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Did you know these facts about Star Wars? The 1977 film began on only 32 U.S. screens, filming started in Tunisia, and the phrase behind May the 4th was in use by 1978. These five details trace how a modest theatrical opening grew into a saga and a lasting fan tradition.

1. The original film opened on just 32 U.S. screens

Star Wars opened on May 25, 1977, on 32 U.S. screens, including Mann’s Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, according to StarWars.com’s 2017 retrospective. Its limited initial release makes a striking contrast with the film’s later cultural reach.

2. The phrase “May the 4th Be With You” has documented uses dating to 1978

StarWars.com’s history of May the 4th says the earliest uses for which it has evidence date to 1978. The phrase became part of a grassroots fan tradition; the history does not identify one official founding event or year, and it does not credit Lucasfilm with inventing the celebration.

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3. Filming began in Tunisia in 1976

Principal photography for the film—then referred to by its working title, The Star Wars—began in Tunisia on March 22, 1976, according to StarWars.com’s 2026 production-history feature. The location included a salt flat at the edge of the Sahara.

4. George Lucas first conceived the story as one film about Darth Vader

In a 2019 StarWars.com oral history, Lucas recalled that his original idea was one movie about Vader’s tragedy. The story expanded into three films, leaving Vader’s backstory unexplained at that point; Lucas later told that backstory in the prequel trilogy.

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5. Lucas selected 1,416 images from more than a million film frames

For the book Star Wars: Frames, Lucas examined more than 150,000 frames from each of six films and edited more than one million frames down to 1,416 images, according to StarWars.com’s 2017 account. The figures describe the image-selection work reported by the outlet.

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