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May the 4th be with you! Celebrating this fun little holiday, we all like to take some time to appreciate the series. It practically turned sci-fi on its head in the late 70s. That, and made one of the biggest cinematic splashes the market of the day had seen. Second, or in the ranking within, Star Trek, Star Wars has gone beyond simply cult classic status for many years, rising in popularity ever since its debut. Throughout all the rubber suits, CGI attempts, remakes, rehashes, and merchandising, Star Wars Day, or May the 4th, is a chance to appreciate a franchise that changed entertainment in a big way.
But why is May the 4th Star Wars Day? Where did it come from? Did George Lucas set it up, or are the fans responsible for this pun-turned-nerdish holiday? That’s what we’re here to answer in our little retrospective below.
Star Wars: A Short Retrospective
Star Wars came into the world in 1977, first airing to a limited number of cinemas. George Lucas had no idea that he released one of the highest-grossing films of all time, nor what it would become almost fifty years later. The popularity of the space opera first inspired merchandise, then other shows, more movies, and then a swath of other materials like theme parks, rides, and an immortal home under the Disney brand. Globally, it hit an astounding $775 million at the box office. This was the first and biggest step that Star Wars made as a franchise, coming into the world as its own industry titan.
Star Wars shot into the stars with success because of the ambition of special effects at the time. The planets, the huge ships, the space battles, and some of the creatures were all very innovatively designed for the late 70s. The great box office burst that ‘A New Hope’ gave off prompted two more movies after that, ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ and ‘Return of the Jedi.’ Those releases in 1980 and 1983 prompted even more of a reaction. The series quickly gained traction among sci-fi fans as a must-watch classic. It quickly crept the path from cult classic to stardom, becoming common knowledge among even those, not into the sci-fi genre.
The Iconic Growth of Star Wars
Eventually, George Lucas saw the opportunity to turn the bonfire into a blaze. He directed a prequel trilogy, starring faces like Ewan McGregor. Iconic performances, cutting-edge CGI, persistent themes, and storytelling made the three movies that came after just as good as the three that came before. Even today, with everything we have in the Star Wars franchise, fans still debate these three movies. ‘The Phantom Menace’ in 1999 was the biggest splash of them all, striking an odd controversy among fans for its direction toward CGI. While it did receive mixed reviews, the movie is beloved and considered a cinematic success. At the box office, it made $1.027 billion.
‘Attack of the Clones’ was released in 2002, making less, but generally performing well at the box office. It made about $646 million worldwide. As the capstone of the trilogy, ‘Revenge of the Sith’ made about $868.6 million at the box office and featured some of the most highly loved war scenes in sci-fi history, with a triple threat of battle between the planet’s surface, within space, and between the Skywalkers. For many, this is where admiration of the series stopped, as the controversial Disney buyout occurred in 2012. The franchise sold for $4.05 billion.
The Disney Era
Once the Disney Era began, the series took a shift. Some would say in a good direction, others would say in a bad one. The true nature of the shift is anyone’s guess, but there’s no denying that due to Disney acquiring Star Wars, it has grown well beyond what it was in the early 2000s. Without the Disney era of Star Wars, there would be no theme park surrounding it, not near as much merchandise, and not any of the shows that came to be after the acquisition. Because of the Disney era, we have three new movies. These include ‘The Force Awakens,’ ‘The Last Jedi,’ and ‘The Rise of Skywalker,’ which came out in 2015, 2017, and 2019 respectively.
Although many fans considered this to be the end of the franchise, the enthusiasm behind it has only increased since then. Disney opened a Star Wars section of their huge Disney World Parks, complete with rides, shops, museums, and all manner of attractions surrounding the titan industry. Kids who love the sci-fi series have been catered to like never before. Able to create their own lightsabers, see real Storm Troopers, and interact with many of the characters throughout the park made the series unique.
Why Do We Celebrate May the 4th?
So, why did May the 4th get singled out as Star Wars Day? Many understand the sentiment as a pun, a play on words, headlining the Star Wars catchphrase and iconic line “May the force be with you.” Jedi masters say it throughout all films, from the oldest ones in the series to the new renditions introduced by Disney. It’s hardly even a trivia question, iconic itself as a line. So was it really a pun that brought this day altogether, or was there something more?
It turns out the saying was popularized from a televised address from the London Evening News. On May 4th, 1979, Margaret Thatcher took office as prime minister, and the London Evening News, covering the story at the time, gave the headline “May The Fourth Be With You, Maggie. Congratulations!” However, the first time the saying was ever actually recorded was in a less popular but still predated instance in 1978, within newspapers across the United States said the phrase to celebrate Independence Day on July 4th. So while it wasn’t actually May, it was still the 4th. We’d like to think that counts.
When Did Star Wars Day First Start?
While the phrase has certainly been around for a long time, the actual popularization of the day didn’t begin anywhere until much later. Around the 2000s, where some would say the hype of Star Wars was at its highest and most united, themed days surrounding May the 4th began cropping up. The first of these was in Toronto Underground Cinema on May 4th, 2001. On that day, there was a movie marathon of all the existing movies up until that point. (A grand total of 4.) There was also themed food, snacks, and a costume party to top it all off. Sounds like a classic May the 4th Star Wars Day celebration, and since then, that precedent has been history.
Now, almost 50 years after the first film’s release, and just as long since fans have started using the phrase. It’s been about 20 years since the first May the 4th party. Anyone who wants to pay homage to the great space opera series is preparing to do so on May 4th. Sales, celebrations, and movie parties abound in light of how far the series has come. From being a single movie to being an entire theme park to sprawling and exciting video games, we’re happy that Star Wars is no doubt here to stay.