41 years ago star wars had premiere in London

[Pomse2001]

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:

 

[palitoyjunky]

Sounds bloody unfair :!:

 

[Pomse2001]

Sounds bloody unfair :!:

I agree, very unfair and also very strange. Maybe some on the forum can remember the premiere ?

 

[Simply Sci-fi]

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!

 

[Pomse2001]

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

 

[Simply Sci-fi]

Here's another advert from later in the cinema run that mentions the Ilford Odeon where I saw Star Wars.

 

[Om Padme hum]

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]

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]

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!!

 

[JedisRuleTheUniverse!]

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]

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.

 

[Mick_Pic]

My brother took me to see Star Wars in Leicester Square. There was a long queue and a dancing busking dwarf entertaining the queue. I remember, even though the film was approx 3 hours long they had a "B-movie" which was a short film about a knight lost in a forest, very mythological, I have no idea of the title - does anyone else remember?

 

[db94]

3 hours - you must have seen the extended version

The film was Black Angel directed by Roger Christian

 

[Mick_Pic]

Ah yes, that must be it! Thank you for your reply. So it would have been "The Empire Strikes Back" not "Star Wars". Funny the tricks memories play upon the mind... almost like "A Splinter of the Minds Eye" We saw all of the original trilogy at Leicester Square, London soon after UK release each time, good memories.

As probably everyone on here already knows... the "Black Angel" film has been restored and is currently available here: