30 years ago...How 'Star Wars' shook the world.

[MadonnasManOne]

It is hard to believe that it was 30 years ago, on this very day, May 25, 1977, that a movie would be released that would forever change the world of entertainment. Star Wars literally shook the world. I was two years old, at the time. I didn't get to see Star Wars in theaters. It wasn't until Empire Strikes Back that I got to see Star Wars in a theater. I was instantly hooked, and had to have EVERYTHING related to it. I had action figures, vehicles, t-shirts, posters, glassware, and so much more. More than that, I was hooked into the experience of going to a theater, hoping to see the next big thing. Despite the fact that George Lucas failed to bring that type of magical experience back to the big screen with the prequels, there is no denying that a long time ago, at a theater far, far away...George Lucas created something that was magical, and did change the world. For that, I thank him. For that, I congratulate him. So, today, I celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars. A film, that, to this day, makes me believe in a galaxy, far, far away...

-MadonnasManOne
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I found an interesting feature on MSN.com about how Star Wars shook the world. I hope you enjoy it.

http://movies.msn.com/movies/starwars

On the 30th anniversary of its release, we look back at why George Lucas' space opera changed everything
By Jim Emerson
Special to MSN Movies

Thirty years ago, on May 25, 1977, "Star Wars" changed everything. Every once in a while, that's what happens. Something comes along and it makes you realize -- either at the time, or sometime thereafter -- that things after that thing were not the same as things before that thing. Like, for instance, the wheel. Or the Enlightenment. Or The Beatles. Or TiVo.

For 22 years, between the release of the original "Star Wars" film ("Episode IV: A New Hope") and the release of the first prequel ("Episode I: The Phantom Menace"), the "Star Wars" phenomenon had an impact on American popular culture like nothing else before, or since. A heroic celluloid myth based (according to auteur George Lucas) on Joseph Campbell's studies of cross-cultural archetypes, it was released early in the Carter administration when, as it happened, we really could have used something like that. But it was also a prescient, anti-imperialistic fable in an anti-imperialistic age, with scruffy insurgent freedom fighters (insurgents?) taking on a corrupt authoritarian Empire -- headed by the morally weak, sociopathic Emperor Palpatine and his even more powerful, right-hand iron fist, the dark Lord Darth Cheney -- er, Vader.

The "Star Wars" phenomenon wasn't really so much about "content," though. It was more about capturing zeitgeist-lightning (or hyperspace star fields) in a bottle. And then, merchandising the hell out of them. Aesthetically, "Star Wars" was hardly a revolutionary picture, patterned as it was on lowly sci-fi cliffhanger serials, the kind they used to show at Saturday kiddie matinees. That was part of the joke: The thing even began in media res, with "Episode IV" -- trumpeted with a now-familiar fanfare and a crawl that assumed previous installments. (The prequels later destroyed this joke -- and the magic of the "Star Wars" mythology -- for many.)

What "Star Wars" did best was combine corny stock characters and "Amazing Stories" plotlines with state-of-the-art Industrial Light and Magic visual effects and Dolby (later replaced with Lucas's patented THX) Surround sound. No more rockets made out of cardboard toilet-paper tubes with sparklers stuck in the rear for thrusters. Mix that with a wisecracking, almost postmodern sense of humor (more gung-ho earnest than the arch self-awareness William Goldman pumped into the Western in "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" eight years earlier) and an old-fashioned Hollywood military-symphonic score by John Williams, and you have a rousing, roller-coaster space adventure for children of all ages, as the marketers like to say.

Sure, the movie was criticized for being infantile, but that misses the point. It's aimed at a sensibility somewhere between infancy and the second year of college (or high school). A space fantasy with the emphasis on interstellar swashbuckling (and with romantic mush kept to a minimum), "Star Wars" appealed to the 8- to 12-year-old boy in all of us -- and still does.

But although all those things may have contributed to the "Star Wars" phenomenon, they don't explain why it "changed everything", or what accounted for "the mania" (as George Harrison used to call that unaccountable epochal thing that engulfed him and three other lovable mop-tops). Because it wasn't really the movie itself that shook the world (not like the Beatles' music shook up pop/rock music, anyway); it was the popular response to the movie, and the motion picture industry's response to that response.

