Star Wars, the space epic no one believed in when first film opened

It may well be one of Hollywood's biggest success stories, but when the original Star Wars film was released in 1977 many people, including creator George Lucas, believed it would be a flop.

“I don't think anyone could have predicted what a smash hit and what a cultural phenomenon it was going to become,” said Jonathan Kuntz, professor at the University of California Los Angeles’ school of theatre, film and television. “As soon as anybody saw Star Wars, they were converted and they fell in love with it.”

But the beginnings of the space epic didn't look that rosy.

Twentieth Century Fox, the film's distributor, hesitated over the film's US$8 million budget and wasn't convinced a science fiction movie would fill theatres.

Such was the lack of enthusiasm that the studio planned a limited release and had to twist the arm of some theatres to agree to show the movie.