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KF5JRV > TODAY 25.05.19 12:02z 45 Lines 2343 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 36915_KF5JRV
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Subj: Today in History - May 25
Path: HB9ON<IW8PGT<CX2SA<F4DUR<F3KT<LU4ECL<AB0AF<KF5JRV
Sent: 190525/1158Z 36915@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA BPQ6.0.18
On this day in 1977, Memorial Day weekend opens with an intergalactic
bang as the first of George Lucas’ blockbuster Star Wars movies hits
American theaters.
The incredible success of Star Wars–it received seven Oscars, and earned
$461 million in U.S. ticket sales and a gross of close to $800 million
worldwide–began with an extensive, coordinated marketing push by Lucas
and his studio, 20th Century Fox, months before the movie’s release
date. “It wasn’t like a movie opening,ö actress Carrie Fisher, who
played rebel leader Princess Leia, later told Time magazine. “It was
like an earthquake.ö Beginning with–in Fisher’s words–“a new order of
geeks, enthusiastic young people with sleeping bags,ö the anticipation
of a revolutionary movie-watching experience spread like wildfire,
causing long lines in front of movie theaters across the country and
around the world.
With its groundbreaking special effects, Star Wars leaped off screens
and immersed audiences in “a galaxy far, far away.ö By now everyone
knows the story, which followed the baby-faced Luke Skywalker (Mark
Hamill) as he enlisted a team of allies–including hunky Han Solo
(Harrison Ford) and the robots C3PO and R2D2–on his mission to rescue
the kidnapped Princess Leia from an Evil Empire governed by Darth Vader.
The film made all three of its lead actors overnight stars, turning
Fisher into an object of adoration for millions of young male fans and
launching Ford’s now-legendary career as an action-hero heartthrob.
Star Wars was soon a bona-fide pop culture phenomenon. Over the years it
has spawned five more feature films, five TV series and an entire
industry’s worth of comic books, toys, video games and other products.
Two big-screen sequels, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and The Return of
the Jedi (1983), featured much of the original cast and enjoyed the same
success–both critical and commercial–as the first film. In 1999, Lucas
stretched back in time for the fourth installment, Star Wars Episode I:
The Phantom Menace, chronologically a prequel to the original movie. Two
other prequels, Attack of the Clones (2002) and Revenge of the Sith
(2005) followed. Revenge of the Sith became the top-grossing film of
2005 in the United States and the second worldwide.
73 de Scott KF5JRV
Pmail: KF5JRV@KF5JRV.#NWAR.AR.USA.NA
email: KF5JRV@GMAIL.COM
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