Overview
- The Jung half-sheet artwork sold at Heritage Auctions in Dallas for $3.875 million to an anonymous online bidder.
- It set new highs for both Star Wars memorabilia and for any piece of movie-poster art sold at auction.
- The price surpassed recent franchise benchmarks, including a Darth Vader lightsaber at $3.6 million and a Red Leader X-Wing miniature at $3.125 million.
- Created for newspaper ads first published on May 13, 1977, the image became the film’s widely seen promotional face across billboards, programs, and magazines.
- The painting remained with producer Gary Kurtz and then his family, and later promotional versions incorporated R2-D2 and C-3PO that were absent from early reproductions.