Star Wars

Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope (1977) is the film you can watch online on iFILM. George Lucas wrote and directed it for Lucasfilm.

On a backwater desert world called Tatooine, a restless farm boy dreams of leaving for the stars. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) stumbles onto a hidden plea for help from Princess Leia, a prisoner of the Empire, tucked inside a battered droid. An old hermit named Ben Kenobi (Alec Guinness) tells him about the Force and the vanished Jedi knights. Soon a smuggler called Han Solo, played by Harrison Ford, throws in with them, alongside his Wookiee co-pilot Chewbacca, a cantina full of aliens, and a moon-sized station that can crack a planet in two. Watching it all is a caped figure who speaks with the voice of James Earl Jones.

The picture took home seven trophies at the spring 1978 Academy Awards, for editing, costumes, score and visual effects. John Williams composed the music, and Lucas built the effects house Industrial Light & Magic, which rewrote the rulebook for every blockbuster after it. Curious where the whole Jedi legend began? Stream A New Hope (1977) in high quality on iFILM.