Every day, AlloCiné recommends a film to (re)watch on TV. Tonight: the film that launched an unmissable intergalactic saga.
After filming American Graffiti in 1972, George Lucas plans to adapt the comics Flash Gordon. But faced with the demands of the company that owns the copyright, he abandons the project.
Finally, the young director focuses on writing a science fiction scenario mixing various inspirations (mythologies, space opera, politics, hero’s journey…). Thanks to the success ofAmerican Graffiti in theaters, he managed to convince the executives of Fox to finance his project, entitled Star Wars.
The plot, which takes place in a galaxy far (far away), follows the Rebel Alliance, an organization that attempts to destroy the space station Death Star, the absolute weapon of the very authoritarian Galactic Empire.
Involuntarily involved in this galactic conflict, young farm worker Luke Skywalker joins the rebel forces after the massacre of his family by Imperial soldiers.
Carried by young actors without much experience (Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford), as well as monsters of the seventh art (Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness), the film does not raise many hopes from Fox.
However, upon its release in 1977, Star Wars exceeds all predictions: in the space of a few months, it reached the $100 million revenue mark in the United States, becoming the fastest film in Hollywood history to achieve this commercial feat.
Having become a true social phenomenon, the feature film raked in 530 million dollars at the worldwide box office (for a budget of 12 million), including more than 6 million admissions in France, and won 7 Oscars (Best sound, music , editing, costumes, visual effects, sets and sound effects).
Renamed Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope from 1981, this iconic work lays the foundations of a revolutionary saga from a technical, cinematographic and cultural point of view.
On AlloCiné, Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope holds a solid average viewer rating of 4.4/5.
Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope by George Lucas with Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher…
Tonight on TFX at 9:05 p.m.