May 25th 1977

The Release of "Star Wars"

Notice the lack of "A New Hope".
Star Wars was just "Star Wars"

Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood - May 1977

On May 25th, 1977 Star Wars released in 32 theaters- only Thirty-Two. Yet by the end of the summer the film would rake in $100 million dollars. (Remember this was a decade where you could buy a box of cornflakes for a quarter.) In contrast "The Avengers" opened in 4,349 cinemas.

One reason the film released on so few screens is that cinemas did not think the film would be successful. Star Wars was fortunate enough to book the Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, but only because a film called "Sorcerer" was not ready yet and therefore the venue was available.

Me in front of Grauman's (1997)

What happened next was unprecedented but Carrie Fisher probably sums it up best: "It was like an earthquake….a new order of geeks, enthusiastic young people with sleeping bags". For the first time in history young people were lining up in the streets to buy tickets and wearing costumes to a movie.

Star Wars wasn't heavily advertised and most people found-out about the film "word-of-mouth", but when people saw the film it changed their lives. These new "Fanboys" would go back to the film over and over again. By August the Chinese Theater would hold a ceremony in which R2, 3-PO, & Vader all cast their footprints into cement

Just imagine being in 1977 watching the films opening credits. Did I say opening credits? I meant opening CRAWL. Star Wars is actually one of the few films without credits in the opening of the film- a controversial decision. The Directors Guild of America fined Lucas $250,000 for not crediting the film's director in the beginning of the film. Yes, Lucas was fined a quarter-million dollars for not putting his own name at the beginning of his own film.

Kids get a "Voucher" for Christmas 1977

By December every child needed to have Star Wars action figures. But Kenner wasn't able to make enough to keep up with the demand. Instead the children of 1977 unwrapped their Christmas presents to find vouchers- boxed vouchers which promised them Star Wars toys.

The film would stay open in some venues until the next summer. Can you imagine a movie staying open for over a year in today's world? (Granted this was an age without home video).

STAR WARS was every child's dream-film but in December of 1978 Lucas would bring a nightmare in the form of a Christmas Special...

NEXT TIME: Lucas releases his first big flop. The 1978 STAR WARS CHRISTMAS SPECIAL!