How close can you get to a famous movie's title without copying its name? How close can you get to a famous movie without getting into trouble?
3 years after the first Star Wars movie and 3 months after the second one - The Empire Strikes Back - this 2 million dollar movie got released to the public.
Apparently, if I need to believe IMDb, it did very well, grossing 11 million in the USA alone.
And you know what? It's fun! I remember watching it with my brother a year or 6 ago and both of us enjoying it and having a laugh.
This is what I wrote down about it, translated from Dutch:
Very entertaining and remarkably interesting low-budget sci fi. Highly successful Roger Corman production with a strong soundtrack/ musical score.
If you aren't familiar with Roger Corman, then go ahead and google his name. He's 91 and one of the most prolific (B-)movie producers out there. I just checked his credits and he still produced several movies in 2017!
This is probably one of the best Corman movies that I've seen and I guess that tells you something about his average movie but hey, you need to give the man credit for his longevity and perseverance.
To quote a review on IMDb:
Battle Beyond The Stars was one of the better Star Wars clones. The special effects weren't "great" even back in 1980, but they add to the low budget flavor of the movie. You have to remember that this movie had a substantially lower budget for special effects than an "A" picture like Star Wars. Early detailed models by James Cameron (TERMINATOR/TITANIC) are the high point of the special effects. A lot of people got their career start on this film, and Cameron was only one of many.
And here's the trailer for you to enjoy:
