Star Wars Episode I: Guardians of the Force

Star Wars Episode I: Guardians of the Force is a 1987 American epic space opera film written and directed by William Walton Granger, co-produced by Lucasfilm and distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is the first installment in the Star Wars prequel trilogy and stars Liam Neeson, Jonathan L. Dee, Peter Guiness, Ethan Hawke, Olivia Barash, Eddie Murphy, Harry Hamlin, Susan Sarandon, Christopher Lee, Bernie Casey, Mia Sara, Ian McDiarmid, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, and Frank Oz.

The film introduces actor and contoronist Doug Jones in the dual roles of Darth Anilin and Dantius Skywalker (Darth Thanatos) and served as the feature film debuts of Brandon Lee and Samuel L. Jackson. Original trilogy star Peter Mayhew also returns but as a new Wookiee character, a Jedi named Tombacca

The film is set thirty-four years before the original film, and follows Jedi Master Calek Starkiller and his apprentice Anakin Skywalker—a young padawan with unusually strong powers in the Force. The Republic is in turmoil as a rogue Jedi Prince Varis has led a number of planets to secede. Meanwhile the Jedi Order must deal with numerous acts against them while simultaneously contend with the mysterious return of the Sith.

Granger began production of this film after he concluded that film special effects had advanced to the level he wanted for the fourth film in the saga. Filming started on June 26, 1986, at locations including Leavesden Film Studios and the Tunisian desert. Its visual effects included extensive use of computer-generated imagery (CGI); a number of its characters and a large portion of the settings were completely computerized and did not exist in the real world. The film was Granger’s first directorial effort who decided to have complete control of the production rather than hire someone else to direct.

Guardians of the Force was released to theaters on May 19, 1987, ten years after the premiere of the first Star Wars film. The film's premiere was extensively covered by media and was greatly anticipated because of the large cultural following the Star Wars saga had cultivated.

Despite mixed reviews from critics, who tended to praise the visuals, action sequences, John Williams' musical score, and the performances of Liam Neeson, Peter Guinness, Susan Sarandon, Eddie Murphy, Brandon Lee and Ian McDiarmid, but criticize the writing, characterization and the majority of the acting, it grossed more than $1,027,044,677 billion worldwide during its initial theatrical run, making it the highest-grossing film worldwide at the time, beating previous champion E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial until it was beaten itself ten years later by Titanic. It became the highest-grossing film of 1987, the highest-grossing Star Wars film (until the release of Star Wars Episode VII: A New Dawn in 2002), and is currently the seventeenth-highest-grossing film in North America unadjusted for inflation. The film was followed by two sequels, Star Wars Episode II: Rise of the Empire in 1990 and Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith in 1993.

Plot[]

In a distant system, the Sith are holding a contest to find new recruits to join their ranks. The Sith are led by the last member of her race Darth Anilin, a hermaphroditic saurian species and bitter enemies of the Bendu, the diminutive race which Yoda belongs to. Joining her are the elderly Sith Lords, Darth Plagueis and Darth Thanatos who are later revealed to be Cos Skywalker and his father Dantius Skywalker. Though revered as Jedi, both have secretly turned to the Dark Side.

The battle ends quickly with only two Force-sensitive warriors surviving. Sajj 'Ikrenia (later named Darth Thorain) and Ussani (later named Darth Abyssus) are deemed worthy to enter their ranks and sent to rogue Jedi Prince Varis (who is also secretly a Sith known as Darth Olor) to receive further training.

Meanwhile a cocksure Jedi named Huu Tho is undercover amongst a group of smugglers, revealing his identity and arresting them shortly thereafter. Upon his return to the capital system Coruscant he encounters Calek Starkiller and his padawan Anakin Skywalker, youngest member of the famed Skywalker family. It is later revealed that he is the grandson and great-grandson of Cos and Dantius. The Jedi Council (led by Yoda and a human named Mace Windu) summon the group. The Republic is embroiled with the secessionist acts of Prince Valor and requests that Calek travel to Tatooine to meet with him to begin negotiations for an armistice. Huu Tho and another Jedi named Ko’na Tevura offer to join them on their mission.

Shortly after their departure, an assassination attempt on the Jedi Council kills several members (though Yoda and Mace Windu survive) and an investigation commences with the newly knighted Obi-Wan Kenobi leading it. He is aided by a Wookiee Jedi known as Tombacca. The Jedi’s top investigator, (Anakin’s father) Alsandair, is busy dealing with an assassination attempt on the young ruler of the planet Quaia, Ashani Vassari.

