48 Fun Facts About Star Wars: a New Hope

On what date did Star Wars open in US cinemas?

Star Wars opened on Wednesday, May 25, 1977, in just 32 theatres, timed for the Memorial Day weekend; lines around the block soon pushed Fox into a much wider release.

In which year's reissue did the film gain the subtitle Episode IV – A New Hope?

The April 1981 reissue was the first to carry 'Episode IV A New Hope' in the opening crawl, added after The Empire Strikes Back had opened as Episode V in 1980.

Which 1958 Akira Kurosawa film lent narrative beats to Lucas's early treatment?

The Hidden Fortress (1958) follows two bickering peasants escorting a princess and a general through enemy territory, a structure Lucas echoed with C-3PO and R2-D2, Leia and Obi-Wan.

What was the title of Lucas's unfinished two-page synopsis from early 1973?

Journal of the Whills was Lucas's two-page January 1973 synopsis about CJ Thorpe, apprentice to the 'Jedi-Bendu' Mace Windy; the Whills resurfaced in Rogue One's Guardians of the Whills.

What was Luke's surname in the drafts before it became Skywalker during production?

Luke was Luke Starkiller through the fourth draft of January 1976 and into the first weeks of filming; Lucas switched to Skywalker during shooting, feeling Starkiller sounded too murderous.

Which studio executive greenlit Star Wars at Fox after United Artists and Universal passed?

Alan Ladd Jr., Fox's head of production, backed Star Wars after a screening of American Graffiti; Lucas later said Ladd 'invested in me, he did not invest in the movie'.

Which actor turned down the part of Han Solo because he did not understand the script?

Al Pacino, hot from The Godfather, later said Star Wars 'was mine for the taking' but he turned it down because he could not understand the script; Harrison Ford got the part.

Which actor was considered for Obi-Wan but was instead cast as the villainous Tarkin?

Peter Cushing, the Hammer horror star, was considered for Obi-Wan before being cast as Grand Moff Tarkin; his boots hurt, so he played many scenes in carpet slippers, framed from the waist up.

What did Luke want to pick up at Tosche Station?

Luke whines that he was going to Tosche Station to pick up some power converters; Uncle Owen tells him he can waste time with his friends when his chores are done.

Anthony Daniels wanted the C-3PO role after seeing whose concept painting of the droid?

Ralph McQuarrie's painting of a gleaming C-3PO, modelled on the Maschinenmensch of Fritz Lang's Metropolis, won Daniels over; he later kept the voice role after Lucas auditioned about thirty other actors.

What job was Peter Mayhew doing when he was cast as Chewbacca?

Peter Mayhew was a hospital orderly at King's College Hospital in London when Lucas, who had seen his photo as the Minotaur in Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, met him and cast him.

Why did Lucas replace the voice of the actor inside the Vader suit with James Earl Jones?

Jones went uncredited as Vader in the films until 1983, though he was credited in the 1978 Holiday Special.

How did sound designer Ben Burtt create R2-D2's beeps and squeaks?

The droid's name reportedly came from editor Walter Murch asking for 'Reel 2, Dialog 2' during work on American Graffiti.

Luke's Tatooine home was filmed at an underground hotel in which Tunisian town?

The Lars homestead interiors were shot at the Hotel Sidi Driss, a troglodyte pit-hotel in Matmata; principal photography had begun in March 1976 at the Chott el Djerid salt flat.

The rebel base on Yavin 4 was filmed at which Mayan site?

Tikal's temples rising from the Guatemalan jungle stood in for the rebel base on Yavin 4; the crew reportedly chose it after seeing a poster of the ruins in a travel agency.

The motion-control camera system developed for the film's effects became known as what?

The Dykstraflex, built by John Dykstra's team at Industrial Light & Magic, moved the camera in repeatable computer-controlled passes around static models, which made the dogfights possible; it earned an Academy Scientific and Engineering Award.

The Millennium Falcon was redesigned because its first version resembled ships from which TV series?

The first Falcon looked too much like the Eagle transporters of Space: 1999, so Joe Johnston had four weeks to redo it, told only to 'think of a flying saucer'; the old model became Leia's Tantive IV.

The Falcon's final shape is often said to be based on what, with the cockpit as an olive on the side?

Lucas described the redesigned Falcon as a hamburger with the cockpit as an olive on the side; in the story it is a YT-1300 Corellian light freighter that Han won from Lando Calrissian.

Lucas first assigned the Death Star's design to which artist?

Colin Cantwell built the first Death Star model in 1975 along with prototypes of the X-wing, TIE fighter and Star Destroyer; his designs were later refined by the model shop at Industrial Light & Magic.

Where do Luke and Obi-Wan hire Han Solo and Chewbacca?

Obi-Wan and Luke find Han in the Mos Eisley cantina, the 'wretched hive of scum and villainy' on Tatooine; the scene's alien crowd was expanded with extra shots filmed in Los Angeles in early 1977.

Which crime lord do Han and Chewbacca leave to pay off before the Death Star attack?

Han owes Jabba the Hutt for a smuggled cargo he dumped when boarded by the Empire; in 1977 Jabba appeared only in dialogue, since the scene with a human Jabba (Declan Mulholland) was cut.

Which friend of Luke's leaves Tatooine for the Rebellion in scenes cut from the 1977 release?

Biggs Darklighter, Luke's Anchorhead friend, tells him he is joining the Rebellion in scenes cut before release; he survives in the film as Red Three, dying in the trench run.

Which filmmaker helped trim the opening crawl from six paragraphs to four sentences?

Brian De Palma, after mocking the rough cut's crawl, sat down with critic Jay Cocks and rewrote it into the terse four sentences that open the film; Spielberg, by contrast, loved the rough cut.

In the unfinished cut shown to Lucas's friends, what stood in for the space battles?

Lucas cut in black-and-white World War II dogfight footage where the X-wing and TIE fighter shots would go; most effects were unfinished, and Vader spoke with Prowse's voice.

Halfway through production the director replaced his editor with Paul Hirsch, Richard Chew and whom?

Marcia Lucas, the director's wife, joined Paul Hirsch and Richard Chew after John Jympson's first cut disappointed Lucas; the three shared the Academy Award for Best Film Editing.

John Williams recorded the score over 12 days in March 1977 with which ensemble?

The London Symphony Orchestra recorded the score at Anvil Studios in Denham over twelve days in March 1977; the double album reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

Whose disco version of the Star Wars theme hit number one in the US in October 1977?

Meco's disco medley 'Star Wars Theme/Cantina Band' topped the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks in October 1977, outdoing John Williams's own main title, which peaked at No. 10.

How many competitive Academy Awards did Star Wars win?

Star Wars won six competitive Oscars, for art direction, costume design, film editing, original score, sound and visual effects, and Ben Burtt took a Special Achievement Award; it lost Best Picture to Annie Hall.

Which cast member earned the film's only acting Oscar nomination?

Alec Guinness was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, the film's only acting nomination; George Lucas was nominated for both directing and original screenplay, and Gary Kurtz as producer for Best Picture.

Which actor played Luke's Uncle Owen?

Phil Brown, an American actor who had moved to England after being blacklisted in Hollywood, played Owen Lars; Shelagh Fraser played Aunt Beru.

Which company alone accepted the Star Wars toy licence before release, causing the 'empty box' Christmas of 1977?

Kenner took the licence Mego had passed on, but could not make figures in time, so its Early Bird Certificate Package was an empty-box voucher redeemable for four action figures between February and June 1978.

Who ghostwrote the novelization credited to George Lucas, published before the film?

Alan Dean Foster ghostwrote Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, published under Lucas's name in November 1976; he also wrote Splinter of the Mind's Eye as a cheap sequel in case the film flopped.

