“Star Wars“Changed movies forever. So much of course in general.
To put in perspective size of the death -star -like juggernaut which was the original in 1977 filmThink about this: Before the latter was subtitles “A New Hope”, the film simply opened as “Star Wars” in 43 theaters on May 25, 1977 before they went wide on July 15, which at that time meant only 757 theaters. It was the first movie at the American domestic cash register for the rest of the summer.
In the week 47 when it was released was it still Number one at this weekend’s cash office. Then it was April 1978, almost 11 months after the premiere.
This is how you change the landscapes of the movies forever. With to level of success. And yes, the front -loaded, “opening weekend is all” ethos of blockbuster judgment that we are familiar with today had not yet put in. But it is extraordinary, cultural -changing dominance, regardless.
What is less discussed is just how critically acclaimed “Star Wars” also was, and how much the critical shelf translated into the Academy Award’s dominance. And sure, “Annie Hall” won the best picture and its director, Woody Allen, won the best director and best script. But they, plus Alec Guinness in the best actor (who fell briefly to Jason Roberts for “Julia”), were the only categories “Star Wars” lost.
George Lucas Film won six of the ten categories for which it was nominated and also won a seventh Oscar, a non-competing special performance for Ben Burtt as recognition of his creation “by foreign, creature and robot votes” in it.
In the competitive categories, “Star Wars” won the best original points (for John Williams), best sound, best costume design, best art direction, best visual effects and best film editing (for the team by Paul Hirsch, Richard Chew and Lucas wife Marcia Lucas). It is an extraordinary trait and the most Oscar a science fiction or fantasy movie had ever receive until “the lord of the rings: the return of the king” topned those seven Oscars with a whopping 11. Put Another Way, Those Seven Oscars Oscars Are More Than “The Godfather” (With Three) – Unless you want to Exclude Burtt’s Award, then “Star Wars” Tied with “The Godfather Part II,” Fine.
What is even more remarkable is how much “Star Wars” was integrated throughout the ceremony. The 50th Academy Awards took place on April 3, 1978 at Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Just seconds to host Bob Hope opens monologue, Oscar’s knob in the direction of a galaxy far, far away: “Good evening and welcome to the real” Star Wars. “This is the 50th Academy Awards Show.”
A few minutes later, Hope, “1977 will be known as the year for” Star Wars “, which has collected over $ 200 million. It is even more than some baseball players do.” A moment later, there is a cut to Billy Dee Williams, who could not possibly have been cast as Lando Calrissian yet for “The Empire Strikes Back”, smiling and laughing at Hope and made a joke about George Burn’s dating life. And before Hope even launched in his one-feeders, Carrie Fisher’s mother Debbie Reynolds had performed a musical number tribute to the Hollywood history. When I looked at the entire opening of the 50th Academy Awards, one thing becomes clear: “Star Wars” was not an external strength that leaned Hollywood in a different direction. Its success is partly due to effectively using Hollywood that was already – just like its story and aesthetics drew sharply from Hollywood in the 30s and 40s. It’s a pretty straight line from “The Adventures of Robin Hood” to “Star Wars.”
When You Stop and Think About How Much “Star Wars” is Rooted in the Hollywood of the Past, Having Many Old Hollywood Stars Fete This Franchise That Set The Stage for the Industry’s Future does not see the best Art DIR, GIVEM Bellowing “Stahhhhr Wars” with a portent of Grandeur Even Malachi Throne Didn’t Quite Give The Movie In His Voiceovers for the TV Commercials promotes it. “Star Wars” is the absolute prominent in the best costume design presentation, which involved actors who modeled the costumes for each nominated film when Natalie Wood introduced each in turn – “Straw Dogs” actress Susan George modeled Princess Leia’s iconic Ensemble, who finally won. And Mark Hamill was easy at Hope’s wavelength when he told the host: “And Farce may be with you. ”
None of this came out of the blue. For so many offenders as “Star Wars” had 1977, and even more during the years after when its full impact on the industry became clear, it had serious Cinephile credit when it was released. It not only elicited raves from Roger Ebert, but also Chicago Reader’s Dave KehrWho even a few years later called “the most appealing film in the sub -genre it launched, with your finger on something basic and satisfactory.” Part of it was also that Lucas had already been so acclaimed for “American Graffiti” four years earlier, to earn the best director and best original script as well as the movie itself for best picture, that the idea that “Star Wars” was a potential Oscar challenger it was not out there. Lucas had been groundbreaking innovations in the movie-together with “Mean Streets”, “American Graffiti”, all except pioneers The idea of ”song points” consisting of existing pop-hits-and he had again with “Star Wars”, which showed how B-film material could be with A-movie.
There is also this reality to fight with: The academy was much more willing to honor popular films just because they were popular then, as a kind of “condition in the industry’s” referendum. It was so at the ceremony in 1971 you got the best picture nominated for “Airport” and “Love Story”, the latter who occupies a limb between phenomena and punchline (even mocked by a character played by that movie’s star Ryan O’Neal in “What’s Up, Doc?” Not long). And can we never forget that “the high inferno” was also once a best image -nominated, at the 1975 ceremony. Yes, OJ Simpson was once in a movie nominated in the highest honor of the industry.
“Star Wars” continued to become the most Oscar-nominated franchise in film history, with a total of 37 nods. However, the last victory was at the 1984 ceremony, for the visual effects in “Return of the Jedi.” And Lucas himself never got a competitive Oscar. When the academy moved in in the 80s, it began to move more away from the referendum “by the industry” as it had considered Oscars, and a new snobbiness (but not necessarily a focus on quality) came into the discourse – consider how long it took Steven Spielberg to get some recognition. It can now change with massively popular movies like “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” that receives great Oscar attention, but ask yourself this: What would it require for a “Star Wars” movie to ever get a best image nomination again?
Nevertheless, the franchise continued to show up on the TeleCast in the coming years, and was the time for something really singular: to honor his association with space, Lucas was greeted during the Lucas Prize in 1992 which won Irving Thalberg from 1992. Suddenly floating along the crew in zero gravity was a small gold man: Not C-3PO, but a Oc-3Po but a Ok-3Po but a Occro Po A source at the academy tells IndieWire that it is unclear if the figurine was specially made for the trip to space or an extra that just happened to be at hand, but you can see Oscar that started in the course at the Academy Museum.
Would any other franchise have sent Oscar to heaven?
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