Prince Varis greets the Jedi and offers them answers on his hostile actions, suggesting they are being misinterpreted by the Republic. He reveals that his own internal investigations suggest the Sith have returned and sends them to the distant world of Korriban. Huu Tho, not trusting Varis, remains behind and learns of both a secret weapon and fights against Ussani and Sajj. He defeats them both, but is no match for the wiser and more experienced Varis. He is taken prisoner and subjected to painful experiments.

Meanwhile Kenobi's investigation suggests collusion with several interstellar corporations. An attempt to locate a missing pilot is stalled by Sith machinations and the acts of the current Supreme Chancellor Palpatine (who unknowingly to the Jedi is also a Sith Lord named Darth Imperious) which interferes with their enquiry. Alsandair follows a lead to a distant world which reveals a former Jedi named Sel Tannik has created a vast clone army to serve the Republic. He reports this to the council at once, who instruct Alsandair to rendezvous with Obi-Wan as he closes on the identity of the person who issued the contract for the Jedi Council’s death. An attempt to ambush both Jedi fails.

On Korriban, Calek, Anakin and Tevura discover a secret droid army being programmed to fight in numerous forms of combat by a Mandalore mercenary named Tobi Dala. The Jedi are captured and taken prisoner. Darth Anilin reveals her plan to conquer the Republic using a droid army that will never betray her and a new edict; “The Rule of One” a declaration that all Sith Lords will serve the Sith’s ambitions and not their own. At first unaware of the involvement of the Sith, when Tobi Dala learns of it, he helps the group escape Darth Anilin.

Huu Tho, tapping into the Dark Side, escapes from his imprisonment and barely makes it back to the Jedi Temple alive. He is placed in the medical bay and an attempt to probe his mind succeeds, revealing that Lai’la Skywalker, the mother of Anakin is in fact another Sith Lord known as Darth Sidious.

With all cards on the table, the Sith’s hidden fleet launches a major offensive against the Republic. The First Battle of Coruscant begins with Tobi Dala helping to turn the tides against such overwhelming odds. Revealing that his programming is in a select few Droid Commanders, the bulk of the data is in a control ship. After it is destroyed, the droid army cannot act autonomously.

The Sith and the Jedi engage in furious battles which sees no casualties amongst the Sith, but Calek is killed as is the weakened Huu Tho. Alsandair is mortally wounded and as a dying request, he tells Obi-Wan to resume his son’s training. The battle is won for the forces of the Republic at the end of the day. The inclusion of the Clone Army aids in the battle. Though the Sith manage to escape in the confusion of the battle.

The film ends with Yoda reluctantly following Alsandair’s wishes and allowing the in-experienced Obi-Wan to assume guardianship of the boy’s training. Palpatine, who didn’t take part in the battle, is confident his true intentions are still a secret and his identity as a Sith safe.

The Sith’s forces regroup and a long war looms on the horizon...

Cast of Characters[]

Liam Neeson as Calek Starkiller
Peter Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi
Ethan Hawke as Anakin Skywalker
Jonathan L. Dee as Tobi Dala
Eddie Murphy as Huu Tho
Harry Hamlin as Alsandair Skywalker
Susan Sarandon as Lai’la Skywalker/Darth Sidious
Samuel L. Jackson as Mace Windu
Bernie Casey as Prince Varis/Darth Olor
Frank Oz performing Yoda
Christopher Lee as Cos Skywalker/Darth Plagueis
Peter Mayhew as Tombacca
Ian McDiarmid as Palpatine/Darth Imperious
Olivia Barash as Ashani Vassari
Mia Sara as Sajj 'Ikrenia/Darth Thorain
Brandon Lee as Ussani/Darth Abyssus
Anthony Daniels as C-3P0
Kenny Baker as R2-D2
Doug Jones as Darth Anilin and Dantius Skywalker/Darth Thanatos
Peter Cullen (voice only) as Darth Thanatos

Production[]

Development[]

While writing the original Star Wars, Lucas realized the story was too vast in scope to be covered in one film. The original film was written to introduce a wider story arc that could be told in sequels on the chance that it became successful, so Star Wars evolved from the first film in the series to the first episode of the saga's second trilogy.

When Lucas attempted to negotiate a contract that allowed him to make two sequels, William Walton Granger refused and when conflicts arose during pre-production of The Empire Strikes Back Lucas was fired and Granger took over the creative process and used Lucas’ own notes to elaborate the backstory to aid his writing process.

