In today’s day and age, there are multiple franchises that have won the hearts of many to create fandoms of their own. While some of the positions in this respective list have been retained by superhero sagas like the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the DC Universe, perhaps none comes as close to celebrating almost a half-century of its existence as the Star Wars lore.
Yes, you read it right, because George Lucas’ mammoth saga will actually soon be celebrating its Golden Jubilee within less than half a decade. This is because the massive fan-favorite saga surpassed 47 years of existence today in the cinematic entertainment industry to become one of the greatest franchises in history to pretty much create the atomic age of cinema.
47 Years Ago Today, the Star Wars Franchise was Born
47 years ago, today, one of the most impactful sagas in the history of entertainment was born. Because exactly 47 years ago, today, on the 25th of May, 1977, the first Star Wars movie made its way to the theatres to leave its audiences absolutely starstruck.
Marking an epic milestone in the cinematic history of entertainment, the 121-minute runtime-holding Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope was released in the US theatres, with the courtesy of its production being held by Lucasfilm and distribution by Twentieth Century-Fox.
Needless to say, the science fiction movie created from the depths of George Lucas‘ truly brilliant mind started the reign of what would become one of the greatest franchises of all time; one that created the atomic age of cinema — especially when it comes to those space operas.
Since then, there have been multiple instances of rip-offs and space movies being created after being inspired by the breathtaking world of Lucas’ imagination. However, obviously, none comes as close to perfection as the original saga that kickstarted in the summer of the late 1970s.
Ironically enough, Lucas himself didn’t have that much faith in his iconic first movie (that was later deemed a sequel), as he shared while talking with Stephen Colbert in a 2015 Tribeca Film Festival panel. He admitted (via Business Insider):
I didn’t think the film was going to be successful.
While that’s surprising, what’s even more unbelievable is the fact that actually, no one believed in his lore, not even his friends. If anything, the only one who actually saw it for the absolute masterpiece that the first movie was, was none other than Steven Spielberg. As Lucas said at the same panel:
Steven had jumped up, and said, ‘This is going to be the biggest movie of all time.’
Well, Spielberg most certainly wasn’t wrong, considering how, within a week, the film was actually making headlines after becoming a massive sensation among viewers who were “going berserk about it” and grossing unexpectedly indomitable box office numbers.
In fact, made on a budget of a mere $11 million, the movie went on to make a whopping $775.4 million at global box offices, setting a whole new record for Lucas and breaking god-knows-how-many others (via Box Office Mojo).
With a remarkable start as that, the saga was inevitably meant to reach extraordinary heights of success in due time. And so it did, considering the global net worth of the universe as a media franchise is well about $65.63 billion, as per Title Max.
Ever since then, the franchise has been ever-growing in the cinematic entertainment industry, all the while continuing to make history and changing the world in the most unexpected ways, as fans have been saying.
Fans React to A New Hope Turning 47 Years Old
As can be expected from the massive fandom of the star-studded lore, fans are over the moon to even think that their favorite film that kickstarted Lucas’ cinematic saga has actually turned 47 years old and will soon be celebrating its Golden Jubilee.
While some express just how old they are feeling after hearing this news, others gushed on and on in praise of what a wonderstruck saga A New Hope led to. All in all, here are some of their reactions to this revelation on X:
Will we see another franchise with this impact?
— Houston 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@shogentushi) May 25, 2024
And it made history and changed the world pic.twitter.com/5pmCZ9QjZs
— Mari Roz (@Mareenka347) May 25, 2024
Looking back now its funny how a Fox exec told George Lucas that Star Wars was going to be "the biggest hit ever made."
And George told him "It won't make more than $15 million."
only to become one of the best/biggest movie franchises ever
— Gage (@GAGEmusicx) May 25, 2024
when a great story all began!
— Stuart | sinner who follows Jesus ✝️ (@AtTheFeetOfGOD) May 25, 2024
Legendary universe 🚀 pic.twitter.com/kmXMV4MbMl
— Best Crypto Casino Games (@bestcryptocas) May 25, 2024
Historical day in cinema
— Aditya Kumar Saroj (@AdiKumarSaroj) May 25, 2024
47 years ago, I walked out of the theater as a 5-year-old, obsessed with Star Wars. A Star Wars tribute created on a 42-year-old Commodore 64 with just 64KB of RAM. https://t.co/PxI3r7ODgm
— COMMODORE COMPUTER MUSEUM #Commodore 64 #Amiga🕹 (@MuseumCommodore) May 25, 2024
"You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine."
— Walker Sunrise | Cowboy Ronin VStreamer 🤠 (@WalkerSunriseEN) May 25, 2024
This makes me realise how old I am!
— Adrian Chandler (@adrianchandler) May 25, 2024
Well, for what it’s worth, we’re truly glad that George Lucas made sure to go forward with his decision to make and release the first Star Wars movie 47 years ago because if he hadn’t, the world would have inevitably been deprived of one of the most classic pieces of cinematic masterpieces in the history of entertainment.
You can stream Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope on Disney+.
