Discussion Alternate Reality

Consider for a moment that Star Wars "A New Hope" had never been released in 1977 and the Star Wars Universe had never existed.

How do you think the world would react to "A New Hope" if it was released for the first time now?
With today's big budget movies etc and the need for Hollywood to pump out a continuous stream of new movies do you think that Star Wars would make the impact it did in 1977?

Imagine if it had been released this year and had to compete against movies such as The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, Spiderman etc... would it be big enough to appeal to today's audiences in the way it did in the 70's and 80's?

When you consider the questions...don't think of the Special Editions or the prequels etc.... just think of a film maker who has taken a chance and made a movie on a limited budget (limited by today's standards) and produced the exact same version of the film that was in the cinemas in 1977.........would that movie still have the same impact in today's world?

 

Star Wars did a lot for special effects and for bringing back the fantasy in movies. I'm not sure movies would be the same if it didn't come out.

 

No way. If It were made using modern techniques, it would be a CGI snooze fest on par with the PT, John Carter, or The Hobbit.. If it were made as is, I think pirate copies would be a relatively big underground hit and may even start a retro FX revolution, though it probably wouldn't be as well known as that Rebecca Black video, "Friday" and probably wouldn't make much money.

 

It's too slow by today's standards, but otherwise it holds up remarkably well, IMHO, and the effects serve their purposes as well as any CGI. Especially today, people enjoy throwbacks to old-fashioned adventure movies (e.g. Pirates of the Caribbean).

However, it wouldn't--couldn't--have as big an impact today because it'd be competing against its own progeny. It'd largely get lost in the noise, particularly due to its pacing and the fact that its ideas have been recycled so many times since.

In reality, in a universe where Star Wars was never released, the entire blockbuster landscape would look very different indeed. Maybe in that world, Star Wars would triumph in 2012...

 

In an Alternate Reality, "Howard the Duck" was a blockbuster.

 

most sci-fi shows like the Stargate Series Trilogy and Battlestar galactica today wouldn't have been successful without star trek or star wars.

 

If it came out today people would **** all over it like they did the prequels. If you don't see it when you are a kid, the magic just isn't the same.

The world (internet) is now full of middle aged cynics that will hate on anything regardless.

*Gotta star out the whole word

 

It's a nice "What if?" question but impossible to answer. There are so many factors that are different today.

First, I highly doubt any studio would have passed on A New Hope in this day and age.

Second, the studio would give George a budget commesurate wsith what it costs to make, IE special FX, actors etc... In other words it would be a bigger budget than he had in 1977.

Third, I'm not sure George would be able to capture "the magic" he did in the 70's where it seemed every decision he made was perfect. And obviously he wouldn't be able to use the same cast so who are the suitable young actors who are capable of filling those iconic roles? There aren't any known actors. Today's Hollywood, for the most part, is a vacuous wasteland of retreaded ideas and flash in the pan actors/actresses. Sure we've speculated hardcore about new actors for the ST but they have it easy compared to the Big 3. The new actors can carve out their own roles and fail or succeed on their own merits but they don't have to build the mythology, only ride the wave.

Lastly, I still think Star Wars would be successful. Star Trek pre-dated Star Wars and it didn't effect it's success. Super heroes and comic books also pre-dated SW but never suffered from their existence. Just because there are a glut of super hero movies I don't think it would change how SW is viewed. It was, is and forever will be MYTHOLOGY, which Campbell and Jung proved are necessary and significant to human existence.

 

Well, it is possible the original Battlestar Galactica TV series might have taken off instead of being called an SW ripoff.

Plus George would have gotten the rights to Flash Gordon in this universe and made it...would Queen still have done the soundtrack? Ah, possibilities...

 

GEORGE! Aaaaah-aaaaah! He'll save every one of us!

...except the world would have been robbed of that awesome soundtrack. But maybe in the same universe, Jodorowsky made Dune with the planned soundtrack by Pink Floyd! So it all evens out...

 

"Today's standard" would have a different meaning. Like some of the others said, many of the movies that have come out after 1977 owe alot to Star Wars and George Lucas.

If SW hasn't existed yet until today, then many of the movies that we love may not exist either. Ridley Scott probably would've never made Alien or Blade Runner, James Cameron might still be a truck driver and never made Terminator, Peter Jackson probably wouldn't have been inspired to become a film student and never would've made Lord of the Rings(all we'd ever have is that 70's animated movie). SW ushered in so many hit movies, that might not have existed without it.

You also have to consider that no Star Wars also means no ILM. That would also mean no Pixar. Who knows if there'd even be CG in movies today without ILM ever existing.

Star Wars not existing may also mean that home video games may not be as good as it is now(going back to the whole CG thing).

Even BSG wouldn't be the same(if it would've made it at all to tv). Without Lucas hiring Ralph McQuarrie for SW, he would've never got the gig to do the designs for BSG.

Speaking of Mr. McQuarrie, SW made today instead of the '70s wouldn't be the same because of key elements like Ralph. Maybe John Williams wouldn't agree to work with Speilberg's friend today. Would we still have Ben Burt, Joe Johnston, Dennis Muren, John Dykstra, etc on the team? Without SW maybe George and Marcia would've never gotten divorced, and maybe she'd still be available to provide her editing skills.

But hypothetically speaking, if Lucas could make almost exactly the same movie today(in this hypothetical alternate universe), then it would still be a major hit, because it would still be the first of its kind(because non of the other post-SW movies would've existed either).

 

In an alternate reality I am married to Natalie Portman and I am a god.

 

The answer is a pretty straight forward "NO". If Star Wars Ep. IV A New Hope were released today, it would not have the same impact.

Why?

Because today's world is completely different from 1977. People respond differently to things. People have almost no attention span nowadays.

When was the last time a hit movie pulled lines around the theatre for weeks, even months, on end? Today, the big hits are lucky to be at the top of the box office for more than two weeks.

When was the last time a movie had lasting significant cultural impact? Take something like Harry Potter. Huge book series. The movies did very well also, however, once the last one did it's couple weeks at the box office, Harry Potter was, and is, completely over. Not just in story, but in the minds of the audience. Nobody thinks about it anymore. (Maybe a more interesting question would be: Would Harry Potter have had a shelf life like Star Wars if it were released in 1977?)

Keep in mind that there has not been a day since some time, probably in 1978, that you could not go into a store and see/buy something Star Wars. This will never happen again in todays society.

If the phrase "Timing is everything" ever held true, it would be here and I'm glad we got Star Wars when we did.