"Star Wars (film) Star Wars (later retitled Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope) is a 1977 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas. It is the first film in the original ""Star Wars"" trilogy and the beginning of the ""Star Wars"" franchise. Starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness, David Prowse, James Earl Jones, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, and Peter Mayhew, the film focuses on the Rebel Alliance, led by Princess Leia (Fisher), and its attempt to destroy the Galactic Empire's space station, the Death Star. ""Star Wars"" was released"
"Wars"" trilogy attracted. In the DVD commentary of the original ""Star Wars"", Lucas says that Guinness was not happy with the script rewrite in which Obi-Wan is killed. Guinness said in a 1999 interview that it was actually his idea to kill off Obi-Wan, persuading Lucas that it would make him a stronger character and that Lucas agreed to the idea. Guinness stated in the interview, ""What I didn't tell Lucas was that I just couldn't go on speaking those bloody awful, banal lines. I'd had enough of the mumbo jumbo."" He went on to say that he ""shrivelled up"""
"the original ""Star Wars"" trilogy, beginning in 1977, brought him worldwide recognition to a new generation, as well as Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations. In letters to his friends, Guinness described the film as ""fairy tale rubbish"" but the film's sense of moral good – and the studio's doubling of his initial salary offer – appealed to him and he agreed to take the part of Kenobi on the condition that he would not have to do any publicity to promote the film. He negotiated a deal for 2.25% of the gross royalties paid to the director, George Lucas,"
"film ""Close Encounters of the Third Kind"", Lucas was sure ""Close Encounters"" would outperform the yet-to-be-released ""Star Wars"" at the box office. Spielberg disagreed, and believed ""Star Wars"" would be the bigger hit. Lucas proposed they trade 2.5% of the profit on each other's films; Spielberg took the trade, and still receives 2.5% of the profits from ""Star Wars"". Fox initially had doubts if ""Star Wars"" would emerge successful. ""The Other Side of Midnight"" was supposed to be the studio's big summer hit, while Lucas's movie was considered the ""B track"" for theater owners nationwide. While Fox requested Mann's Chinese"
"Roy Thomas and Howard Chaykin of Marvel Comics who were preparing a ""Star Wars"" comic book. The cut had a different crawl from the finished version and used Prowse's voice for Darth Vader. It also lacked most special effects; hand-drawn arrows took the place of blaster beams, and when the ""Millennium Falcon"" fought TIE fighters, the film cut to footage of World War II dogfights. The reactions of the directors present, such as Brian De Palma, John Milius, and Steven Spielberg, disappointed Lucas. Spielberg, who claimed to have been the only person in the audience to have enjoyed the film,"
"apparent abandonment of plans to film the sequel trilogy. At a 1997 ""Special Edition"" press conference, Lucas said: ""Everyone said, 'Well, are you going to do sequels to the first three?' But that was an afterthought; I don't have scripts on those stories. The only notion on that was, wouldn't it be fun to get all the actors to come back when they're 60 or 70 years old and make three more about them as old people."" In a 1997 issue of ""Star Wars Insider"", he said: ""The whole story has six episodes... If I ever went beyond that, it"
"as one of the most hated characters in ""Star Wars"" and the history of film in general. George Lucas was inspired to develop Jar Jar based on the Disney character Goofy. Singer Michael Jackson was originally considered for the role, but he wanted to portray the character using prosthetics while Lucas wanted him to be all CGI. Ahmed Best, who would end up playing the character, would later hypothesize that Lucas might have felt uncomfortable with the thought of the singer's casting overshadowing the actual movie; Best was chosen based on his work in the production of Stomp as Lucas"
"because ""this is going to be an ill effect on your life"". The fan was stunned at first but later thanked him (though some sources say it went differently). Guinness is quoted as saying: ""'Well', I said, 'do you think you could promise never to see ""Star Wars"" again?' He burst into tears. His mother drew herself up to an immense height. 'What a dreadful thing to say to a child!' she barked, and dragged the poor kid away. Maybe she was right but I just hope the lad, now in his thirties, is not living in a fantasy world"
"grizzled war hero, later as a Jedi Master, and as a woman. The last name ""Starkiller"" remained for the first few months of production, Hamill on-camera used the name 'Luke Starkiller"" the sole time he referred to himself during filming. ""Starkiller"" was dropped due to what Lucas called ""unpleasant connotations"". An alternative ending pitched by George Lucas for ""Return of the Jedi"" was Luke assuming his father's role as Darth Vader after the latter's death and intending to rule in his place. Though Lawrence Kasdan favored the idea, Lucas ultimately declined, since the films were made for children. Another conclusion"
