Editing Star Wars (section)

==== Original trilogy ====
{{Main|Star Wars original trilogy}}

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| footer = The original trilogy's main cast includes (from left to right) [[Mark Hamill]] (Luke Skywalker), [[Harrison Ford]] ([[Han Solo]]), [[Carrie Fisher]] ([[Princess Leia]]), and [[David Prowse]] ([[Darth Vader]]).
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In 1971, [[George Lucas]] wanted to film an adaptation of the [[Flash Gordon (serial)|''Flash Gordon'' serial]], but could not obtain the rights, so he began developing his own [[space opera]].<ref name=Behind>{{cite web|title=The Cinema Behind Star Wars: John Carter|website=StarWars.com|last=Young|first=Bryan|url=https://www.starwars.com/news/the-cinema-behind-star-wars-john-carter|date=December 21, 2015|access-date=September 17, 2018|archive-date=November 8, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108142622/https://www.starwars.com/news/the-cinema-behind-star-wars-john-carter|url-status=dead}}</ref>{{efn|Lucas started by researching the inspiration behind [[Alex Raymond]]'s ''[[Flash Gordon]]'' comic, leading him to the works of author [[Edgar Rice Burroughs]]—the ''[[John Carter of Mars]]'' series in particular.<ref name=Behind />}} After directing ''[[American Graffiti]]'' (1973), he wrote a two-page synopsis, which [[20th Century Fox]] decided to invest in.<ref>{{cite magazine |last=Vallely|first=Jean|date=June 12, 1980|title=The Empire Strikes Back and So Does Filmmaker George Lucas With His Sequel to Star Wars|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|publisher=Wenner Media LLC}}</ref>{{Sfn|Rinzler|2007|p=8}} By 1974, he had expanded the story into the first draft of a screenplay.<ref name=starkiller>{{cite web|access-date=March 27, 2008|url=http://starwarz.com/starkiller/scripts.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060628065925/http://www.starwarz.com/starkiller/scripts.htm |archive-date=June 28, 2006|title=Starkiller |publisher=Jedi Bendu}}</ref> Fox expected the film would be of limited financial success, and so it was given a relatively low budget, with production being moved to [[Elstree Studios]] in England to help save on cost.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://whynow.co.uk/read/uk-shaped-star-wars | title=How Has the UK Shaped Star Wars? | date=May 4, 2022 | access-date=November 4, 2022 | archive-date=November 4, 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104192802/https://whynow.co.uk/read/uk-shaped-star-wars | url-status=live }}</ref>

''Star Wars'' was released on May 25, 1977, and first subtitled ''Episode IV: A New Hope'' in the 1979 book ''[[The Art of Star Wars]]''.<ref>{{cite tweet|user=pablohidalgo|last=Hidalgo|first=Pablo|number=1096499575131594752|title=(And just to preemptively 'well, actually' myself, 'Episode IV: A New Hope' was made public by publishing it in the screenplay in 1979's Art of Star Wars book. But it wasn't added to the crawl until 1981)|date=February 15, 2019}}</ref> The film's success led Lucas to make it the basis of an elaborate [[film serial]].{{Sfn|Kaminski|2008|p=142}} With the backstory he created for the sequel, Lucas decided that the series would be a trilogy of trilogies.<ref name=PrevueLucas>Steranko, "George Lucas", ''Prevue'' #42, September–October 1980.</ref> ''Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back'' was released on May 21, 1980, also achieving wide financial and critical success. The final film in the trilogy, ''Episode VI: Return of the Jedi'', was released on May 25, 1983.