THIS DAY IN HISTORY: MAY 25, 1977
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away ... an intergalactic battle between good and evil took the world by storm and changed the movie industry forever. The George Lucas blockbuster Star Wars opened in theatres, introducing the world to Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader and Han Solo. “Star Wars became a mania,” Lew Harris of movies. com said on the 30th anniversary of the release. “It was the first film that ever did that. It single- handedly created the merchandising industry, it changed the face of science- fiction, it changed special effects, it changed the way we look at sequels. A lot of things about Star Wars were completely groundbreaking.” Indeed, in addition to ushering in five more films, Star Wars spawned a cottage industry of spinoff television series, books, comics, video games, toys and other merchandise. Forbes magazine estimated in 2005 the franchise has generated as much as $ 20 billion US in revenues over three decades. Ironically, Lucas had to fight to persuade the film’s backers, 20th Century Fox, to continue bankrolling the project during a troubled production. Fox slashed the budget for the film to $ 6.9 million from $ 7.5 million just four months before shooting began, and it was only the intervention of studio production chief Alan Ladd Jr. that prevented further cuts. “Why did I believe in George Lucas? That’s easy — George Lucas,” Ladd told Agence FrancePresse. Still, an initial screening of a rough version of the movie, for an audience of studio executives and fellow directors including Steven Spielberg and Brian De Palma, received an icy reception. According to past interviews, Spielberg was one of the few who could see Lucas had struck gold. “George, it’s great,” he told his friend. “It’s gonna make $ 100 million.” The film opened in only 32 theatres across the U. S. but quickly became a monster hit, leaving Lucas free to dictate terms for the subsequent sequels, 1980’ s The Empire Strikes Back and 1983’ s The Return of the Jedi.