"the details—only major plot points. He began working on the screenplay for ""Episode III"" even before the previous film, """", was released, proposing to concept artists that the film would open with a montage of seven battles on seven planets. Michael Kaminski, in ""The Secret History of Star Wars"", surmises that Lucas found flaws with Anakin's fall to the dark side and radically re-organized the plot. For instance, instead of opening the film with various Clone Wars battles, Lucas decided instead to focus on Anakin, ending the film's first act with his killing of Count Dooku, an action that signals"
"decided to end the saga as six films. This prevented him from developing a sequel trilogy during that time-frame. In an interview published in the February 1999 issue of ""Vanity Fair"", Lucas said: ""When you see it in six parts, you'll understand. It really ends at part six. I never had a story for the sequels, for the later ones."" In early May 2002, just before the worldwide release of """" and while Lucas was working on the script for ""Episode III"", rumors of ""Star Wars"" episodes VII, VIII, and IX were posted on the Internet. In reply, Lucas noted"
"offering to ""buy the film"" from the studio and reimburse it for the $775,000 (equivalent to $ in ) it had cost to make it. 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures made similar offers to the studio. Universal refused these offers and told Lucas they planned to have William Hornbeck re-edit the film. When Coppola's ""The Godfather"" won the Academy Award for Best Picture in March 1973, Universal relented, and agreed to cut only three scenes (about four minutes) from Lucas' cut—an encounter between Toad and a fast-talking car salesman, an argument between Steve and his former teacher Mr. Kroot"
"the scene and phrase, Spielberg said: ""Blame me. Don't blame George. That was my silly idea … I'm proud of that. I'm glad I was able to bring that into popular culture."" Lucas denied this, saying Spielberg was ""protecting him"". According to Lucas, he had assembled a dossier of research data to convince Spielberg; Lucas stated that his research claimed the odds of surviving in the refrigerator are about ""50-50."" The mixed fanbase reaction did not surprise Lucas, who was familiar with mixed response to the ""Star Wars"" prequels, and predicted that ""we're all going to get people throwing tomatoes"
"he called me back and said I had taken advantage of his son in the negotiations. I had not. But agents are agents."" Ford suggested that Han Solo be killed through self-sacrifice. Kasdan concurred, saying it should happen near the beginning of the film to instill doubt as to whether the others would survive, but Lucas was vehemently against it and rejected the concept. Gary Kurtz, who produced ""Star Wars"" and ""The Empire Strikes Back"" but was replaced as producer for ""Return of the Jedi"" by Kazanjian, said in 2010 that the ongoing success with ""Star Wars"" merchandise and toys"
"to retell the film ""Black Snake Moan"" before being interrupted by Stewie and Chris. In the same fashion as the original ""Star Wars"" films, the story opens with a large, yellow crawl of text, with the text in this variation calling out 20th Century Fox for their lack of foresight in terms of merchandising rights, thus allowing George Lucas and Lucasfilm to keep all the rights to every film in the ""Star Wars"" franchise. The text then addresses the stockholders of 20th Century Fox, and cites ""Family Guy""s two cancellations as another example of the company's short-sighted decisions, and spending"
"reprise the role of Palpatine. In an interview, he stated, ""When we were doing ""Return of the Jedi"" there was a rumor that George Lucas had nine films in his head, and he'd clearly just completed three of them."" McDiarmid added, ""Someone said that, 'Oh, I think what he might do next is go back in time, and show how Vader came to be.' It never occurred to me in a million years that I would be involved in that, because I thought, 'oh well, then he'll get a much younger actor to play Palpatine. That would be obvious."" However,"
"that the entire trilogy was intended to be considered one film. However, he said that his story material for ""Star Wars"" was too long for a single film, prompting Lucas to split the story into multiple films. Lucas also stated that the story evolved over time and that ""There was never a script completed that had the entire story as it exists now [in 1983] ... As the stories unfolded, I would take certain ideas and save them ... I kept taking out all the good parts, and I just kept telling myself I would make other movies someday."" In"
"to play the young Union soldier who deserts his company out of fear, but later returns to fight alongside them. MGM, however, saw the message of the movie as too antiwar. Without Huston's input, they cut down the running time of the film from eighty-eight minutes to sixty-nine, added narration, and deleted what Huston felt was a crucial scene. The movie did poorly at the box office. Huston suggests that it was possibly because it ""brought war very close to home."" Huston recalls that at the preview showing, before the film was halfway through, ""damn near a third of the"
