Lucasfilm recently took to social media to drop some trivia about the original Star Wars poster, and you might be surprised to learn it.
Lucasfilm posted a picture of the Star Wars poster we all associate with the first film, known as the “Style A” poster and painted by artist Tom Jung. It features a stylized Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia in a Conan-like pose with a ghostly Darth Vader helmet looming behind. C-3PO, R2-D2, the Death Star, and a fleet of X-Wings are all featured in the background.
According to Lucasfilm, although May 25, 2022 marked the 45th anniversary of the premiere of the original film, it isn’t the anniversary of the release of the iconic poster. Jung’s “Style A” poster didn’t start hitting theaters until July 1977, nearly two full months after the film premiered. Even Lucasfilm isn’t sure why the poster wasn’t ready for the premiere, but it has certainly made an impression in the years since. It appears that the posters that were used in theaters for the film’s opening were the two teaser posters, which mostly featured the title. That seems to be the case in pictures of theaters opening day, with the Teaser “B” poster (with the “A Long Time Ago” line) the one that was used most often. I saw the film in 1977 in theaters, but I (like most people) don’t remember the poster used by theaters.
Here is the original post by Lucasfilm on Facebook.
Tom Jung has made a number of iconic film posters in his career, including Plan 9 from Outer Space in 1959, Doctor Zhivago in 1965, Gone With The Wind for the 1967 re-release, and the animated version of The Lord of the Rings in 1978. In early 1977, 20th Century Fox commissioned Jung to create the poster for the upcoming film. Working off of set photography and still shots from the film, Jung created the iconic image, and his original painting is now on display in a private area at Skywalker Ranch.
The Hildebrandt Brothers redid Jung’s image for the “Style B” poster. He would go on to create a poster for The Empire Strikes Back, as well as covers for the Thrawn trilogy of books by Timothy Zahn and the back cover of the Star Wars vinyl soundtrack.
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