Star Wars is considered to be one of the most popular franchises of all time. Releasing back on May 25th, 1977 the film original just called Star Wars released to the public. The film became an instant classic and quickly rose to being the highest grossing film at the time. All of this was possible because of the wild imagination of one man, George Lucas.

After he had finished his first feature length film, THX 1138, Lucas was inspired by old Flash Grodon movie serials and wanted to develop something in the same vein. After he was unsuccessful in acquiring the rights to Flash Gordon he decided to create his own mythos with a unique setting and characters.



The inspirations for the story and setting include classic science fiction settings like Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers and JohnCarter of Mars, Akira Kurosawa films such as The Hidden Fortress and the studies of well known theologist Joseph Campbell and his book “The Hero with a Thousand Faces”.

After making American Graffiti with Universal Lucas had a meeting with then 20th Century Fox president Alan Ladd Jr. Ladd, impressed with Lucas decided to give it the go ahead. Lucas went on to say “Ladd invested in me, he did not invest in the movie.“.

At the time making a big budget space fantasy film was not seen as very profitable. Up to that point the most successful science fiction film was 2001: A Space Odyssey. While 20th Century Fox has done the classic Planet of the Apes film series from 1968 – 1973, something at this scale was unheard of.



Filming began in 1976. Lucas wanted to have relatively unknown actors play the leads, so actors Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford landed the lead roles. Veteran Actor Alec Guinness played the wise Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi, Peter Cushing played Grand Moff Tarkin and both David Prowse and James Earl Jones played Darth Vader (Prowse as the physical Darth Vader and James Earl Jones provided the voice). In addition actors Peter Mayhew, Anthony Daniels and Kenny Baker all played the more bizarre characters of Chewbacca, C-3PO and R2-D2.



While the filming went mostly smoothly the special effects at George’s ILM (Industrial Light & Magic) were going horribly. George Lucas himself had to come in and provide hands on aid to help with the process. The reason why it was so difficult was due to many effects having been never before seen on camera. It was a very hectic process of trying to figure out how to properly make space battles on screen.



When the movie as all finished the first rough cut was considered unwatchable. It wasn’t until Lucas’ then wife Marcia, as well as Paul Hirsch and Richard Chew, were able to make a better cut and that was when the film finally came together.

The film released on May 25th, 1977, the Wednesday before Memorial Day. Only 37 theaters agreed to show it as at the same time 20th Century Fox released The Other Side of Midnight which was seen as more anticipated film. But those who saw the film experienced something they had never seen before.



The film became an instant success, earning $775.8 Million on an $11 Million budget, becoming the highest grossing film up until that point. Soon everyone was greeting each other with “May the force be with you“. Eventually when Kenner released their Star Wars toys they also became highly sought after. 



With the success of Star Wars Mattel created He-Man, Hasbro revived G.I. Joe and Paramount revived Star Trek. In a way Star Wars can be seen as the force responsible for the pop culture boom of the 1980s.

The original Star Wars films have entertained people of all ages for decades. Taking you to a galaxy far, far away, to see different cultures and a wide variety of different lifeforms. Not to mention the mysterious ways of the force and the Jedi. Of course we later got the Prequels, and while not quite as good as the originals they do have their highlights. And the less said about the more recent films the better.

Thank you George for creating one of the greatest film series of all time. You have both entertained and inspired millions for decades. And hopefully they will continue to inspire generations to come.