Why Star Wars Fans Almost Never Got To See The Film

Face it: Star Wars shouldn't have worked.
It was a science fiction fairy tale made when Hollywood was cranking out gritty, character-driven
dramas.
It starred a handful of unknown actors and a man in a fur suit.
It begins with 20 minutes of robots wandering through a desert.
The main villain of the original trilogy is a space wizard.
That sounds like a disaster, not the beginning of a multi-billion dollar franchise.
Yet, despite all odds, Star Wars didn't just clean up at the box office, it literally reinvented
the entire Hollywood machine.
And it came so close to never happening.
Here's why.
Flash of genius
Star Wars didn't spring fully-formed from George Lucas' head.
In fact, if Lucas had his way, he would've made an entirely different movie.
As a child, Lucas loved the old Flash Gordon serials
"I wonder what happened to Dale and Dr. Zarkov?"
"No doubt my father is holding them prisoners."
After Lucas' debut, the cold and lifeless science fiction thriller THX 1138, failed
to excite audiences and critics, Lucas wanted to make something with more heart, so he sought
the rights to make a new Flash Gordon film.
But Lucas ultimately couldn't seal the deal with King Features Syndicate, which published
Alex Raymond's original comic strip and owned the rights to the character — so, fortunately
for Star Wars fans, he decided to invent his own Flash Gordon-like saga.
"Prepare my rocket fleet at once.
We will go to the sky city of Vultan and teach him a needed lesson."
Studio resistance
While THX 1138 was a flop, Lucas' second feature, American Graffiti, was one of the most profitable
movies of all time, and a Best Picture nominee ...
"How'd you like to ride around with me for awhile?"
"I'm sorry, I can't.
I'm going steady."
Universal Pictures executives were delighted at the film's success, and wanted more.
Lucas, however, had his heart set on Star Wars and submitted a 12-page outline for the
flick.
The studio passed, and many of Lucas' friends and colleagues agreed, encouraging Lucas to
make a "deeper" film, more grounded and serious.
But Lucas wouldn't listen.
Sci-fi dry spell
Universal isn't the only studio that passed on Star Wars.
United Artists and Disney said no, too, arguing that science-fiction wasn't popular and wouldn't
sell.
After all, as Star Wars producer Gary Kurtz noted to IGN, it took seven years for 1968's
2001: A Space Odyssey to turn a profit, and the last big space opera, 1956's Forbidden
Planet, was almost 20 years old when Lucas was pitching Star Wars.
"Why you low-living contraption!
I ought to take a can opener to you!"
"Quiet, please.
I am analyzing."
When Lucas tried to explain to the studios that Star Wars is more fantasy than science
fiction, the debate was lost on 20th Century Fox president Alan Ladd, Jr., who just wanted
Lucas, period.
"He said, 'I don't understand this, but I loved American Graffiti, and whatever you
do is okay with me.'"
So in 1973, Lucas finally inked a deal to write and direct Star Wars for Fox.
Financial woes
Here's one of Star Wars' biggest secrets: it was not an expensive film.
While Star Wars established the template for the expensive Hollywood blockbuster, its initial
budget was relatively tiny.
Fox gave Lucas and his crew just $8 million, but unfortunately, that wasn't quite enough.
When he asked for more, Fox shut down pre-production and forced the team to come up with a new
budget, which came out to about $10 million.
Lucas was forced to scrap a number of scenes, including Han Solo's confrontation with Jabba
the Hutt, later controversially added via CGI to the Special Edition of the film.
Trouble in Tunisia
Tatooine, Luke Skywalker's home planet, was originally supposed to be a jungle, but Lucas
changed it to a desert planet after a location scout in the Philippines irritated his skin.
While Tatooine's twin suns setting over the dunes is one of the most iconic images in
a franchise full of iconic images, Tunisia isn't the most hospitable environment for
filmmaking, and the production fell behind immediately.
Allegedly, the sand didn't mix well with the cameras, damaging lots of expensive equipment.
Windstorms ravaged the sets, and R2-D2's controls didn't work particularly well, either, as
the sand interfered with the remote's radio signals.
And then there was the weather.
On the second day of shooting, a freak rainstorm — the first winter rain that the area had
gotten in 50 years — made filming practically impossible.
Delays almost spelled doom
Thanks to the problems in Tunisia, Star Wars was behind schedule by the time that the crew
moved to England.
Unfortunately, things didn't get much better.
Union rules severely limited when the cast and crew could work, and it didn't help that
Lucas was still tweaking the script while filming, or that Lucas had to fire the film's
original editor, meaning an hour's worth of footage had to be recut.
Filming began in March 1976.
By July, Lucas was 15 days behind schedule.
Fox issued an ultimatum: Lucas had to finish the film in a week, or the studio was going
to pull the plug.
The studio almost buried it
While an early screening for studio executives went well, Fox wasn't sure how to sell Star
Wars to the public — so, they didn't.
Instead, the studio put its marketing muscle behind The Other Side of Midnight, which was
based on a best-selling novel, and had a built-in audience.
Meanwhile, theater owners thought that Star Wars was a "kiddie movie" and didn't want
to screen it.
So in order to boost circulation, Fox forced theater chains that wanted The Other Side
of Midnight to book Star Wars as well.
As Star Wars broke record after record for both attendance and box office returns, Fox
expanded into as many markets as possible.
By September, Star Wars was in 1,100 theaters — an unheard of number at the time — and
its first theatrical run lasted for over a year.
By then, it was clear: despite the odds, Star Wars was a hit, and Hollywood would never
be the same.
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Why Star Wars Fans Almost Never Got To See The Film

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