5-25-77, A Project Long in the Making

What was notable about the date 5-25-77? Oh yeah, that was the day the original Star Wars was released! Of course, back then, movies didn't open in every theater nationwide at once, so many of us had to wait until later in the summer to see it. Patrick Read Johnson actually got to see some of it even earlier. As a 15-year-old aspiring filmmaker, he was treated to a trip to Industrial Light & Magic, among other places, courtesy of American Cinematographer magazine. While at ILM, effects artist John Dykstra screened some footage of the upcoming Star Wars for the magazine editor, and Johnson watched in fascination.

You may have heard about the movie called 5/25/77, which Johnson, now an experienced filmmaker, shot mostly in 2004. While the unfinished film has been shown in some theaters and notably at Star Wars Celebration IV in 2007, the project languished because of budget problems and because the Star Wars prequels turned off many of the franchise's original fans. But it is now finished, and is playing in a few select theaters, soon to be released digitally in November. Read the story that inspired the movie, and the story of the long process of getting it completed, at Mental Floss.