STAR WARS | May 25–Movie Opened

Star Wars–Foes and Friends.

This day in 1977, the first Star Wars movie opened. It received seven Oscars and grossed $800 million worldwide.

Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) recruited Wookiee Chewbacca and Han Solo (Harrison Ford), and the robots C3PO and R2D2, on his mission to rescue the kidnapped Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) from an Evil Empire governed by Darth Vader.

The film made stars out of its lead actors, and was followed by two big-screen sequels, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and The Return of the Jedi (1983), featuring much of the original cast and continuing to receive critical and commercial success.

Han Solo's sidekick Chewbacca has seen recent popularity.