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On May 25, 1977, Memorial Day weekend opened with an
intergalactic bang as the first of George Lucas’ blockbuster
Star Wars movies hit American theaters.
The incredible success of Star Wars–it received seven Oscars,
and earned $461 million in U.S. ticket sales and a gross of close
to $800 million worldwide–began with an extensive, coordinated marketing push by Lucas and his studio, 20th Century Fox,
months before the movie’s release date.
On May 8, 1963, with the American release of Dr. No, North
American moviegoers get their first look down the barrel
of a gun—at the super-spy James Bond (codename: 007),
the immortal character created by Ian Fleming in his now-
famous series of novels and portrayed onscreen by the
relatively unknown Scottish actor Sean Connery.
Sean Connery and Ursula Andress.
Joseph Wiseman as Dr. No.
Sir Thomas Sean Connery (25 August 1930 – 31 October 2020)
Directed by Sam Raimi and starring Tobey Maguire in the title
role, the eagerly awaited comic book adaptation Spider-Man
was released on Friday, May 3, 2002, and quickly became the
fastest movie ever to earn more than $100 million at the box
office, raking in a staggering $114.8 million by Sunday, May 5.
Tobey Maguire
Citizen Kane, now revered as one of the greatest movies in
history, made its debut at the RKO Palace Theater on May
1, 1941.
It had originally been intended to open at Manhattan’s Radio
City Music Hall. But months before its release, Orson Welles’
landmark film began generating such controversy that the
venue eventually refused to show it.
Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey had its
world theatrical premiere on April 2, 1968.
Kubrick, whose 1964 Cold War satire Dr. Strangelove had been
popular with audiences and critics alike, was intrigued by
science fiction but felt the genre rarely produced interesting
films.
He became determined to make one, using the sci-fi story The
Sentinel as source material and enlisting its author, Arthur C.
Clarke, as his co-writer.
The film does feature a coherent plot, involving two scientists
and a highly-intelligent computer sent to investigate a mysterious
event near Jupiter, but several scenes—including the film’s now-legendary opening, which seems to depict hominids learning to
use tools after the appearance of a mysterious monolith—are
surreal and highly open to interpretation.
Filming required the construction of a giant centrifuge to serve
as the spaceship’s interior and numerous expensive visual
effects, including a groundbreaking psychedelic sequence near
the end of the film so complex that staff referred to it as the
“Manhattan Project.” Kubrick is said to have removed over 15
minutes from the final cut, which nonetheless ran well over
2 hours.