While writing Episode V, Granger considered directions in which to take the story. In the original trilogy, Darth Vader was revealed to have been Anakin Skywalker, a once-powerful Jedi Knight, and the father of the hero Luke Skywalker. With this backstory in place, Granger decided the movies would work best as a trilogy. In the final act of the trilogy's final episode, Return of the Jedi, Vader is ultimately redeemed through an act of sacrifice for Luke.

Upon conclusion of the sixth film, Granger immediately began sorting the notes and ideas Lucas had left behind with full intent on making a prequel trilogy. In part because the story of Anakin’s downfall intrigued him. Also because he wanted enough time to pass for the sequel trilogy which would show older versions of Luke, Han and Leia.

In 1985, it was announced in Variety and other sources that Granger would be making the prequels. Granger began outlining the story; Anakin Skywalker rather than Obi-Wan Kenobi would be the main protagonist and the series would be a tragedy examining Darth Vader's origins. Granger also began to change the prequels' timeline relative to the original series, "filling-in" the history, backstory, existing parallel or tangential to the originals and beginning a long story that started with Anakin's childhood and ended with his death. This was the final step toward turning the franchise into a saga.

Granger began writing the new Star Wars trilogy on November 1, 1985. The screenplay of Star Wars was adapted from Lucas' 15-page outline that was written in 1976, which he designed to help him keep track of the characters' backstories and events that occurred before the original trilogy. Anakin was first written as a twelve-year-old, but Granger rose his age to fifteen because he felt an older protagonist would better fit the plot. The film's working title was The Beginning; Granger later revealed that its true title was Guardians of the Force; a reference to both the Jedi and the Sith and their war for control of the galaxy.

The larger budget and possibilities opened up by the use of digital effects made Granger "think about a much grander, more epic scale "which is what I wanted Star Wars to be". The story contained five simultaneous, ongoing plots, one leading to another until the final battle sequence on Coruscant. The central plot is Calek’s journey to unravel the Sith’s machinations, the assassination attempt on the Jedi, and the discovery of a secret clone army, the Sith starting the first phase of their plan and Anakin’s torn loyalties between his mother and father.

As with the original trilogy, Granger intended Guardians to illustrate several themes throughout the narrative. Duality is a frequent theme; Numerous members of the Skywalker clan are revealed to be Sith, Palpatine plays on both sides of the Jedi-Sith war, to further his own agenda. "Balance" is frequently suggested; Anakin is supposedly "the one" chosen to bring balance to the Force. Many Jedi debate the need for balance, with the hard line group led by Yoda believe evil must be eradicated and the Dark Side clearly suppressed, while more moderate minds, led by Calek, view that intent is more important than the idea of evil for evil’s sake.

In November 1985, Ron Howard confirmed that he, Robert Zemeckis and Steven Spielberg were all approached by Granger to direct the film. Their loyalty to Lucas would not permit it, and so Granger opted to direct the film himself.

Pre-production and design[]

Before Granger had started writing, he chose as his producing partner, a newcomer to the industry Richard Kaplan. Kaplan stated that his previous experience on more low-budget productions led to many of his decisions on Guardians, such as long-term deals with actors and soundstages, the employment of recent graduates with little to no film experience, and the creation of sets and landscapes with digital technology.

In April 1985, Kaplan started searching for artists in art, architecture and design schools, and in mid-year he began location scouting with production designer Gavin Bocquet.

Due to the original contract, Lucas was still technically a producer of the series and had both a vested interest in its success (as he earned a percentage of the profits) and his company Industrial Light & Magic had a first choice option to provide the visual effects for the production. Lucas accepted the contract as a means to oversee a portion of the film’s creation and chose ILM art director Doug Chiang to spearhead the efforts. Within a month, an impressed Kaplan hired Chiang to be design director.

Within three to four months of Granger beginning the writing process, Chiang and his design team started a two-year process of reviewing thousands of designs for the film. Chiang stated that Granger intended Episode I to be stylistically different from the other Star Wars films; it would be "richer and more like a period piece, since it was the history leading up to the older, lived in A New Hope".

Bocquet would later develop the work of Chiang's team and design the interiors, translating the concepts into construction blueprints with environments and architectural styles that had some basis in reality "to give the audience something to key into".

Some elements were directly inspired by the original trilogy; Granger described the saber battle droids as robotic Sith and the Clone Troopers predecessors to the Stormtroopers. Chiang uses that orientation to base the droids on traditional Sith characters such as Darth Vader and Emperor. And the Clones on the Imperial soldiers, only in the same style of stylized and elongated features seen in tribal African art.

