It’s hard to imagine any theater in the world that wouldn’t show Star Wars nowadays, but back in the late 1970s, when the world was just about to see what George Lucas had been working on, theaters were skeptical and not many ordered the film, pushing the studio to take some special measures – here’s what happened. Back in 1977, the world was introduced to a galaxy far, far away in the film now known as Star Wars: A New Hope, which marked the beginning of one of the most successful franchises in entertainment.
Along with Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, it formed what’s known as the “original trilogy”, as in the late 1990s Lucas decided to expand the Star Wars universe with a prequel trilogy. Following the acquisition of Lucasfilm by Disney in the 2010s, the studio began working on a new trilogy, which marked the end of the Skywalker saga and reignited interest in the film series – even if not all the films in the sequel trilogy met expectations.
The success of Star Wars has been such that it has expanded to other media, most notably television and theme parks, and it would be surprising if any theater (or other company) decided not to house a Star Wars product – but that’s exactly what happened at the beginning.
Star Wars: Fox Demanded That Theaters Showed The Movie
Star Wars’ release date was moved up to before Memorial Day 1977, as the studio worried it would bomb in a crowded summer slate like Smokey and the Bandit did that same year. As a result, less than 40 theaters ordered Star Wars to be shown, which prompted Fox to take special measures. An adaptation of Sidney Sheldon’s 1973 novel The Other Side of Midnight was one of the studio’s most anticipated releases, so they used that to push theaters to show Star Wars, too. Fox demanded that theaters that wanted The Other Side of Midnight showed Star Wars as well, which helped it get a bit more exposure.
To everyone’s surprise, Star Wars became a big hit, breaking box office records, becoming a blockbuster film, and prompting Fox to broaden its release, as theaters now truly needed to show it. The Other Side of Midnight, on the other hand, didn’t do well in the box office. Star Wars is credited as the film that reinvigorated the studio, but what Fox did to give it more exposure had some consequences: as requiring theaters to show one movie in exchange for another was illegal, they were fined $25,000 – but for forcing them to show The Other Side of Midnight. Star Wars ended up being a much bigger hit than expected, and the story of how theaters didn’t want to show it only adds to its legend.