Soon to be a spectacular motion picture! From Twentieth-Century Fox!First Edition, back cover tagline Star Wars: A New Hope, formerly titled Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker, is a Legends novel ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster and credited to George Lucas. It adapts the film of the same name, and it was based on the screenplay by Lucas. The novelization was first published on November 12, 1976 by Ballantine Books, prior to the film's 1977 release. A sequel, Splinter of the Mind's
I’m sure there are some people that saw the book first. The back cover literally said it was being made into a motion picture, so clearly the publication was meant to at least partially hype the movie.
George Lucas had a true stroke of brilliance to embrace the merchandise aspects of what Star Wars could make. The thought of merchandising movies wasn’t really a thing at the time, and it’s one of the main reasons he made so much money from Star Wars, he wanted the “worthless” merchandising rights that the studios were willing to give up easily. A ghostwritten novel listing him as the writer based on his screenplay releasing a year ahead of the movie could have been the very first thing he did with that merchandising right.
I’m sure there are some people that saw the book first. The back cover literally said it was being made into a motion picture, so clearly the publication was meant to at least partially hype the movie.
George Lucas had a true stroke of brilliance to embrace the merchandise aspects of what Star Wars could make. The thought of merchandising movies wasn’t really a thing at the time, and it’s one of the main reasons he made so much money from Star Wars, he wanted the “worthless” merchandising rights that the studios were willing to give up easily. A ghostwritten novel listing him as the writer based on his screenplay releasing a year ahead of the movie could have been the very first thing he did with that merchandising right.