Terryl Whitlatch, who had a background on zoology and anatomy, was in charge of creature design. Many of the aliens are hybrids, combining features of real animals. At times entire food chains were developed even though only a small percentage of them would appear in the film. Each creature would reflect its environment; those on Quaia were more beautiful because the planet is "lush and more animal-friendly", Tatooine has rough-looking creatures "with weather-beaten leathery skin to protect them from the harsh desert elements", and Coruscant has bipedal, human-looking aliens.

Stunt coordinator Nick Gillard was recruited to create a new Jedi fighting style for the prequel trilogy. Gillard likened the lightsaber battles to a chess game "with every move being a check". Because of their short-range weapons, Gillard thought the Jedi would have had to develop a fighting style that merged every swordfighting style, such as kendo and other kenjutsu styles, with other swinging techniques, such as tennis swings and tree-chopping. While training Liam Neeson and Peter Guinness, Gillard wrote a sequence which lasted around 60 seconds and intended to be around five or six sequences per fight. Granger later referred to the Jedi as "negotiators" rather than high-casualty soldiers. The preference of hand-to-hand combat was intended to give a spiritual and intellectual role to the Jedi. Because Gillard thought the stunt jumps with the actors and stuntmen dangling from wires did not look realistic, air rams were used to propel them into the air instead.

Granger decided to make elaborate costumes because the film's society was more sophisticated than the one depicted in the original trilogy. Designer Trisha Biggar and her team created over 1,000 costumes that were inspired by various cultures. Biggar worked closely with concept designer Iain McCaig to create a color palette for the inhabitants of each world: Tatooine followed A New Hope with sun-bleached sand colors, Coruscant had grays, browns and blacks, and Quaia had green and gold for humans. The Jedi costumes followed the tradition from the original film; and the Sith designs were meant to be a darker, meaner re-iteration of Jedi history.

Obi-Wan's costume was inspired by the costume that was worn by Peter's grandfather Alec Guinness who played the same role in the first film. Granger said he and Biggar would look at the conceptual art to "translat[e] all of these designs into cloth and fabric and materials that would actually work and not look silly". Biggar also consulted Gillard to ensure the costumes would accommodate action scenes, and consulted the creature department to find which fabrics "wouldn't wear too heavily" on the alien skins. A huge wardrobe department was set up at Leavesden Film Studios to create over 250 costumes for the main actors and 5,000 for the background ones.

Casting[]

Casting for the lead Anakin Skywalker took six months, with over 5,000 young actors auditioning. Actors from across the United States, Canada, England and Australia were brought to Los Angeles to be tested. In the end, Ethan Hawke was selected from a pool of over 20 popular actors of the time, including River Phoenix, Wil Wheaton, Corey Feldman, Sean Astin and Corey Haim.

After Susan Sarandon and Harry Hamlin expressed interest in appearing in a Star Wars film, Granger cast them in the pivotal roles, that of Anakin Skywalker’s parents.

Having seen him in a Broadway performance Samuel L. Jackson, was approached by casting director Robin Gurland to play Mace Windu. Despite his problem with drug addiction, Granger gave Jackson the role on the condition that he enter a rehab program prior to filming.

Brandon Lee, son of famed martial arts champion and actor Bruce Lee was brought in to audition as member of the stunt crew. Stunt coordinator Nick Gillard filmed Lee to demonstrate his conception of the lightsaber battles. Granger and Kaplan were so impressed with the test tape that they gave Lee the role of Ussani.

Grandson of famed actor and original Obi-Wan Kenobi Alec Guinness was chosen to assume the role as a young man. Guinness’ parents and grandfather tried to convince him not to audition, but the teenage actor still sought a role since he was a Star Wars fan.

The casting was influenced by Guinness' remarkable similarity to his grandfather and despite some apprehension, he accepted the Obi-Wan Kenobi role. It was later reported that Alec Guinness applauded his grandson’s performance, despite his growing animosity towards the series.

Filming[]

Filming began on January 26, 1986, and ended on September 30 of that year, primarily taking place at Leavesden Film Studios in England. Leavesden was leased for a two and a half years so the production company could leave the sets intact and return after principal photography had been completed. The forest scenes on Quaia were filmed at Cassiobury Park in Watford, Hertfordshire.

Pick-ups were shot between November 1986 and February 1987 after Granger screened a rough cut of the film for friends and colleagues in October 1986.

