SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
Don't underestimate the power of the Force ... or inflation. Box-office analysts predict that in dollar terms, The Force Awakens will be the biggest earning movie with Star Wars in its name. But such measurements almost always fail to account for inflation. In real dollar terms, none of the sequels/prequels have surpassed the original Star Wars (later subtitled Episode IV: A New Hope).
A New Hope was a smash success financially, a bona fide blockbuster in the dawn of the blockbuster era. With cinemas screening the original Star Wars for most of 1977 and 1978, the film garnered $512 million in ticket sales. What's truly incredible about that figure is that movie tickets in 1977 cost just $2.23 on average. That means about 230 million people went to see the film, slightly more than the population of the U.S. at the time.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 17 2015, @10:33PM
Well, if you go back and watch "The Magnificent Seven" (1960), you'll see the same plot elements. An interesting, but ragtag bunch "heroes" is assembled to defend the village against the mighty enemy, which is led by a charismatic but vicious chief. The heroes bicker among themselves, lose, and then win. The action gets faster and faster towards the end as the majestic symphonic music swirls.
(Score: 3, Informative) by pipedwho on Thursday December 17 2015, @10:51PM
But that was simply an Americanised retelling of the Akira Kurosawa original called The Seven Samurai. However, that doesn't mean that hollywood didn't get some movies right. Just that it hadn't become an established 'formula' that gets applied to nearly every single movie that comes out of the major studios.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 17 2015, @11:00PM
Stars Wars is not The Seven Samurai retold. Not even close - that was a town that hired seven warriors to defend them against bandits that had been exploiting the crap out of the town with a sort of mafia/protection racket thing.
No, the Kurosawa movie that Stars Wars copied is The Hidden Fortress. [imdb.com] It is about a general and a princess fighting through enemy lines. C3PO and R2D2 are straight up copied from the two comic relief characters - even though they are speaking japanese it is as clear as day. When Criterion did their deluxe release of The Hidden Fortress a decade ago they even got Lucas to do a commentary track.
(Score: 2) by vux984 on Thursday December 17 2015, @11:42PM
Stars Wars is not The Seven Samurai retold.
He didn't claim it was. He claimed The Magificent Seven was the Seven Samurai retold.
The rest of your post is accurate.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 18 2015, @12:16AM
read the gp
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DeathMonkey on Thursday December 17 2015, @10:53PM
The Magnificent Seven was based on an Akira Kurosawa movie called Seven Samurai. Star Wars was heavily influenced by another Akira Kurosawa movie called Hidden Fortress. That's probably why they share certain elements.