The most revolutionary thing about "Star Wars" was probably its demonstration of several "paradigm-shifting" business principles in the movie industry:

1. After decades of banking on marquee names, it proved you could have a blockbuster hit with no stars -- except for the ILM-generated ones. (Guest star Alec Guinness does not qualify, because he was hardly a marquee name by 1977.) The actors were good in their roles (and became indelibly identified with them), but none had ever sold a ticket before. (Or do you recall rushing out to see that new Harrison Ford picture, "The Conversation"?)

2. It created the modern "franchise picture" -- a series of "event" films (usually with numerals in their titles) that either continued a particular story with some or all of the same characters, or repeated the concept with new characters (so the actors wouldn't have to receive star salaries from the start, unless the pictures became successful). Yes, that pre-"Jaws" blockbuster, "The Godfather," directed by Lucas' pal and "American Graffiti" patron Francis Ford Coppola, had already generated a "Part II" sequel/prequel in 1974 (only two years after the first!) that was superior to the original. But what was exceptional about the "Star Wars" series was that each installment became essential viewing -- unlike, say, "Jaws 2," "Jaws 3-D" and "Jaws: The Revenge" ("This time ... it's personal!"), all of which illustrated the common law of diminishing returns. Each episode of the first "Star Wars" trilogy took in more than $200 million -- astonishing, record-breaking figures in the 1970s and early 1980s.

3. It created the model for the modern major movie trilogy. From the beginning (or, OK, the middle), Lucas said that he envisioned the "Star Wars" saga as a "nonology," or a trilogy of trilogies, so the sequels didn't just dribble out endlessly -- as would later become the custom with spotty horror series such as "Halloween," "Friday the 13th" and "A Nightmare on Elm Street". Today, popular tent-pole pictures tend to come in groups of three: "Back to the Future," "The Matrix," "The Terminator" and "Spider-Man" (well, so far). Franchises such as the "Alien" and "Rambo" movies felt like they'd played themselves out after three installments and were only extended after a gap of five to 20 years as rather desperate afterthoughts. If these later offspring were children, they'd be considered "mistakes." (Although "Alien: Resurrection" wasn't terrible -- at least not compared with "Alien vs. Predator.")

4. Perhaps most significant of all, "Star Wars" showed that you could make even more from the merchandising rights on a movie than you could from the movie itself. Lucas negotiated a deal with 20th Century Fox that gave him not only final cut and 40 percent of the net but also ownership of all sequels and merchandising. That's what made Lucas a billionaire and built the ILM Empire. By the time of the late 1990s prequels, Lucas made an unprecedented tie-in deal with Pepsico (including Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, KFC and Frito-Lay) estimated to be worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $2 billion -- almost twice the North American domestic gross of Episodes I, II and III combined.

To see "Star Wars" in 1977 was to experience a moment in pop culture that seemed universal. This may have been the last such unifying landmark for the boomer generation -- with the Beatles at one end and "Star Wars" at the other.

Unless you remember what it was like in the summer of 1967 -- the so-called "Summer of Love," when "Sgt. Pepper" was simply in the air, everywhere, or the summer of 1977, when lines for "Star Wars" seemed to last for months (and people waited in lawn chairs with coolers full of beverages) -- it's hard to describe the feeling, because it's not likely to happen again.

Yes, "E.T. -- The Extra-Terrestrial" would galvanize American popular culture again five years later, but the experience (the phenomenon, not the movie) already felt a little second-hand. Since then, we've seen "Batman" and "ID4" (Anybody remember the actual title of that movie?) and "Titanic," the top-grossing movie of all time and now "Spider-Man 3"... and yet they don't approach the intensity of the impact "Star Wars" had.

That, it now seems, happened a long time ago in ... I don't have to finish that sentence, do I?

[SpringHeelJack]

I need to watch the Original Trilogy this weekend to celebrate! Plus I'm kinda interested in the A&E special on Monday (I think it's Monday?).

[kbehm29]

What a great, informational, interesting post! I enjoyed reading it....and by the way....I was born on January 25, 1977 - so I was turning 3 months on the day Star Wars was released. I never knew that before.

[Dottie]

I didn't know it was today!! Thanks for posting that!! That's a reason to watch the trilogy this weekend. Yay!

[MadonnasManOne]

Here is another article I found on MSNBC.com. I was able to attend the first Star Wars Celebration, and I must say, you will never see a more awesome gathering of fans in the galaxy! I'll have to dig out my photos of the event, someday, and post them. It was quite the experience!