Most of the action and stunts were filmed by Roger Christian's second unit, which worked alongside the main unit instead of afterwards because of the high number of shots to be completed daily.

The Tunisian desert was again used for the Tatooine scenes; Mos Espa was built outside the city of Tozeur. On the night following the third day of shooting in Tozeur, an unexpected sandstorm destroyed many of the sets and props. The production was quickly rescheduled to allow for repairs and was able to leave Tunisia on the date originally planned.

The Italian Caserta Palace was used as the interior of the Quaian City Capitol Building; It was used as a location for four days after it had been closed to visitors.

A binder with the film's storyboards served as a reference for live-action filming, shots that would be filmed in front of a chroma key blue screen, and shots that would be composed using CGI. The sets were often built with the parts that would be required on screen; often they were built only up to the heights of the actors. Chroma key was extensively used for digital set extensions, backgrounds or scenes that required cinematographer David Tattersall to seek powerful lamps to light the sets and visual effects supervisor John Knoll to develop software that would remove the blue reflection from shiny floors. Knoll, who remained on set through most of the production, worked closely with Tatterstall to ensure that the shots were suitable to add effects later. The cameras were fitted with data capture models to provide technical data for the CGI artists.

Editing took two years; Paul Martin Smith started the process in England and focused on dialogue-heavy scenes. Ben Burtt who was also the film's sound editor was responsible for action sequences under Granger's supervision. Non-linear editing systems played a large part in translating Granger' vision; he constantly tweaked, revised and reworked shots and scenes. The final sound mix was added in April 1987 and the following month the film was completed after the delivery of the remaining visual effects shots.

Effects[]

The film saw breakthrough in computer generated effects. About 1,050 of the shots in Guardians have visual effects. The scene in which toxic gas is released on the Jedi is the only sequence with no digital alteration.

The work was so extensive that three visual effects supervisors divided the workload among themselves John Knoll supervised the on-set production and the Coruscant space battle sequences, Dennis Muren supervised the Korriban sequences and the Coruscant ground battle, and Scott Squires, alongside teams assigned for miniature effects and character animation, worked on the lightsaber effects.

Until the film's production, many special effects in the film industry were achieved using miniature models, matte paintings, and on-set visual effects. In 1985, Young Sherlock Holmes utilized the first example of a computer generated character. Granger believed that ILM would be able to make the Saber-Droid army completely using computers. Knoll previewed 3,500 storyboards for the film; Granger accompanied him to explain factors of the shots that would be practical and those which would be created through visual effects. Knoll later said that on hearing the explanations of the storyboards, he did not know how to accomplish what he had seen. The result was a mixture of original techniques and the newest digital techniques to make it difficult for the viewer to guess which technique was being used. Knoll and his visual effects team wrote new computer software to allow a realistic depiction of the digital characters. Another goal was to create computer-generated characters that could act seamlessly with live-action actors.

While filming scenes with CGI characters, Granger would block the characters using their corresponding voice actors on-set. The voice actors were then removed and the live-action actors would perform the same scene alone. A CGI character would later be added into the shot to complete the conversation. Granger also used CGI to correct the physical presence of actors in certain scenes.

Practical models were used when their visuals helped with miniature sceneries for backgrounds, set extensions, and model vehicles that would be scanned to create the digital models or filmed to represent spaceships.

Granger, who had previously confronted problems with the props used to depict R2-D2, allowed ILM and the production's British special effects department to create their own versions of the robot. Nine R2-D2 models were created; one was for actor Kenny Baker to be dropped into, seven were built by ILM and featured two wheelchair motors capable of moving 440lb, enabling it to run and be mostly used in stage sets, and the British studio produced a pneumatic R2-D2 that could shift from two to three legs and was mostly used in Tunisia because its motor drive system allowed it to drive over sand.

Granger originally planned to create all of the aliens with computer graphics, but those that would be more cost-effectively realized with masks and animatronics were created by Nick Dudman's creature effects team. These included the background characters in Mos Espa, the Jedi Council, and the Galactic Senate. Dudman's team was told where the creatures would be required six months before principal photography begun, and they rushed the production. Dudman traveled to Skywalker Ranch to see the original creatures that could be reused, and read the script for a breakdown of scenes with practical creatures, leaving only the more outlandish designs to be created using CGI.