Which cinema hosted the first public screening of Star Wars, on May 1, 1977?

The first public screening was a sneak preview at the Northpoint Theatre, San Francisco, on May 1, 1977, the same cinema where American Graffiti had been tested; the crowd reaction convinced Fox it had a hit.

Which William Friedkin film bumped Star Wars from Mann's Chinese Theatre in June 1977?

Sorcerer, Friedkin's remake of The Wages of Fear, took over Mann's Chinese on June 24, 1977, under a prior booking; when it flopped, Star Wars returned there on August 3 for a second opening.

Lucas was certain which rival 1977 film would beat Star Wars at the box office?

Lucas was so sure Close Encounters of the Third Kind would outgross Star Wars that he and Spielberg swapped 2.5 per cent of each other's profits; Star Wars won, and Spielberg collected for decades.

Ben Burtt inserted the Wilhelm scream into which moment of the film?

The stock effect dates from the 1951 film Distant Drums and is thought to be voiced by singer Sheb Wooley.

Which future Star Wars regular, uncle of Ewan McGregor, played Red Two, Wedge Antilles?

Denis Lawson, miscredited as 'Dennis Lawson', played Wedge in all three original films; his nephew Ewan McGregor went on to play the young Obi-Wan in the prequels.

Star Wars was among the first 25 films chosen for the National Film Registry in which year?

Star Wars entered the National Film Registry in 1989 among the first 25 selections, alongside Citizen Kane and Casablanca; the Library of Congress keeps a print from the 1977 copyright deposit rather than the Special Edition.

Which two actors were cast as R2-D2 and Chewbacca largely because of their height?

Kenny Baker, 3 feet 8 inches, fitted inside R2-D2, and 7-foot-3 Peter Mayhew filled the Chewbacca suit; Mayhew modelled the Wookiee's manner on animals he watched at the zoo.

Who won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for Star Wars?

John Mollo won the Academy Award for Best Costume Design for Star Wars, dressing stormtroopers, rebels and Vader from the concept art; he later shared a second Oscar for Gandhi.

Which Japanese actor was considered for Obi-Wan before Alec Guinness was cast?

Toshiro Mifune, Kurosawa's leading man, was approached for Obi-Wan; his daughter Mika later said he declined for fear that a science-fiction film's effects would cheapen the samurai image.

At which English studio were the film's interior sets built and shot?

EMI Elstree Studios in Borehamwood housed the interiors, with the production taking over all nine sound stages for the Death Star corridors, the cantina and the Falcon; Lucas returned there for the sequels.

Lucas's first-choice cinematographer, who withdrew, had shot which landmark science-fiction film?

Geoffrey Unsworth, who had photographed 2001: A Space Odyssey, agreed to shoot Star Wars but withdrew for Vincente Minnelli's A Matter of Time; Gilbert Taylor, of Dr. Strangelove and A Hard Day's Night, replaced him.

Besides Tunisia, additional Tatooine scenes were shot in which American location?

Death Valley in California supplied pickup shots in January 1977, including R2-D2's lonely canyon trek, the Tusken Raiders' lookout and the bantha played by an elephant in costume.

What originally scheduled release date did production delays push back to mid-1977?

The cast and crew largely expected a flop; instead the delayed film became the first to gross $500 million worldwide.

What injury to Mark Hamill limited re-shoots of Luke's scenes?

The accident came late in production, one of several setbacks that also saw the crew split into three units to finish on time.

John Williams's main title theme was inspired by the score of which 1942 film?

Erich Wolfgang Korngold's 1942 score for Kings Row, with its soaring brass fanfare, was the model for Williams's main title; Lucas had used Korngold and Holst among his temp tracks.

What did the film's total budget finally reach, up from the $8M it started with?

Fox had first granted only $5 million in 1975; Alan Ladd Jr. had to release an extra $50,000 near the end to finish.