“The big weekend to open movies was Christmas, ever since movies began,” Lucas says. “The second time is the Fourth of July weekend. But I said I want my film to be released in May for Memorial Day weekend. And the studio said, ‘But the kids aren’t out of school’—and I said, ‘Well, I don’t want the kids out of school; I want the kids to be able to see the movie and then talk about it so we can build word of mouth.’ They thought I was out of my mind.”