Music[]

Template:Main article As with previous Star Wars films, the Star Wars Episode I: Guardians of the Force score was composed and conducted by John Williams. He started composing the score in October 1986 and began recording the music with the London Voices and London Symphony Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios on February 10, 1987. Williams decided to use electronic instruments such as synthesizers to enhance the sound and choral pieces to "capture the magical, mystical force that a regular orchestra might not have been able to provide", and create an atmosphere that was "more mysterious and mystical and less military" than those of the original trilogy.

One of the most notable tracks is "Duel of the Fates", which uses the chorus to give a religious, temple-like feel to the epic lightsaber duels at the end of the film. The track was made into a music video.

While composing Anakin's theme, Williams tried to reflect the innocence of his childhood and to foreshadow his transformation into Darth Vader by using slight suggestions of "The Imperial March" in the melody.

The film's soundtrack was released by Sony Classical Records on May 4, 1999. This album featured the score, which Williams restructured as a listening experience; it is not presented in film order and omits many notable cues from the film because of the space restriction of the compact disc.

A two-disc "Ultimate Edition" was released on November 14, 2000. The set features almost the entire score as it is heard in the film, including all of the edits and loops that were made for the sound mix.

Themes[]

Like previous Star Wars films, Guardians of the Force makes several references to historical events and films that Granger watched in his youth. The Star Wars films typically mix several concepts from different mythologies together.

The Jedi practice Zen-like meditation and martial arts, as did the ancient Japanese Samurai warriors.

In Taoist philosophy, from The Way, yin and yang the opposing but complementary aspects of reality or nature are born. Unlike Chinese philosophy, in which yin and yang are not moral qualities, the ancient Persian philosophy of Zurvanism taught that the dualism of dark and light forces are locked in an eternal battle while being two sides (or evolutes) of the same "Force", the force of time itself (Zurvan) the prime mover. These elements derive primarily from Eastern and Iranian religions and myths.

There are many references to Christian beliefs in the film, such as the appearance of Darth Abyssus, whose design draws heavily from traditional depictions of the Christian devil, complete with red skin and horns.

Abyssus's facial tattoos were inspired by the indigenous peoples of Brazil.

The Star Wars film cycle features a similar Christian narrative involving Anakin Skywalker; he is the "chosen one", the individual prophesied to bring balance to the Force and is tempted to join the Sith. Anakin's fall from grace seemingly prevents him from fulfilling his destiny as the "chosen one" (until Return of the Jedi reveals the prophecy was ultimately true).

Japanese films such as Akira Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress influenced the original Star Wars film; scholars say that Guardians of the Force was likewise influenced by Korean and Japanese culture. Film historians Geoff King and Tanya Krzywinska write, "The costume and make-up designs...favour a mixture of the gothic and the oriental [sic] over anything very futuristic. The gothic is most strongly apparent in Darth Abyssus' demonic horns and the red and black make-up mask that borrows from the facial designs found in depictions of Japanese demons". King and Krzywinska say that "Calek’s pony tail and Obi-Wan's position of apprentice further encourage a reading in terms of the Samurai tradition". They also say "Ashani, in keeping with her status and character, has a number of highly formal outfits to go with hair sculpted into a curve that frames make-up of a Japanese cast".

Release[]

The release on May 20, 1987, of the first new Star Wars film in the prequel trilogy was accompanied by a considerable amount of attention. No other film studio released films during the same week.

Employment consultant firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas estimated that 2.2 million full-time employees missed work to attend the film, resulting in a US 293 million loss of productivity. According to The Wall Street Journal, so many workers announced plans to view the premiere that many companies closed on the opening day. Queue areas formed outside cinema theaters over a month before ticket sales began.

More theater lines appeared when it was announced that cinemas were not allowed to sell tickets in advance until two weeks into the release. This was because of a fear that family theater-goers would be either unable to receive tickets or would be forced to pay higher prices for them. Instead, tickets were to be sold on a first-come-first-served basis.

However, after meetings with the National Association of Theatre Owners, Lucasfilm and Twentieth Century Fox agreed to allow advance ticket sales on May 12, 1999, provided there was a limit of 12 tickets per customer. As a result, some advance tickets were sold by scalpers at prices as high as $100 apiece, which a distribution chief called "horrible" and said it was exactly what they wanted to avoid.

Daily Variety reported that theater owners received strict instructions from Twentieth Century Fox that the film could only play in the cinema's largest auditorium for the first 8–12 weeks, no honor passes were allowed for the first eight weeks, and they were obliged to send their payments to them within seven days.

