Beyond Star Wars:
How Hollywood Rushed to Catch Up

When Star Wars hit theaters in 1977, it didn’t just change filmmaking — it rewrote the rules of Hollywood. Suddenly, studios weren’t just making movies; they were chasing events, blockbusters, and entire franchises.

In this episode of Cinematic Perspective, we look at what happened after the galaxy far, far away first hit the big screen. Within just a few years, the rush was on:

• Battlestar Galactica became TV’s answer to the Star Wars craze.

• Superman: The Movie soared with newfound confidence (and budget).

• Alien fused horror with sci-fi spectacle and redefined the genre.

• Disney jumped in with The Black Hole — equal parts bold and baffling (and one of Gil’s faves!).

• And Paramount rolled out Star Trek: The Motion Picture, proving Star Wars had opened the door for other franchises to return in big ways.

Not every project succeeded, of course. For every classic, there were misfires and curiosities — the kinds of films that prove Hollywood wasn’t always sure why Star Wars worked, only that they wanted to capture the same lightning.

🎧 The conversation takes plenty of twists (yes, Flash Gordon and even Spaceballs show up), but we’ll leave some of that for you to discover in the full episode.

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