A long time ago in a country far, far away... Well, not that far away. It was Great Britain, and the year was 1977.
Star Wars, the original, ground-breaking science fiction film by George Lucas that spawned a franchise — no, an empire — was in theaters. The movie was burning up screens and setting box office records. There had never been anything like Star Wars before. You've probably heard stories about those days from friends or family members, but if you weren't there, in one of those long lines cuing up around entire city blocks, looking for seats in standing-room-only theaters, you can't really know what it was like.
Thanks to the Associated Press' recent mass upload of over 550,000 historic clips, now you can see a glimpse of that all-important time in pop culture history.
The following clip, found amid the AP's extensive archive, is from an old British news outlet. It documents the reaction in London to the arrival of Star Wars, after it had already blown out box office records in the United States. Apparently two of the British cinemas in the West End that scored the movie had long lines cued up outside, much like what was happening in the U.S.
Before showing a now-famous clip from the movie (the TIE Fighter battle against the Millennium Falcon), the clip presents footage of the lines in London, along with a look at an exhibit at a science museum that displayed costumes, vehicles and more from the movie.
Take a look.
According to the clip's YouTube page, Star Wars was watched by a record 600,000 viewers in its first month in London.
h/t The Next Web
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