"every time ""Star Wars"" was mentioned to him. Although Guinness disliked the fame that followed work he did not hold in high esteem, Lucas and fellow cast members Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Kenny Baker, Anthony Daniels and Carrie Fisher have spoken highly of his courtesy and professionalism, on and off the set. Lucas credited him with inspiring cast and crew to work harder, saying that Guinness contributed significantly to achieving completion of the filming. Guinness was quoted as saying that the royalties he obtained from working on the films gave him ""no complaints; let me leave it by saying I"
"conflict with, or undermine the meaning of Mr. Lucas's ""Star Wars"" saga of films and screenplays."" Director of Fan Relations Steve Sansweet clarified: In August 2005, Lucas said of the Expanded Universe: In October 2012, The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm for $4.06 billion. Subsequently, Lucasfilm formed the """"Star Wars"" Story Group"", which was established to keep track of and define the canon and unify the films, comics, and other media. Among its members are Chee, Kiri Hart, and Pablo Hidalgo. To prevent a planned sequel trilogy from being beholden to and restrained by the plotlines of the ""Expanded Universe"""
"that finding a famous actor for the title role had proven difficult because of contractual obligations to appear in sequels. ""No star wants to sign that, but as much as I've told Jude and Josh my vision for the movie, I've warned them of the consequences of being Superman. They'll live this character for 10 years because I'm telling one story over three movies and plan to direct all three if the first is as successful as everyone suspects."" Hartnett in particular was offered $100 million for a three-picture deal. Walker explained that ""I could have made a gazillion dollars"
"watched the film. To preserve the dramatic opening sequences of his films, Lucas wanted the screen credits to come only at the end. While this practice has become more common over the years, this was relatively unusual at the time. The Writers and Directors Guilds of America had no problem allowing it on ""Star Wars"", back in 1977, because the writer-director credit (George Lucas) matched the company name. However, when Lucas did the same thing for the sequel, it became an issue because they viewed the company credit (Lucasfilm) as displaying Lucas' name at the start of the film, while"
"Lucas' original ""Star Wars"" trilogy and Steven Spielberg's ""E.T."". The episode also criticizes remake movies. The episode was written by series co-creator Trey Parker and is rated TV-MA in the United States. Kyle, Stan, Cartman and Tweek get angry about Steven Spielberg and George Lucas' habit of altering their films with each ""re-re-re-release"" to make them more family-friendly or politically correct. They decide to form an organization to protect classic movies from changes. Cartman writes ""Free Hat"" on the advertising poster in the belief that freebies are necessary to attract people. However, the crowd mistakenly thinks the rally is to"
"provided the first draft of a monologue about the USS ""Indianapolis"") for the Spielberg film released in 1975. Benchley made a cameo appearance as a news reporter on the beach. The film, starring Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, and Richard Dreyfuss, was released in the summer season, traditionally considered to be the graveyard season for films. However, Universal Studios decided to break tradition by releasing the film with extensive television advertising. It eventually grossed over $470 million worldwide. George Lucas used a similar strategy in 1977 for ""Star Wars"" which broke the box office records set by ""Jaws"", and hence the"
"(said to include Randy Stradley, a then-editor at Dark Horse Comics), who sent a list of characters they would like to kill to George Lucas, with Luke Skywalker at the top of the list. The response was what characters they couldn't kill, and Chewbacca wasn't on the list, hence his selection. This is covered – in some detail – in the round table interview with the series editors published at the end of the final New Jedi Order novel, ""The Unifying Force"". Opinion was sharply divided as to whether this death of a beloved character was an effort to boost"
"of the ""Star Wars"" original trilogy was George Lucas himself, the creator of the ""Star Wars"" universe. For various reasons, producers cannot always personally supervise all parts of their production. For example, some producers run a company which also deals with film distribution. Also, cast and film crew often work at different times and places, and certain films even require a second unit. During post-production, the producer has the last word on whether sounds, music, or scenes have to be changed or cut. Even if the shooting has been finished, the producers can still demand that additional scenes be filmed."
"rerelease. The primary objection to the revision is that it alters Han's initially morally ambiguous character, making his later transition from anti-hero to hero less meaningful. According to ""Variety,"" ""Fans lost their minds. It was an affront, the neutering of a badass."" Fans have created fan edits of the original ""Star Wars"" films to redact Lucas's changes, especially the scene with Solo and Greedo. In a 2004 interview, Lucas explained: ""To me, [the original movie] doesn't really exist anymore. ... I'm sorry you saw half a completed film and fell in love with it. But I want it to be"
"game supplement, and toys. The success of the ""Star Wars"" films led the franchise to become one of the most merchandised franchises in the world. While filming the original 1977 film, George Lucas decided to take a $500,000 pay cut to his salary as director in exchange for full ownership of the franchise's merchandising rights. The first six films produced approximately billion in merchandising revenue. Kenner made the first ""Star Wars"" action figures to coincide with the release of the film, and today the original figures are highly valuable. Since the 1990s, Hasbro holds the rights to create action figures"
"after raising several thousand dollars, Collins was unable to negotiate the price any lower, and was forced to abandon any hopes of meeting Hamill. Collins did, however, succeed in securing interviews, through a combination of deception and surprise attacks, with the following: Of these, only Bulloch, Davis, Baker and Prowse were able to attend the reunion in London. Daniels called to say he could not attend. Fisher recorded a humorous video message to be played as a holographic message, akin to the one in the original ""Star Wars"" film. Mayhew and Williams also made short video clips to be played"
"of the character Chewbacca. In this episode, the ""TGS"" crew tells Liz ""Do something Liz, you're our only hope"", in regards to the cutbacks. This line was said by Princess Leia in the ""Star Wars"" movies, in which she was played by actress Carrie Fisher, who guest-starred in the season two episode ""Rosemary's Baby"". Tina Fey, a fan of ""Star Wars"" herself, said that the weekly ""Star Wars"" joke or reference ""started happening organically"" when the crew realized that they had a ""Star Wars"" reference ""in almost every show"". Fey said that from then on ""it became a thing where"
"nuanced ending they had outlined that saw Han dead, the Rebel forces in pieces, Leia struggling as a queen, and Luke walking off alone (like in a Spaghetti Western)—while Lucas wanted a happier ending, partly to encourage toy sales. This led to tension between the two, resulting in Kurtz leaving the production. Footnotes Citations Star Wars Trilogy The ""Star Wars"" Trilogy, often colloquially referred to as the original trilogy, is the first set of three films produced in the ""Star Wars"" franchise, an American space opera created by George Lucas. It was produced by Lucasfilm Ltd. and distributed by 20th"
"quest to find filmmaker George Lucas (George Starkey) and convince him to continue making ""Star Wars"" movies. Through a series of mishaps, Woody and Hank accidentally kidnap Lucas and allow the script for """" to fall into the hands of an unbalanced fan (Scott C. Sendelweck), a murderous producer, and a certain Dark Lord-portraying actor (David Prowse). To his surprise, Woody finds himself in the middle of an adventure with the fate of the ""Star Wars"" movie-making empire hanging in the balance. 2005 Winner, Best Supporting Actor, Jim Peterson at the London Science Fiction Film Festival 2005 Winner, Audience Choice"
"Lucas intended to balance American accents and British accents between the heroes and villains of the original film so that each side had each. He also strove to keep accents ""very neutral"", noting Alec Guinness's and Peter Cushing's mid-Atlantic accents and his guidance to Anthony Daniels to speak in an American accent. In critical commentary on , Patricia Williams of ""The Nation"" felt there was a correlation between accent and social class, noting that Jedi speak with ""crisp British accents"" while the women of Naboo and white slaves such as Anakin and Shmi Skywalker ""speak with the brusque, determined innocence"