Star Wars (1977): How a Troubled Film Became a Legend

When Star Wars opened on 25 May 1977, it was shown in only a small number of American cinemas. Few people expected much from it, including some of the people who made it. Within weeks it was a phenomenon, and by the end of its run it was the highest-grossing film ever made.

The making of the film was far from smooth. Its success came out of a difficult production, a new company built to make its effects, and a score that became as famous as the film.

George Lucas's space adventure

Star Wars was written and directed by George Lucas, who also produced it through his company, Lucasfilm. It told the story of a farm boy, a princess, a smuggler and an old knight against a galactic empire, a mixture of adventure serials, westerns, war films and myth.

It belongs to the tradition of space opera, the big, adventurous end of science fiction. Our guide to hard SF versus space opera explains the difference, and how Star Wars helped space opera win respect.

Filming in Tunisia

Principal photography began in March 1976 in Tunisia, which stood in for the desert planet Tatooine. Interiors were shot at Elstree Studios in England. One Tunisian location, the Hotel Sidi Driss in the town of Matmata, pictured above, was used for the interior of Luke Skywalker's home, and it still welcomes visitors who come to see it.

The desert shoot went badly. Props malfunctioned, electronic equipment broke down, and the crew was hit by a rare winter rainstorm in the desert. The production fell behind schedule, and the budget of about $11 million was overspent.

Doubts at the studio

The trouble was not only on location. Studio executives had doubts about the film, and its strange mix of robots, aliens and space battles did not look like an obvious hit. Many in the industry expected it to fail.

That doubt explains the cautious release. The film opened in only a small number of cinemas, and then expanded widely as audiences queued around the block and word of mouth spread.

Inventing the effects

No existing company could produce the effects Lucas wanted, so he founded one: Industrial Light & Magic. Its team developed new techniques, including computer-controlled cameras that could repeat the same movement exactly, allowing models of spaceships to be filmed in layers and combined into fast, convincing battle scenes.

Industrial Light & Magic went on to become one of the most important effects companies in film history, working on many of the biggest films of the following decades. In that sense, the first Star Wars built part of the industry that later made so many others possible.

The music

The score was composed by John Williams, who wrote a grand orchestral soundtrack in the style of classic Hollywood epics. The music gave the film the feel of an old-fashioned epic, and its main theme is one of the most recognised pieces of film music ever written.

In 2004 the soundtrack was added to the National Recording Registry in the United States, a list of recordings considered culturally or historically important.

A record-breaking hit

Star Wars grossed about $775 million in total. It overtook Jaws to become the highest-grossing film of all time, a record it held until E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in 1982. It won six Academy Awards and two BAFTA Awards.

In 1989 it was among the films added to the National Film Registry, which preserves films judged culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.

Lessons of a troubled shoot

The film's difficulties are now part of its legend. Broken props, desert storms, schedule overruns and doubtful executives are common enough in filmmaking, but rarely do they precede a success on this scale.

The lesson many took from it is that a clear vision can survive a chaotic production. Lucas had a precise idea of the world he wanted to show, from worn, lived-in machines to an orchestra-led score, and when the parts finally came together the result felt complete, even though the making of it had been anything but.

A New Hope

The film was released simply as Star Wars. Only with a reissue in 1981 did it gain the subtitle Episode IV: A New Hope, placing it in the middle of a longer saga that Lucas would go on to fill in.

In 1997 Lucas released a Special Edition with new scenes, new effects and changed dialogue. The changes remain controversial with fans, many of whom prefer the version that first surprised audiences in 1977.

Why it matters

Star Wars changed what studios believed audiences wanted. Big, effects-driven adventures with merchandise and sequels became the centre of the film business, a shift whose effects are still felt today.

It also proved that a fantasy world could carry a whole series of films, a lesson Peter Jackson's films later confirmed for Middle-earth, as told in how The Lord of the Rings was filmed. For the books that shaped this kind of science fiction, see our reader's map of science fiction.