At any rate, here's the article:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18863675/

‘A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away ...’
30 years after its release, fans, actors celebrate anniversary of ‘Star Wars’

By Carolyn Giardina
Hollywood Reporter
Updated: 9:51 a.m. CT May 25, 2007

LOS ANGELES - More than 20,000 “Star Wars” fans are expected to converge on downtown Los Angeles during the next few days to celebrate the film’s 30th anniversary.

In recognition of the May 25, 1977, opening, series creator George Lucas’ Lucasfilm production company and convention organizer Gen Con are presenting “Star Wars Celebration IV” at the Los Angeles Convention Center, which will be open to the public Friday through Monday.

The event — which kicked off Wednesday with a marathon screening of all six films — includes live entertainment, cast-member appearances, film and video presentations and an exhibit of movie props and costumes.

Carrie Fisher (a.k.a. Princess Leia) will attend, but Lucas is out of the country, said Tom Warner, senior director of marketing at Lucasfilm.

Warner said the event will include a preview of a new video game, “The Force Unleashed,” which will be available on multiple game platforms in early 2008. In the game, the player takes on the role of Darth Vader’s secret apprentice.

“Star Wars” was nominated for 10 Academy Awards in 1978 and won six. In 2005, the American Film Institute named John Williams’ iconic score the most memorable of all time. The film has shown up on additional AFI lists, including the “100 Greatest American Movies” list, where it ranked No. 15.

“Star Wars” marked a milestone in visual effects. Its makers pioneered groundbreaking visual effects techniques, and the work inspired many of today’s VFX talent. Among the weekend program events is a Saturday session featuring the five visual effects supervisors from the 1977 classic through 2005’s “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith.” Scheduled to appear are Richard Edlund, John Knoll, Dennis Muren, Ken Ralston and Phil Tippett.

Edlund, who won Oscars for his work on all three films in the first trilogy, said: “‘Star Wars’ woke up a sleeping giant. ... Since ‘Star Wars,’ its audience salivates for new effects movies.”

Knoll, VFX supervisor on the more recent trilogy (as well as the “Pirates of the Caribbean” series), said he was in high school when the first “Star Wars” debuted. “Suddenly, there were new exciting things happening in the (VFX) field,” he said, adding that he was then invited to tour Lucas’ operation. “It was a life-changing experience. It helped me to decide that I wanted to do this for a living.”

[lord-of-sith]

I didn't even realize that today was the 30th anniversary! Funny, how that first film of possibly my favorite film series ever opened on a May 25th, and now the (supposedly) closing chapter of a very close contender for that title is opening today, May 25th!

[Anthony]

Okay, I'm about to make a startling confession that may shock a lot of people. I have never seen any of the Star Wars films. I'm aware of some of the characters and the story, just never actually watched any of the six that were released. Doesn't seem interesting to me.

And before anyone asks, I'm not 10 years old or something, I'm 27.

[SpringHeelJack]

Give "A New Hope" a try. At the very least, it's a fun homage to sci-fi serials, much like what "Indiana Jones" was to explorer movies and "Pirates of the Caribbean" essentially is to older swashbuckling pirate flicks.

My newspaper reprinted its review of "A New Hope" from 1977, which I thought was cool. The review made note that the movie had "the best special effects, bar none" of any film the critic had ever seen, which in all honesty hold up pretty well today (I know I made that point back when we were discussing the list of best special effects).

[darth_deetoo]

The Force will be with us.....always!

[Loomis]

And yet the 20 April went by uncelebrated.

For that was the anniversary of the US release date of the greatest film of 1977... Annie Hall!

Unlike Star Wars, it is still available unaltered and as funny as it was all those years ago. Possibly more!

There's an old joke - um... two elderly women are at a Catskill mountain resort, and one of 'em says, "Boy, the food at this place is really terrible." The other one says, "Yeah, I know; and such small portions." Well, that's essentially how I feel about life - full of loneliness, and misery, and suffering, and unhappiness, and it's all over much too quickly. The... the other important joke, for me, is one that's usually attributed to Groucho Marx; but, I think it appears originally in Freud's "Wit and Its Relation to the Unconscious," and it goes like this - I'm paraphrasing - um, "I would never want to belong to any club that would have someone like me for a member." That's the key joke of my adult life, in terms of my relationships with women.

All hail Woody, the true Champion of '77!

