Twenty-five years ago, on May 19, 1999, Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace premiered in theaters. This movie ushered in an entirely new generation to the Star Wars fandom. It also rekindled the love many fans had for the galaxy far, far away. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of The Phantom Menace, let’s look at these seven facts about the film.
Episode I
The Phantom Menace was the first Star Wars film to be referred to by its numerical order. The previous films were called by their titles: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. To emphasize that this was a prequel to the first three movies, the episode number was heavily marketed as part of the title.
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Tunisia
Much of the filming of The Phantom Menace took place in Tunisia, a small country in North Africa. During filming, a gigantic storm swept in and destroyed most of Mos Espa, the location of the famous pod race. The Tunisian army came to help rebuild the sets and production did not have to be delayed. The Mos Espa site still exists and is now a tourist attraction for Star Wars fans.
Coordinating Costumes for The Phantom Menace
Concept artist Iain McCaig and costume designer Trisha Biggar wanted to visually represent each character’s native planet. To do this, they created unique color palettes for each planet and then designed the costumes based on the palette. Naboo’s palette was full of greens and golds, Coruscant’s was shades of brown, black, and gray, and Tatooine’s was sand and sun-bleached tones.
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Celebrity Star Wars Fans
The hype for The Phantom Menace was crazy long before production began. There were many actors anxious to be a part of the Star Wars saga. Liam Neeson accepted the role of Qui-Gon Jinn before even reading the script. Samuel L. Jackson received the role of Mace Windu after filmmakers heard him in a television interview talking about how badly he wanted to be in a Star Wars film. Keira Knightley, who was a child actress at the time, went against her parents’ wishes and auditioned because she was a huge Star Wars fan. She was cast as Sabé, the handmaid and body double for Queen Amidala.
Ewan McGregor
Ewan McGregor had to undertake extensive dialogue coaching to match the rhythm and tone of the older Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Alec Guinness. McGregor said it was quite tricky to emulate, and he had to receive more coaching in order to return to the role for the Obi-Wan Kenobi mini-series.
During the filming of The Phantom Menace, McGregor had to be constantly reminded that they would add in the lightsaber sounds in editing. He would get so caught up in the lightsaber fights that he would make the sound effects to go along with them. It took some training for McGregor to stop, and some scenes do not show a close-up of his face for this reason.
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Who Will Direct?
George Lucas did not want to direct The Phantom Menace at first. He wanted to see another director make his story come to life. Lucas offered the director role to Steven Spielberg, Ron Howard, and Robert Zemeckis. All three turned down the offer because they knew that Star Wars was Lucas’s “baby” and they didn’t think they could do it justice.
The Phantom Menace Box Office Boom
Because The Phantom Menace was the first Star Wars film in 16 years, it is an understatement to say that people were excited. Star Wars fans were showing up to theaters almost a month before the premiere to try and get advanced tickets. Some people paid for tickets to the movies Meet Joe Black and Wing Commander, only to watch the trailer for The Phantom Menace and then leave the theater.
Approximately 2.2 million people in the U.S. called out of work to see the premiere. Many companies actually shut down for the day on May 19, 1999 because they had so many employees say that they planned to see the movie. Overall, The Phantom Menace earned 1.027 billion dollars at the box office.
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Even though Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace has been criticized over the years, it remains to many an introduction to the Star Wars universe. Its success paved the way for all the amazing Star Wars content today, and that is worth celebrating.
The Phantom Menace can be streamed on Disney+ and is also available in select theaters beginning May 3, 2024. What do you love about The Phantom Menace? Let us know in the comments.
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