41 years ago star wars had premiere in London

Pomse2001

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Wow today it is 41 years ago star wars had premiere in london :shock:

It was 25 May 1977 in USA, 27 December 1977 in London and in the rest of the UK 29 January 1978 :shock: in Denmark my country it was 26 December 1977 :shock:

Any idea why people in the uk should wait 1 month more than my country and people in London ? :shock:
 

Simply Sci-fi

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Star Wars didn't have a premiere in London. It simply opened on December 27th 1977 at the Dominion Theatre Tottenham Court Road and the Odeon Theatre Leicester Square. Premieres are organised to generate publicity and Star Wars definitely didn't need any more in the UK. The country was already Star Wars crazy! The press turned up in any case, including news crews from both main TV channels and treated the first people in the queue (and the first to emerge) like celebrities.

Each country set the release of Star Wars to suit its own market. Britain traditionally released big family films during the Christmas holiday and the main London cinemas always received top priority and generated a lot of income by offering exclusive presentations. 12 big cinemas around the country got Star Wars on the 29th January 1978 but the film slowly crawled across the UK until December of that year. I tracked the progress of all three Star Wars films for my book and I was very surprised to learn how long some places had to wait.

I was lucky enough to live near the Greater London cinema Gants Hill (Ilford) Odeon which opened Star Wars in February 1978. Glorious times!
 

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Pomse2001

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Simply Sci-fi said:
Star Wars didn't have a premiere in London. It simply opened on December 27th 1977 at the Dominion Theatre Tottenham Court Road and the Odeon Theatre Leicester Square. Premieres are organised to generate publicity and Star Wars definitely didn't need any more in the UK. The country was already Star Wars crazy! The press turned up in any case, including news crews from both main TV channels and treated the first people in the queue (and the first to emerge) like celebrities.

Each country set the release of Star Wars to suit its own market. Britain traditionally released big family films during the Christmas holiday and the main London cinemas always received top priority and generated a lot of income by offering exclusive presentations. 12 big cinemas around the country got Star Wars on the 29th January 1978 but the film slowly crawled across the UK until December of that year. I tracked the progress of all three Star Wars films for my book and I was very surprised to learn how long some places had to wait.

I was lucky enough to live near the Greater London cinema Gants Hill (Ilford) Odeon which opened Star Wars in February 1978. Glorious times!

Thanks mate for the update, I did not know all this :D
 

Om Padme hum

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Star Wars didn't have a premiere in London. It simply opened on December 27th 1977 at the Dominion Theatre Tottenham Court Road and the Odeon Theatre Leicester Square. Premieres are organised to generate publicity and Star Wars definitely didn't need any more in the UK. The country was already Star Wars crazy! The press turned up in any case, including news crews from both main TV channels and treated the first people in the queue (and the first to emerge) like celebrities.

Each country set the release of Star Wars to suit its own market. Britain traditionally released big family films during the Christmas holiday and the main London cinemas always received top priority and generated a lot of income by offering exclusive presentations. 12 big cinemas around the country got Star Wars on the 29th January 1978 but the film slowly crawled across the UK until December of that year. I tracked the progress of all three Star Wars films for my book and I was very surprised to learn how long some places had to wait.

I was lucky enough to live near the Greater London cinema Gants Hill (Ilford) Odeon which opened Star Wars in February 1978. Glorious times!
HI . Do you remember when it was released at the Odeon in Richmond? 1977 or 1978. I used to work at the odeon several evenings per week . I cannot remember if it was in 1977 or 1978. At uni we were all Star wars crazy and we uttered quotes from the movie in corridors of our hall of residence in Twickenham.
 

sith-smith

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Star Wars didn't have a premiere in London. It simply opened on December 27th 1977 at the Dominion Theatre Tottenham Court Road and the Odeon Theatre Leicester Square. Premieres are organised to generate publicity and Star Wars definitely didn't need any more in the UK. The country was already Star Wars crazy! The press turned up in any case, including news crews from both main TV channels and treated the first people in the queue (and the first to emerge) like celebrities.

Each country set the release of Star Wars to suit its own market. Britain traditionally released big family films during the Christmas holiday and the main London cinemas always received top priority and generated a lot of income by offering exclusive presentations. 12 big cinemas around the country got Star Wars on the 29th January 1978 but the film slowly crawled across the UK until December of that year. I tracked the progress of all three Star Wars films for my book and I was very surprised to learn how long some places had to wait.

I was lucky enough to live near the Greater London cinema Gants Hill (Ilford) Odeon which opened Star Wars in February 1978. Glorious times!
i can remember driving through London back then and seeing the cinema. Was very exciting! Didn't get to see it in the West End though. Had to wait until it came to Walthamstow...not too far from Gants Hill as it happens!
 

Dad of Luke

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Anyone know when Star Wars opened at the Odeon Preston? It would be sometime in 1978 when I was taken to see it. Life hasn't been the same since!!
 
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Star Wars didn't have a premiere in London. It simply opened on December 27th 1977 at the Dominion Theatre Tottenham Court Road and the Odeon Theatre Leicester Square. Premieres are organised to generate publicity and Star Wars definitely didn't need any more in the UK. The country was already Star Wars crazy! The press turned up in any case, including news crews from both main TV channels and treated the first people in the queue (and the first to emerge) like celebrities.

Each country set the release of Star Wars to suit its own market. Britain traditionally released big family films during the Christmas holiday and the main London cinemas always received top priority and generated a lot of income by offering exclusive presentations. 12 big cinemas around the country got Star Wars on the 29th January 1978 but the film slowly crawled across the UK until December of that year. I tracked the progress of all three Star Wars films for my book and I was very surprised to learn how long some places had to wait.

I was lucky enough to live near the Greater London cinema Gants Hill (Ilford) Odeon which opened Star Wars in February 1978. Glorious times!
So great! Can you help me find a copy of the newspaper advertisement and story for my collection? Thanks
 

texluh

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HI . Do you remember when it was released at the Odeon in Richmond? 1977 or 1978. I used to work at the odeon several evenings per week . I cannot remember if it was in 1977 or 1978. At uni we were all Star wars crazy and we uttered quotes from the movie in corridors of our hall of residence in Twickenham.
Hi. I'm pretty sure it was released at Richmond Odeon between about 2 Feb and 12 Feb 1978. This is based on information on Digital Spy (backed up in this thread really) that the West End release dominated for about 4 weeks until it was allowed elsewhere (basically). The reason I can tell you that it was soon after this end of Jan is this - I'm about 12 years younger than you (I was 7 in January 1978). My family moved from the Richmond area (Hampton) in February 1978 - probably in the half term in Feb 78. I saw Star Wars at least a week before we moved. The Star Wars (Topps) cards were around perhaps a week or two before I saw it, and where we moved to (Reading), the cards were there too. Absolutely no question from all concerned that it was at Richmond Odeon before the end of February 1978. I hope that helps.
 

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