Despite worries about the film being finished on time, two weeks before its theatrical release Twentieth Century Fox preponed the release date from May 22 to 20, 1987. At the ShoWest Convention, Granger said the change was intended to give the fans a "head start" by allowing them to view it during the week and allowing families to view it during weekends.

Eleven charity premieres were staged across the United States on May 16, 1999; receipts from the Los Angeles event, where corporate packages were available for between $5,000 and $25,000; proceeds were donated to the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.

Other charity premieres included the Dallas premiere for the Children's Medical Center, the Aubrey Fund for Pediatric Cancer Research at the Sloan-Kettering Hospital in New York, the Big Brother/Sister Association of the Philadelphia premiere, and the Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. A statement said that tickets were sold at $500 apiece and that certain sections of the theaters were set aside for disadvantaged children.

Marketing[]

Twentieth Century Fox spent $20 million on the film's advertising campaign and made promotional licensing deals with Kenner, Lego, Tricon Global Restaurants, and PepsiCo. Twentieth Century Fox also helped the Star Wars fan club to organize an event called Star Wars Celebration, which was held in Denver, Colorado between April 30 and May 2, 1987.

The teaser trailer was released on selected screens accompanying Aliens on July 18, 1987, and media reported that people who were not expecting it, rose to their feet and applauded the trailer.

A second trailer was released on March 12, 1987, with the film Raising Arizona. ‘’Variety’’ reported that many fans paid full theater admission to watch the new trailer and left shortly thereafter. To keep fans from leaving before the movie was over, some theaters played the teaser an additional time after the film finished.

The theatrical trailer caused even more media attention because it was premiered in theaters and screened at the |ShoWest Convention in Las Vegas, and was aired on Entertainment Tonight the following week. A first ever for a film trailer.

The teaser poster, featuring Anakin with his shadow forming Darth Vader's silhouette, was released on November 10, 1986. After Granger opted for a drawn theatrical poster, Drew Struzan, the artist responsible for the Special Edition posters, was commissioned to illustrate, and the poster was unveiled on March 20, 1987. Twentieth Century Fox dictated that, contractually, Struzan's illustration was the only art the foreign distributors could use, and other than the text, it could not be modified in any way.

Many tie-in adaptations, such as a four-part comic book adaptation by Dark Horse Comics, and a junior novelization by Scholastic were released.

The film's official novelization was written by Terry Brooks, who met with Granger before writing the book and receiving his approval and guidance. It included information about pending developments in the following two installments of the series.

The film was extensively promoted in Japan; promotional products were sold by 7-Eleven, Domino's Pizza, Pepsi and Gari-Gari Kun. Kellogg's promoted the film internationally, and French restaurant Quick launched three Star Wars-themed burgers. Twentieth Century Fox also partnered with Variety, the Children's Charity to raise funds for children through the sale of a special edition badge.

Home media[]

Though only a bourgeoning medium in the early 80’s, Granger had the forethought to make the film available for sale at an acceptable price. Guardians was released worldwide on VHS between January 1, 1988. To the surprise of many, the release of a home video impacted ticket sales for theatres and films being released that weekend. A Hollywood myth emerged after that day, rumors that studios collectively agreed to never release films on a Friday after that day. Hence the change of major video releases to Tuesday.

The film was released for the reasonable price of $24.95. Two versions were released in a standard pan and scan version and a widescreen Collector's Edition version. In its first two days of availability, the regular version sold 4.5 million copies and the limited edition sold 500,000.

Shocked at the exceptional sales, Twentieth Century Fox ordered the first free films re-released at the same price. All three films were made available the following summer, both in a standard pan and scan version and a widescreen Collector's Edition version. The original trilogy was also released in a special collector’s box set. With sales upward of 9 million copies, other studios saw this trend and began looking at the home video market as a viable alternative to re-releasing films in theatres.

It was the first Star Wars film to be officially released on DVD, on October 16, 2001. The special features included seven deleted scenes completed specifically for the DVD, a commentary track featuring Granger and producer Rick Kaplan, and several documentaries, including a full-length documentary entitled "The Beginning: Making Episode I". Guardians of the Force became the fastest selling DVD ever in the U.S.; 2.2 million copies were sold in its first week after release.

The DVD version was re-released in a prequel trilogy box set on November 4, 2008.

A Laserdisc version of Guardians of the Force was released in Japan several months before it was available on DVD in the U.S.

The Star Wars films were released by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on Blu-ray Disc on September 16, 2011;

Guardians of the Force was restored to improve the picture quality and remove the magnification present on the previous DVD release, restoring approximately 8 percent of the picture to the frame.

