Star Wars Takes £3.8m In First Weekend

George Lucas’s sci-fi classic Star Wars opened in the West End last Friday in its new revamped format. The film boasts four and a half extra minutes of footage, mainly scenes shot for the original version which now have the added benefit of today’s computer technology, plus added creatures and improved space battle scenes.

Over its first weekend Star Wars took £3.8 million in the UK this time around, which amounts to around 0.76 million people watching the film. Playing to packed houses it looks set to achieve just as much success in the UK as the re-issue has across the Atlantic. Star Wars‘ grossing figures seem to vary from source to source, though it is generally accepted that the first issue of the film amassed around $322 million in 1977, despite only taking $2.6 million in its first six days. The two sequels went on to take $222 million and $263 million respectively, and not only set the path for an explosion of space blockbusters but earned George Lucas enough to take a break for nearly two decades.

It is anticipated that this re issue of Star Wars will not only attract those who saw the film first time around, eager to see their favourite scenes brought up to date, but also a younger generation of first timers. All three films have now been released in their new formats in the US: Star Wars has now taken $134 million The Empire Strikes Back has picked up $60 million, and Return Of The Jedi $16 million at the end of its second week.

The word is that admissions are falling rather rapidly and the euphoria may be more short lived than Lucas would have liked, despite all the hype. Harrison Ford is not enjoying the party. Stars Wars was the picture which made him, but he has been quoted in the last few days as saying that he will not be going to see the new version, and that he did in fact plead with Lucas for the character Han Solo do be ‘bludgeoned to death by Ewoks’ at the end of the third film. Doesn’t look like he’ll be starring in the next three Stars Wars films currently in pre-production then.

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