Star Wars opened on 25 May 1977 in only thirty-two US theatres. Weeks later, on 13 June, NBC News showed long lines outside cinemas screening the new film. Actor Anthony Daniels later recalled seeing queues around the block at a Westwood theatre and telephoning its manager in the hope of avoiding them.
The film was still playing in only seventy-nine theatres by its fourth weekend and expanded to 362 in the fifth. Word of mouth increased demand faster than the number of screens, concentrating audiences at a limited set of entrances. Unlike a modern saturation release, scarcity made the film's reputation visible on the pavement.
These lines were not a launch event staged in advance. One audience's astonishment recruited the next, and the queue outside became an advertisement that something unusual was happening inside. A shortage of screens gave a cultural phenomenon its physical outline.