Star Wars: A New Hope came out 40 years ago

The first Star Wars movie came out 40 years ago. Initially, George Lucas’ film was released in a limited number of cinemas, but it soon became apparent that the science fiction film was very popular with the public.

Star Wars was released on May 25, 1977 in only 32 cinemas in the US, followed by eight more the following day. George Lucas also initially had no plans to make it into a series: well after the premiere, when it became apparent how popular the film was, the name was changed to Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.

George Lucas spent several years working on the film’s script. After the release of his dystopian science fiction THX 1138, he wanted to make a light-hearted fantasy film set in space. He got his inspiration for the story from Beowulf, King Arthur and Flash Gordon, among others. When writing the script, he kept the working title The Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Starkiller, in the later phase of the creation he renamed it first The Star Wars and finally Star Wars.