Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope
1977 · 121 min
Directed by George Lucas. Written by George Lucas. Starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing.
Princess Leia is captured and held hostage by the evil Imperial forces in their effort to take over the galactic Empire. Venturesome Luke Skywalker and dashing captain Han Solo team together with the loveable robot duo R2-D2 and C-3PO to rescue the beautiful princess and restore peace and justice in the Empire.
Critics 93% · audiences 96% · streaming on Disney+, Philo · $307 million in the US and Canada on its first run · about 138 million tickets sold, 63% of the country · 11 Oscar nominations, 7 won
What they said about Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope
- 1977
the most elaborate... most beautiful movie serial ever made
— United States, Chicago Sun-Times - 1977
a new classic in a rousing movie tradition: a space swashbuckler.
— Gary Arnold, The Washington Post - 1977
subliminal history of the movies, wrapped in a riveting tale of suspense and adventure, ornamented with some of the most ingenious special effects ever contrived for film.
— Gerald Clarke, Time - 1977
not a great movie in the sense that it describes the human condition.
— Gene Siskel, Chicago Tribune - 1977
Strip Star Wars of its often striking images and its highfalutin scientific jargon, and you get a story, characters, and dialogue of overwhelming banality.
— John Simon, New York - 1977
a junkyard of cinematic gimcracks not unlike the Jawas' heap of purloined, discarded, barely functioning droids.
— Peter Keough, Boston Phoeni
How it got made
George Lucas had been fascinated by the Flash Gordon serials (1936–40) since he was young, and prior to directing his first feature film, THX 1138 (1971), he considered developing a science fiction film with a similar escapist adventure tone. A conversation between Lucas and producer Gary Kurtz, during which both men discussed their dissatisfaction with the current trend toward dystopian and horror-focused science fiction films, set Lucas' project in motion. Lucas met with King Features in early 1971 about acquiring Flash Gordons film rights, but the company was then pursuing Federico Fellini to direct a film version. Lucas became motivated to write an original space opera screenplay, inspired not only by Flash Gordon but also earlier science fiction works such as Edgar Rice Burroughs's Barsoom series (1912–43) and Edwin Arnold's Lieut. Gullivar Jones: His Vacation (1905). Lucas later said that his goal was "to give young people an honest, wholesome fantasy life" which offered "the romance, the adventure, and the fun" that he found in older genre films.
In May 1971, Lucas pitched two film projects—American Graffiti (1973) and the space opera—to United Artists president David Picker. In August, the studio registered "The Star Wars" as a trademark with the Motion Picture Association of America. United Artists ultimately passed on Graffiti after reviewing Lucas's draft script. The film was then taken up by Ned Tanen at Universal Pictures, and Lucas directed it in 1972. Its release was uncertain after Tanen reacted poorly to a preview screening in January 1973. Since Lucas's next intended project, Apocalypse Now (1979), was stalled in development hell at Columbia Pictures, he began writing the space opera full-time in January 1973.
Lucas began by inventing exotic names for characters and places to develop the universe's atmosphere. Several of these names, though ultimately unused in the film, made it into later sequels. He compiled an unfinished two-page synopsis titled Journal of the Whills, which chronicled the tale of CJ Thorpe, apprentice to the legendary "Jedi-Bendu" Mace Windy. Lucas's agent Jeff Berg was confused by the plot and recommended he write something simpler. Lucas's second draft, a 10-page treatment titled The Star Wars, was completed in early May 1973. This treatment borrowed narrative beats from Akira Kurosawa's 1958 film The Hidden Fortress, and follows an elderly general, Luke Skywalker, who escorts a rebel princess to the planet Ophuchi while being pursued by Imperial troops.
At the box office
Star Wars remains one of the most financially successful films of all time. It earned over $2.5 million in its first six days ($ in dollars), including $1.5 million during its first weekend ( in ). According to Variety weekly box office charts, it was number one at the US box office for its first three weeks. It was dethroned by The Deep, but gradually added screens and returned to number one in its seventh week, building up to $7-million weekends ($ in ) as it entered wide release, and remaining number one for the next 15 weeks. It replaced Jaws as the highest-earning film in the United States and Canada just six months into release, eventually grossing $221.3 million during its initial theatrical run ($ in dollars). Star Wars entered international release towards the end of the year, and in 1978 became the highest-grossing film of all time worldwide. Its biggest international market was Japan, where it grossed $58.4 million.
Star Wars was still playing in 38 US theaters fourteen months after its initial release. On July 21, 1978, it was expanded to 1,744 theaters, and set a new US weekend record of $10.2 million. The $43.8 million gross from this expansion brought its total domestic gross to over $265 million. Theatrical re-releases in 1979 ($22.5 million), 1981 ($17.2 million), and 1982 ($18 million) brought its cumulative gross in the US and Canada to $323 million, and extended its global earnings to $530 million. Star Wars had become the first film to gross $500 million worldwide, and remained the highest-grossing film of all time until E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial set a new record in 1983.
The theatrical release of the Star Wars Special Edition in 1997 was the highest-grossing reissue of all-time at $138.3 million, bringing the film's total gross in the US and Canada to $461 million, which led it to reclaim the all-time number one rank for domestic gross. Internationally, the re-release grossed $117.2 million, with $26 million from the United Kingdom and $15 million from Japan. In total, Star Wars has grossed over $775 million worldwide. In 2011, Guinness World Records estimated that it was the third-highest-grossing film worldwide, adjusted for inflation. In the United States and Canada, it ranks second behind Gone with the Wind (1939) on the inflation-adjusted list.
Afterwards
Star Wars and subsequent films in the franchise have been explicitly referenced and satirized across a wide range of media. Hardware Wars, released in 1978, was one of the first fan films to parody Star Wars. It received positive critical reaction, earned over $1 million (equivalent to $ million in dollars), and is one of Lucas' favorite Star Wars spoofs. Frank DeCaro of The New York Times wrote that Star Wars "littered pop culture of the late 1970s with a galaxy of space junk." He cited Quark (a 1977 sitcom that parodied science fiction) and Donny & Marie (a 1970s variety show that featured a 10-minute musical adaptation of Star Wars) as "television's two most infamous examples." Mel Brooks' Spaceballs, a satirical comic science-fiction parody, was released in 1987 to mixed reviews. Lucas permitted Brooks to make a spoof of the film under "one incredibly big restriction: no action figures." In the 1990s and 2000s, the television shows Family Guy, Robot Chicken, and The Simpsons produced episodes satirizing the Star Wars films. A Nerdist article published in 2021 argues that Star Wars is the most influential film in history, partly on the basis that if every copy of the film disappeared, the entire film could possibly be recreated using other media, including parodies.
Many elements of Star Wars are prominent in popular culture. Darth Vader, Han Solo, and Yoda were all named in the top twenty of the British Film Institute's "Best Sci-Fi Characters of All-Time" list. The expressions "Evil empire" and "May the Force be with you" have become part of the popular lexicon. To commemorate the film's 30th anniversary in May 2007, the United States Postal Service issued a set of 15 stamps depicting the characters of the franchise. Approximately 400 mailboxes across the U.S. were designed to look like R2-D2 for the anniversary.
Star Wars and Lucas are the subject of the 2010 documentary film The People vs. George Lucas, which explores filmmaking and fandom as they pertain to the film franchise and its creator. Harrison Ford, who subsequently starred in the Indiana Jones series (1981–2023), Blade Runner (1982), and Witness (1985), told the Daily Mirror that Star Wars "boosted" his career. Star Wars also spawned the Star Wars Holiday Special, which aired on CBS on November 17, 1978. The special is often considered a failure, and Lucas himself disowned it.