Read This: In 1977, 20th Century Fox had a disturbing lack of faith in Star Wars
With a new TV spot promoting The Force Awakens being released almost daily, it’s hard to imagine that the original 1977 film was released with very little fanfare by 20th Century Fox. The Hollywood Reporter collected five film buyers—who became instrumental in the Star Wars phenomenon—and talked to them about those months leading up to and just after the release of George Lucas’ space opera. In 1977, the article reveals, Star Wars was considered the “B track,” while Sidney Sheldon’s now all-but-forgotten The Other Side Of Midnight was supposed to be the big summer hit for Fox. Star Wars originally opened on 42 screens nationwide, which is probably how many screens are in your local multiplex in 2015.
“There were a lot of people at Fox who didn’t want to make Star Wars,” said Larry Gleason, a buyer involved with expanding Star Wars’ original release in 1977. “The running joke [was] that when George Lucas made his final pitch to Alan Ladd Jr., who was running Fox at the time, Laddie said no, but he said it so softly nobody heard him.”