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Star Wars: A New Hope was the movie that spawned a multi-billion dollar business empire and made George Lucas arguably the most successful movie maker in history. But its chances of success seemed slim indeed when it was initially released on May 25, 1977. After production problems and budget over-runs, Fox had considerable trouble booking the movie with distributors, and opened it in 43 theaters only after threatening to pull The Other Side of Midnight from many of those venues. What happened next has passed into box office legend.

Lines around the block on opening weekend soon became lines around the block across the nation as the movie stayed at the top of the charts for most of the Summer. Re-releases over the next 5 years generated more business, and the 20th anniversary release in 1997 set new benchmarks, including a then-record January weekend that only Titanic has beaten since.

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Cast

Mark Hamill		Luke Skywalker
Harrison Ford		Han Solo
Carrie Fisher		Princess Leia Organa
Peter Cushing		Grand Moff Wilhuf Tarkin
Alec Guinness		Jedi Knight Obi-Wan (Ben) Kenobi
Anthony Daniels		C-3PO
Kenny Baker		R2-D2
Peter Mayhew		Chewbacca
David Prowse		Darth Vader
Phil Brown		Uncle Owen Lars
Shelagh Fraser		Aunt Beru Lars
Jack Purvis		Chief Jawa
Alex McCrindle		Rebel General
Ed Byrne		Rebel General
James Earl Jones		Voice of Darth Vader
Denis Lawson		Wedge Antilles

Weekend Chart Record

Date	Rank		Gross	% Change	Theaters	Per Theater	Total Gross	Days
5/27/1977	2		$1,554,475		43	$36,151	$2,048,249	5
6/17/1977	2		$2,788,281		157	$17,760	$12,943,513	26
6/24/1977	1		$4,885,463	+75.21%	360	$13,571	$20,514,376	33
7/1/1977	1		$7,452,980	+52.55%	452	$16,489	$32,157,349	40
7/8/1977	1		$6,197,462	-16.85%	589	$10,522		47
7/15/1977	1		$6,806,951	+9.83%	757	$8,992	$53,777,851	54
7/22/1977	1		$7,000,644	+2.85%	843	$8,304	$65,887,563	61
7/29/1977	1		$6,234,376	-10.95%	950	$6,563	$77,323,425	68
8/5/1977	1		$7,195,573	+15.42%	1,044	$6,892	$90,284,705	75
8/12/1977	1		$6,705,755	-6.81%	1,074	$6,244	$102,267,928	82
8/19/1977	1		$5,908,751	-11.89%	1,096	$5,391	$113,031,275	89
8/26/1977	1		$5,239,535	-11.33%	1,048	$5,000	$122,576,055	96
9/2/1977	1		$7,737,847	+47.68%	915	$8,457	$133,727,463	103
10/21/1977	1		$2,891,000		675	$4,283	$174,518,466	152
10/28/1977	1		$3,292,879	+13.90%	739	$4,456	$177,811,345	159
11/4/1977	1		$2,626,914	-20.22%	665	$3,950	$181,289,965	166
11/11/1977	1		$2,269,052	-13.62%	642	$3,534	$184,397,772	173
11/18/1977	1		$1,949,157	-14.10%	605	$3,222	$186,924,661	180
11/25/1977	1		$2,472,656	+26.86%	593	$4,170	$190,762,521	187
12/2/1977	1		$1,595,568	-35.47%	561	$2,844	$192,899,264	194
12/9/1977	1		$1,152,953	-27.74%	485	$2,377	$194,427,140	201
12/16/1977	3		$844,662	-26.74%	414	$2,040	$195,666,111	208
1/13/1978	1		$916,606		217	$4,224	$203,786,099	236
1/20/1978	1		$865,239	-5.60%	196	$4,414	$204,940,117	243
1/27/1978	1		$829,571	-4.12%	184	$4,509	$205,993,101	250
2/3/1978	2		$817,290	-1.48%	174	$4,697	$207,054,654	257
2/24/1978	0		$759,126		144		$209,760,454
3/10/1978	1		$622,291		130	$4,787	$211,463,812	292
3/31/1978	1		$543,897		107	$5,083	$213,706,458	313
4/7/1978	1		$790,452	+45.33%	104	$7,601	$214,745,822	320
4/14/1978	1		$602,039	-23.84%	103	$5,845	$215,537,332	327
7/21/1978	1		$10,166,336		1,750	$5,809		425
8/17/1979	1		$6,760,165		1,520	$4,447		817
8/24/1979	1		$3,585,492	-46.96%	1,471	$2,437		824
8/13/1982	5		$3,766,803		1,070	$3,520	$311,092,510	1,909
8/20/1982	8		$2,308,429	-38.72%	1,069	$2,159	$315,552,861	1,916
8/27/1982	14		$1,250,604	-45.82%	712	$1,756	$318,165,253	1,923
9/3/1982	13		$1,258,912	+0.66%	659	$1,910	$319,996,814	1,930
9/10/1982	12		$789,503	-37.29%	666	$1,185	$321,026,168	1,937
9/17/1982	16		$518,949	-34.27%	491	$1,057	$321,796,066	1,944
9/24/1982	17		$500,807	-3.50%	511	$980	$322,467,568	1,951
10/1/1982	30		$174,451	-65.17%	31	$5,627	$322,802,492	1,958
1/31/1997	1		$35,906,661		2,104	$17,066	$358,646,803	7,194
2/7/1997	1		$24,277,091	-32.39%	2,104	$11,539	$393,498,671	7,201
2/14/1997	1		$21,370,589	-11.97%	2,104	$10,157	$421,371,522	7,208
2/21/1997	2		$11,031,743	-48.38%	2,200	$5,014	$438,692,889	7,215
2/28/1997	3		$6,856,626	-37.85%	2,375	$2,887	$447,821,935	7,222
3/7/1997	6		$3,894,728	-43.20%	2,039	$1,910	$453,311,456	7,229
3/14/1997	10		$2,275,828	-41.57%	1,430	$1,591	$456,754,545	7,236
3/21/1997	17		$896,449	-60.61%	741	$1,210	$458,275,556	7,243
3/28/1997	32		$229,023	-74.45%	177	$1,294	$458,838,909	7,250
4/4/1997	38		$141,632	-38.16%	104	$1,362	$459,095,451	7,257
4/11/1997	16		$795,245	+461.49%	1,252	$635	$459,923,376	7,264
4/18/1997	23		$340,452	-57.19%	634	$537	$460,517,975	7,271
4/25/1997	27		$202,166	-40.62%	290	$697	$460,841,468	7,278
5/2/1997	50		$50,163	-75.19%	114	$440	$460,935,665	7,285

Daily Chart Record

Date	Rank		Gross	% Change	Theaters	Per Theater	Total Gross	Days
5/25/1977	1		$254,809		32	$7,963	$254,809	1
5/26/1977	1		$238,965	-6.22%	32	$7,468	$493,774	2
1/13/1978	-		$202,493		217	$933	$203,071,986	234
1/14/1978	-		$443,575	+119.06%	217	$2,044	$203,515,561	235
1/15/1978	-		$270,538	-39.01%	217	$1,247	$203,786,099	236
2/20/1978	-		$137,561		144	$955	$208,808,405	272

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