I can certainly confirm that Fox did not believe Star Wars would
be a big hit. There was small hope it would break even. Fox
thought their big summer movie would be Damnation Alley.
They were, of course, wrong on both counts.
Craig.
At 01:48 PM 2/3/2010, Robert Maddison wrote:
We operated theaters from the 1960's on and this is what I remember
about the release of Star Wars to theaters.
Our theaters were being serviced out of the Des Moines, IA branch of
Twentieth Century Fox, Dave Gold, the manager. Prior to being
released, it was apparently felt by Fox that Star Wars was not going
to be anything big. They were selling it to theaters in the area,
including ours, for either a low percentage of the ticket receipts
and even in some cases in small towns at a flat rental (35mm prints
available after they finished use in first run theaters). After
finding Fox had a hit on their hands, Fox sent their salesmen out
trying to get many theater owners to void the original contracts and
sign new ones. Those of us who refused made a killing on our runs
of Star Wars.
Since Fox didn't have a lot of faith in the film, it's very possible
that a low number of the original style "C" posters were printed for
the first run. I'm pretty sure that style was the poster we had at
the time. I sold mine on eBay years ago (another killing) and no
longer have an image in my computer to verify for sure.
Robert Maddison
Craig Miller wrote:
I can't give you any of the "proofs" you asked for in your message,
Bruce, but as a publicist working at The Star Wars Corporation/
Lucasfilm in 1977 I can tell you that Style C posters definitely
existed, were sent to theaters, etc. I have no idea how many were
printed, shipped to theaters, etc., as that was all handled by Fox.
Craig.
At 06:13 AM 2/3/2010, Bruce Hershenson wrote:
Rick, I have wondered the same thing. I have talked to many poster
collectors who were collecting when the movie first came out, and
they say that this poster did not appear on the collector's market
at all in 1977, and that a year or two later a ton of them
appeared (the ones that are rolled or lightly hand folded).
Some people I have talked to wonder if these aren't the result of
someone getting the printer to run off a bunch of these at a later
date. We know there WAS such a poster in 1977 with ratings
(because printer's proofs have turned up), and it is also possible
that the "no ratings" posters were from an international release in 1978.
Can any expert show an image of any theater anywhere that
displayed this poster in 1977? Or can any expert who was
collecting back then tell that they purchased one or more of these
in 1977, and not at a later date?
Bruce
On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 5:32 AM, <rixpost...@aol.com
<mailto:rixpost...@aol.com>> wrote:
Hi,
I'm not that tremendously knowledgable when it comes to STAR
WARS material, but of the posters from the three original films in
the Star Wars "trilogy", it appears hands down as if the 1977 Star
Wars Style C one sheet is the most difficult to find...definitely
more so than the style D and even more so than Revenge Of The
Jedi. (Of course the 'birthday cake" one sheet tops them all, but
I'd put that in a different category altogether)
Anyway, I was searching the results of Heritage's auctions and
there must be 8 or 10 Star Wars Style D one sheets for every ONE
style Star Wars Style C (if that many!). Hey, I know there's a ton
of rolled, repro Style C one sheets out there--but those also
DON'T COUNT. I'm talking about original, authentic Star Wars
Style C one sheets. Could some expert on Star Wars material out
there let me know the story on this poster? It's rarity in
relation to other Star Wars posters, etc. Hey, I've seen a
helluva lot of those BOGUS Style C's over the past 10 years, but
unlike the Star Wars Style A and Style D, there NEVER seems to be
a genuine Style C listed on eBay---unless, of course, it's in an
eBay store for $1995 or $3995...or an even higher price.
Can some Star Wars expert out there tell me the approximate
ratio of Star Wars Style C one sheets out there compared to Styles
A and D...and what value they put on each...
Thanks very much in advance,
Rick
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