'Star Wars,' the space epic no one believed in

LOS ANGELES: 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 UCLA´s School of Theater, Film and Television.

"As soon as anybody saw ´Star Wars´, they were converted and they fell in love with it."

But the early beginnings of the space epic didn´t look that rosy.
Twentieth Century Fox, the film´s distributor, hesitated over the film´s $8 million budget and wasn´t convinced a science fiction movie would fill theaters.

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