Forty-seven years ago today on Tuesday 27th December 1977, 216 days after it had opened on 32 screens in the United States, a record-breaking blockbuster film which had been mostly filmed in the UK with a British cast and crew finally arrived in UK cinemas. We’re talking about Star Wars, and writing back in December 2013 on StarWars.com I delved into the details of this very special first Star Wars Christmas.
Star Wars premiered in the UK on 27th December 1977, opening at the Leicester Square Theatre and the Dominion, Tottenham Court Road. During its first seven days at Leicester Square and the Dominion (a location closely associated with Star Wars releases in the UK) the film took a record-breaking £117,690, beating out Jaws’ previous record of £90,655 from 1976.
Back in the day, films always opened first in London and rolled out across the country afterwards, and as such the film remained at these two cinemas for over four weeks until 29th January 1978 when it broadened to twelve major cities around the UK and a further 16 cinemas in Greater London the week afterwards.
