‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ opens this Friday, December 15th; featuring Carrie Fisher who would die late in 2016, after post-production was completed, before the premiere. Did you know…
James Earl Jones was the voice of Darth Vader, but George initially considered Orson Welles as the voice; he thought better of the idea because everyone immediately recognized Orson’s voice in tests. James Earl Jones read all the actor reads in less than a day, paid less than $10 thousand for the vocal role.
When 20th Century Fox was ready to place the film in nation-wide theaters, less than 50 venues committed to take the film. The studio got smart and knew that all the theaters wanted another of their releases which was considered a can’t-miss at the time, The Other Side of Midnight, so they combined the two; if you wanted The Other Side of Midnight, you had to commit to Star Wars. Star Wars became the highest grossing film of all time ($700 million+) and The Other Side grossed a paltry $25 million.
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