With all the Star Wars buzz over the past few years, and another new movie coming out in December, it's easy to forget that George Lucas' sci-fi classic is already 40 years old.
May 25, 1977 the first installment in the iconic series was released. The franchise is beloved by people all across the world, but here are a few things you may not know about the series.
1. George Lucas was so sure the film would flop that he skipped the premiere and went on vacation with Steven Spielberg, where they came up with the idea for Raiders of the Lost Ark.
2. The light saber sound effect is a combination of the hum of an idling 35mm movie projector and the feedback generated by passing a stripped microphone cable by a television.
3. Most of the Stormtroopers are left-handed because of the way their weapons are constructed.
4. The Millennium Falcon design was based off of a partially eaten hamburger with an olive on the side.
5. The first film, "A New Hope," was simply called "Star Wars" when it was released.
6. At the time of its release, the first Star Wars film was the highest grossing movie ever.
7. Yoda was almost played by a monkey
8. The opening text crawl took three hours to shoot
9. James Earl Jones was not credited in the first Star Wars movie because he was an up and coming actor and didn't want to be typecast.
Star Wars is carrying over to the next generation, and surely more anniversaries will be celebrated for years to come.
