‘Star Wars: Episode I’ Is 20 Years Old

Star Wars: Episode I- The Phantom Menace is two decades old this year.

On May, 19th 1999 (the US release date), George Lucas, founder of Lucasfilm, released the first Star Wars film in the prequel trilogy, the first act of the “Skywalker saga”.

The 1999 cast had a lot of famous names and faces. Natalie Portman played Queen Amidala, Liam Neeson played Qui-Gon Jinn, Ewan McGregor played Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Samuel L. Jackson played Mace Windu.

Natalie Portman was 16 years old when she began filming the movie. She posted on Instagram about the experience saying she had no idea how lucky she was to enter “a world of extremely passionate fans”.

 

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So apparently, Phantom Menace came out exactly 20 years ago. I made this movie when I was 16 years old and had no idea how lucky I was to enter a world of extremely passionate fans. Grateful for all of you who keep caring about these characters. #phantommenace #starwars #padmeamidala

A post shared by Natalie Portman (@natalieportman) on May 20, 2019 at 12:10am PDT

The film broke many box office records with its release. Episode I was that year’s most successful film and at the time the third highest-grossing film in North America. The film has a shocking budget of $115 million and an even more shocking total box office profit of $1.027 billion. According to Phacutal.com, when the trailer for the movie was first released, theatres reported 75% of their audiences paid full price for a movie ticket just to watch the Star Wars trailer and leave.

Take a trip back in time and watch the 1999 trailer of the space thriller below.