you knew there were going to be four more movies ...in 1980?
Yep. Pre-internet we had these things called newspapers and
magazines (and we LIKED it):
- in early 1978, it was announced in Time that there were twelve Star Wars films in the franchise...Lucasfilm referenced them frequently in publications ... from 1978 to 1980, and Lucas himself even addresses them in the May 1980 issue, stating he had limited the series to nine films ... comprising three trilogies, chronologically connected, with twenty years in between each set, later elaborating that the third trilogy is about "the re-building of the Republic."
And, as early as August 1977, he told Rolling Stone:
- "One of the sequels we are thinking of is the young days of Ben Kenobi. It would probably be all different actors."
One of the things to remember is just how HUGE Star Wars was back then, even in the mainstream press. The film played in theaters for a year in some cities and non-genre magazines covered the details of possible sequels for THAT film (but no other) the way the interwebs cover films these days.
And, yes, I agree that sequels would probably have been better (or at least they might have been-who knows with Lucas these days).
Oh, and while not as common as now, the word "prequel" was floating around in the 1970s, used to described films like "Godfather II" and "Butch and Sundance the Early Years". In fact, some sources say that Coppola got the term for Godfather II from Lucas in the first place (they were good buddies).
