As we were searching the Calendar section of a Los Angles Times, July 10, 1977 [1] for a full-page ad for an upcoming ELP concert to be held at the Long Beach Arena, we came across another full-page ad for the newly released movie, “Star Wars”. While such ads are desirable when found in a Los Angeles Times (due to the Hollywood connection), what caught our attention was the text of the ad which, instead of just having “STAR WARS”, had “STAR WARS NOW”. Upon investigation we learned that the original STAR Wars was quickly edited soon after it was decided to convert the stand alone movie into a trilogy. Several fans of Star Wars had posted frustration in their inability to obtain the original-release version of the movie. This made me wonder if the odd title in the ad (“STAR WARS NOW”) is/was related to this change. If anyone has more information in regards to this version of the ad, we’d love to know (guy@rarenewspapers.com [2]). Thanks.
4 Comments To "Snapshot 1977… The Original (?) Star Wars…"
#1 Comment By Matthew Odland On 03/03/2024 @ 1:52 pm
I have a copy of the sheet that was sent to the newspapers. I would love to send a picture of it if you’d like.
#2 Comment By Mike On 03/11/2024 @ 10:41 am
“NOW” is not part of the title. The poster is meant to be read as “NOW the Force is with you at these theatres”. The ad is emphasizing the expansion of the release into more theatres in the LA area beyond the first three exclusive engagements at the Mann Chinese in Hollywood, AVCO Cinema Center in Westwood, and Plitt City Center in Orange.
In short, bad graphic design.
(The original Star Wars was NOT edited after release until the Special Editions in1997.The original theatrical release is not available commercially and has never bee released on its own on DVD or Blu-Ray. Reconstructions are availble from fan-edits and restorations, however.)
#3 Comment By GuyHeilenman On 03/12/2024 @ 8:30 am
Thank you Mike.
#4 Comment By GuyHeilenman On 03/12/2024 @ 9:06 am
If you send us a photo of it, with your permission we’ll add it to this post.