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Well, I tend to think that SW is quite a bit overrated - however, this whole big phenomenon that the series is a part of somewhat obscures the films themselves... No doubt, though, that SW was/is influential - some achievement either way.

[MadonnasManOne]

Here are some links of interest:

This is the website for the History Channel presentation of "Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed". It is scheduled to show on Monday, May 28th at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

http://www.history.com/minisite.do?cont ... i_id=54078

Over at From Script to DVD.com, Michael Coate has updated his reference piece on the original release of the film. It's a very awesome piece.

http://www.fromscripttodvd.com/star_war ... mbered.htm

Of course, there is always the official site.

www.starwars.com

[Chernabog_Rocks]

I have a set of lithographs from The Phantom Menace. I've always liked Return of the Jedi, mostly due to the Ewoks and the whole first bit of the movie when everything is taking place at Jabba's palace. The one thing I've liked about the movies is the wide variety of characters and species. But one thing I've been interested in finding is a map with all the planets ever mentioned/named.

[MickeyMousePal]

Wow!

Didn’t know that today was the 30th Anniversary for Star Wars already.
Never saw the original trilogy in the theatres because I wasn’t born until after Return of the Jedi came out in theaters. But I did grow up watching it in the end of the 80’s.

[SpringHeelJack]

The one thing I've liked about the movies is the wide variety of characters and species. But one thing I've been interested in finding is a map with all the planets ever mentioned/named.

That's always been tricky. There've been a couple pretty decent maps made. Obviously, they don't include like every single planet because 1) there's not enough room to do that easily and 2) there are several contradictions of planets and their relation to others in Expanded Universe. My personal favorite map is one that came with Star Wars Insider a couple of years ago that is based on the map on the inside of the Yuuzhan Vong book series (I can't recall the name of the series off the top of my head as
I was never too fond of them), but goes into greater detail. I have that map hanging in my basement next to my glass cabinet of Star Wards figures

[darth_deetoo]

Well, I tend to think that SW is quite a bit overrated - however, this whole big phenomenon that the series is a part of somewhat obscures the films themselves... No doubt, though, that SW was/is influential - some achievement either way.

If you weren't the right age when Star Wars came out to get caught up in the whole thing, then you're never going to get why Star Wars is the greatest cinematic saga in movie history - bar none!

Star Wars changed the way movies were made, marketed and viewed.

It changed the perception of the public and the industry to science fiction and fantasy - if not for Star Wars, we would never have had the wave of blockbusters that followed.

It changed movie marketing. The toy industry went through a massive change in no small part to Star Wars. Comic books - Star Wars had probably the most successful comic book spin off of all time.

There were huge technological advances in the effects industy thanks to Star Wars. The creation of ILM, the advent of CGI technology. In many instances ILM used other films as the testing ground for effects that would later be used for Star Wars.

Pixar would not exist without Star Wars.

Indiana Jones would not exist without Star Wars, and Harrison Ford would not have played Indy!

Some of our favourite Disney theme park attractions would not exist without Star Wars.

And despite the fact that George Lucas is so heavily criticised by so many on the net (yes, he is a business man, and his main purpose is to make money) - he does put a hell of a lot back into the industry and contributes to many educational projects.

The world would have been a very different place if Star Wars hadn't come along. And I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I think of all the people in the industry these days. George Lucas is probably the closest to Walt Disney - and we should celebrate his legacy, and celebrate his milestone.

Put simply....

The Force will be with us....always!

[Lars Vermundsberget]

Age shouldn't really be the problem - I'm born in 1974. However, in my tastes I guess I'm a lot older...

I'm not bashing SW, but I'm not buying heavily into it either. No problem, those who do, do fine without me.

And again: Influential - no doubt.

[darth_deetoo]

But the first film would have passed you by at 3 years old. I was 7 when the first film came out, which really was a magical age to get into Star Wars from the ground floor.

[memnv]

I was 9 when the first film came out I remember seeing iti n Hicksville NY. I have seen all the movies in the theaters and the special editions, I have been planning on watching this show since they started advertising it at my local theater a few weeks ago

[Escapay]

Pshaw. Star Wars is for the masses. Any true science fiction fan would prefer Star Trek any day of the week.

Escapay

And if no one can tell that I'm purposely being sarcastic...then they're a weak-minded fool. I love both, but Star Trek is more my baby than Star Wars is.

Plus, Frank Herbert's Dune is better sci-fi than both of them combined...