Star Wars arrived on Home Video this week in 1982, after its May 25th, 1977 theatrical tour-de-force. Fans would have to wait until November of 1984 for Empire Strikes Back to hit shelves – and Return of the Jedi wouldn’t get a release until February of 1986.
But back in ’82, Fox didn’t want Star Wars on your shelf. Not yet, anyway.
When they finally unleashed it on home video in late May/early June, they slapped on a 75 dollar rental-only license and a three-month limit before video stores were obliged to return the tapes to Fox. The plan was simple: let fans rent it, keep sales throttled, and make sure the tape didn’t outpace supply.
But the wild west of early video stores wasn’t a place for blind obedience.
Some sold it early, others offered bootlegs for triple the price, and of course, Fox executives panicked. Turns out, once you sell someone a copy – even for 75 bucks – the law said they could do whatever they wanted with it. No recalls. No take-backs. Just the Empire, losing control in the outer rim.
A few months later, Star Wars hit the home market proper and blew the doors off. Only 5% of households owned VCRs, but that didn’t stop it from pulling over $1 million in preorders and crashing into Billboard’s Rental Chart in the top five. Suddenly, it became a catalyst for the entire home video boom, like two torpedoes fired into the Gen X reactor core.
Fox cycled through clamshells, cover variants, box sets – each round selling tens of thousands of units. By 1995, there were enough versions to fill the Death Star trench… And that was before the Special Editions.
But it all started a long, long time ago with a licensing misfire – and thousands of rogue clerks who wanted to defy an empire. -Pop
