikes Back were voted as the greatest films ever made in Channel 4's 100 Greatest Films poll;[285] in 2011, it ranked as Best Sci-Fi Film on Best in Film: The Greatest Movies of Our Time, a primetime special aired by ABC that counted down the best films as chosen by fans, based on results of a poll conducted by ABC and People magazine; in 2014 the film placed 11th in a poll undertaken by The Hollywood Reporter, which balloted every studio, agency, publicity firm, and production house in the Hollywood region. [138] When Star Wars made an unprecedented second opening at Mann's Chinese Theatre on August 3, 1977, after Sorcerer failed, thousands of people attended a ceremony in which C-3PO, R2-D2 and Darth Vader placed their footprints in the theater's forecourt. The final issue of the original theatrical release (pre-Special Edition) to VHS format occurred in 1995, as part of "Last Chance to Own the Original" campaign, available as part of a trilogy set and as a standalone purchase. In 1983, the final installment of the trilogy, Return of the Jedi, was released. Lucas found the experience shocking and rewarding, having never gained any approval from studio executives before. [124] There are also similarities in the Death Star trench sequence to the bridge attack scene in The Bridges at Toko-Ri. It is the first installment of the original Star Wars trilogy, the first of the franchise to be produced, and the fourth episode of the "Skywalker saga". Now they have The Six Million Dollar Man and Kojak. Lucas and Burtt created the robotic voice of R2-D2 by filtering their voices through an electronic synthesizer. Obi-Wan presents Luke with his father's old lightsaber, the signature weapon of Jedi Knights. Later, after Luke finds R2-D2 missing, he is attacked by scavenging Sand People while searching for him, but is rescued by elderly hermit "Old Ben" Kenobi, an acquaintance of Luke's, who reveals that "Obi-Wan" is his true name. [89] This was a more controlled environment but, because of strict British working conditions, filming had to finish by 5:30 pm, unless Lucas was in the middle of a scene. "[255] He cited Quark (a short-lived 1977 sitcom that parodies the science fiction genre)[255] and Donny & Marie (a 1970s variety show that produced a 10-minute musical adaptation of Star Wars guest starring Daniels and Mayhew)[256] as "television's two most infamous examples. Fox and Lucasfilm subsequently decided that they wanted to promote the new film with a less stylized and more realistic depiction of the lead characters. [7], During the chaos of production and post-production, the team made decisions about character voicing and sound effects. 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