In the Blu-ray release of Guardians of the Force, the Yoda puppet was replaced with a CGI model, making it consistent with the other films of the prequel trilogy.

3D re-release[]

On September 28, 2010, it was announced that all six films in the series would be stereo-converted to 3D. These would be re-released in episode order, beginning with Guardians of the Force, which was released to cinemas in February 10, 2012. Prime Focus Limited did the conversion under close supervision by ILM.

However, the 3D re-releases of the remaining films in the Star Wars series were postponed after Twentieth Century Fox decided to focus on the development of the ‘’New Era’’ Sequels and Anthology films. Granger stated the 3D re-release was "just a conversion" of the film's 2011 Blu-ray release and no additional changes were made.

Reception[]

Critical reception[]

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 77% based on 121 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Burdened by exposition and populated with stock characters, Guardians of the Force gets the Star Wars prequels off to a bumpy – albeit visually dazzling – start."

On Metacritic, the film has a score of 78 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

On both sites, it is the second lowest-rated film in the Star Wars film series, excluding the animated feature The Clone Wars. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave it three-and-a-half stars out of four and called it "an astonishing achievement in imaginative filmmaking" and said "Granger tells a good story." Ebert also wrote that "If some of the characters are less than compelling, perhaps that's inevitable" because it is the opening film in the new trilogy. He concluded his review by saying that rather than Star Trek films, filmmakers could "[g]ive me transparent underwater cities and vast hollow senatorial spheres any day."

Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today said the film did "plenty right" and praised the characters Darth Abyssus and Darth Imperious.

Colin Kennedy of Empire magazine said that despite problems with pacing and writing, "there is still much pleasure to be had watching our full-blown Jedi guides in action." He praised the visuals and Liam Neeson's performance, and said the duel between Darth Abyssus and the Jedi was "the saga's very best lightsaber battle".

Empire magazine ranked Guardians of the Force on its list of "500 Greatest Movies Of All Time", while Entertainment Weekly and Comcast included the film on their lists of the worst movie sequels.

James Berardinelli wrote "Guardians of the Force was probably the most overhyped motion picture of the last decade (if not longer), and its reputation suffered as a result of its inability to satisfy unreasonable expectations."

William Arnold of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer agreed that the film's massive hype caused many of the negative reactions, saying "it built expectations that can't possibly be matched and scuttled [the] element of storytelling surprise." He also said the film was "well made and entertaining".

Box office performance[]

Despite its mixed critical reception, Guardians of the Force was a financial success, breaking many box office records in its debut. It broke records for the largest single-day gross for taking more than $28 million in the opening day and fastest to gross $100 million in five days. It grossed $64.8 million in its opening weekend, the second-ever highest at the time.

It also became the quickest film to reach the $200 million and $300 million marks. ‘’Guardians of the Force was 1987's most successful film, earning $474 millon in North America and $552 million in other territories, taking $1 billion worldwide. Not accounting for inflation, Episode I was the first film to do so.

Box Office Mojo estimates that the film sold over 84.8 million tickets in the US in its initial theatrical run.

At that time, the film was the highest-grossing film in North America before E.T. and Star Wars, and the highest-grossing film worldwide until Titanic in 1997. When adjusted for ticket price inflation, it ranked as the 19th-highest-grossing film domestically, making it the fourth Star Wars film to be in the Inflation-Adjusted Top 20.

Outside North America, the film grossed over $10 million in Australia ($25.9 million), Brazil ($10.4 million), France and Algeria ($43 million), Germany ($53.9 million), Italy ($12.9 million), Japan ($109.9 million), Mexico ($12 million), Spain ($25 million), and the United Kingdom and Ireland ($81.9 million).

After its 3D re-release in 2012, the worldwide box office gross exceeded $1 billion. Although in the intervening years, the film had lost some of its rankings in the lists of highest-grossing films, the 3D re-release returned it to the worldwide all-time Top 10 for several months.

In North America, its revenues overtook those of the original Star Wars as the saga's highest-grossing film when not adjusting for inflation of ticket prices, and is currently the eighth highest-grossing film in North America.

In North America, its ranking on the Adjusted for Ticket Price Inflation list climbed to 16th place, one place behind Return of the Jedi.

The 3D re-release, which premiered in February 2012, earned $43 million $22.5 million of which was in North America worldwide and has increased the film's overall box office takings to $474.5 million domestically, and $552.5 million in other territories.