Friday, May 25, 2007

5/25/77

Thirty years ago today, 20th Century Fox released a little film called STAR WARS to theaters across the United States. I wasn't there opening night, but I did see it during its initial theatrical run, and it's impossible to describe to anyone who wasn't alive in 1977 just how popular STAR WARS was. I haven't seen anything like the STAR WARS phenomenon since, and that includes the mega-grossing sequels.

I find this original STAR WARS trailer quite fascinating. By all accounts, 20th Century Fox and its boss, Alan Ladd Jr., were very excited about STAR WARS and convinced it would be a box-office success. However, it's obvious from this trailer that the studio really didn't have any idea exactly what they had or how to sell it. John Williams' score wasn't completed when this trailer was made, which would have added some excitement, and the narration is drab. I think Fox believed kids were the only audience for STAR WARS.

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

"A billion years in the making". That's pretty bad.

5/25/2007 4:00 PM
Anonymous said...

I remember going to see it, probably in Oakbrook, when I was 6. I had no idea what we were going to see, like it was a last minute thing, but it completely rocked my world.

It wasn't until 20-some years later when George Lucas would return to my world and fucking ass rape it with his illiterate prequels.

Nah, maybe they weren't that bad. He just should've hired a writer. And somebody else to play Anakin.

Anyway, thanks for the reminder so I have a topic for tonight's comic.

In other words, I'm totally stealing your blog idea, bitch!

Buddha

5/25/2007 7:15 PM
Moby Dick said...

The trailer really blows. I saw ST back in 1977, and if you looked at the early commercials with Chewbacca moaning and grunting, it looked like a really weird space movie.

5/25/2007 11:57 PM

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