It didn't begin a long time ago or in a galaxy far far away, but every May 4 it feels like images, memes and promotional deals involving 鈥淪tar Wars鈥 have an inescapable gravity.
A Star Wars supporter poses for a photo during a fan convention called the Star Wars Celebration Japan on April 18 in Chiba, near Tokyo.
May 4 鈥 or May the 4th, as fans say 鈥 has evolved over the years into Star Wars Day, an informal holiday celebrating the space epic and its surrounding franchise.
What is Star Wars Day?
Star Wars Day was created by fans as a sly nod to one of the films' most popular catchphrases, 鈥淢ay the force be with you.鈥 Get it? Good, now May the 4th be with you, too.
It's not an official holiday but has become so well-known that even former President Joe Biden marked it last year when 鈥淪tar Wars鈥 actor Mark Hamill dropped by the White House a day beforehand.
鈥淚 think it's a very clever way for fans to celebrate their passion and love for 鈥楽tar Wars鈥 once a year,鈥 said Steve Sansweet, founder and executive chairman of Rancho Obi-Wan, a nonprofit museum in California that has the world's largest collection of 鈥淪tar Wars鈥 memorabilia.
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How did it begin?
A collection of 鈥淪tar Wars鈥 memorabilia is displayed at Rancho Obi-Wan, a nonprofit museum, Thursday in Petaluma, Calif.
The phrase 鈥淢ay the 4th be with you鈥 was used by fans in the years after the first film was released in 1977, and even appeared in a British political ad in 1979 celebrating Margaret Thatcher's victory as prime minister on May 4 that year.
For some fans, the official Star Wars Day comes on May 25, the date of the first film's release. The Los Angeles City Council even declared the date to be Star Wars Day in 2007, although the California Legislature voted in 2019 to designate May 4 as Star Wars Day.
How has it spread?
May the 4th caught on informally among fans through inside jokes shared on social media and viewings of the films to mark the occasion. Businesses eventually joined in on the fun, with brands ranging from Nissan to Jameson Whiskey running ads or posting on social media about it.
Star Wars fans in different creations of the Boba Fett uniforms attend a fan convention dubbed the Star Wars Celebration on April 18 in Chiba, near Tokyo.
Disney, which acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, embraced the day as a way to further promote the franchise with merchandise, special screenings and other events surrounding the brand.
Not all 鈥淪tar Wars鈥 fans are enthused about how ubiquitous the once-underground joke has become. Chris Taylor, a senior editor at Mashable and author of 鈥淗ow Star Wars Conquered the Universe,鈥 labels himself a 鈥淢ay the 4th grinch" in part because of its commercialization.
鈥淚 love a good dad joke as much as anyone, but my God, you can take it too far,鈥 Taylor said.
In western Germany, a Protestant congregation held a Star Wars-themed service Sunday, German news agency dpa reported. Pastor Samuel D枚rr and some of his congregants wore costumes and decorated their church in Bensberg.
How is it being celebrated this year?
The day is being celebrated on a large and small scale this year. Disney+ is launching the new series 鈥淪tar Wars: Tales of the Underworld鈥 on the date, and it comes as the second season gets underway for another franchise series, 鈥淎ndor.鈥
It also follows the announcement that a new stand-alone 鈥淪tar Wars鈥 film installment starring Ryan Gosling will be released in 2027.
Disney marks the day with the launch of new 鈥淪tar Wars鈥 merchandise, ranging from lightsaber sets to jewelry.
A collection of 鈥淪tar Wars鈥 memorabilia is displayed at Rancho Obi-Wan, a nonprofit museum, Thursday in Petaluma, Calif.
Most Major League Baseball teams have marked the day in recent years with special events incorporating 鈥淪tar Wars鈥 characters. For example, the San Francisco Giants sold special tickets for Saturday's game that included a bobblehead portraying pitcher Logan Webb as 鈥淥bi-Webb Kenobi.鈥
It's hard to find a place where May the 4th celebrations aren't occurring, from bakeries serving cookies with a 鈥淪tar Wars鈥 theme to concerts featuring the memorable scores of the films.
It's a town-wide celebration in New Hope, Pennsylvania, which shares its name with the subtitle of the first 鈥淪tar Wars鈥 film. The town of about 2,600 people, located 30 miles (50 kilometers) northeast of Philadelphia, plans to have costumed characters throughout town with restaurants serving themed items like a 鈥淵odaRita.鈥
鈥淚 would always joke around and wish people 鈥楳ay the 4th鈥 鈥 but taking it to this level, I've definitely upped my 鈥楽tar Wars鈥 nerdiness,鈥 said Michael Sklar, president of the Greater New Hope Chamber of Commerce.
Deep in the Utah desert, a Star Wars-themed resort transports visitors to another world
Deep in the Utah desert, a Star Wars-themed resort transports visitors to another world
Beryl 鈥 Atop a dried-up lakebed in the middle of nowhere and seemingly light-years from everywhere, this southern Utah sci-fi retreat in the remote desert 50 miles west of Cedar City would not seem to hold much allure.
But since its opening in a barren and sagebrush-dotted basin last March, its otherworldly vibe has turned it into a utopian getaway that has emerged as a tourist destination of choice rather than a place of last resort, reports.
Billed as a blend between "Star Wars," "Mad Max" and "Dune" movies and a glamping-style resort, has garnered millions of views on YouTube, Instagram, and other social media platforms. It has also captured the popular imagination, luring scores of families, glampers, filmmakers, movie buffs, and solitude seekers to the site from across the country and as far away as France and Germany.
Seinfeld and Star Wars
As alien as Outpost X is, it shares one important concept with Seinfeld, the earthly hit '90s television sitcom famously touted as "a show about nothing."
"We want guests to experience nothingness, to feel like you have the opportunity to be on a different planet without being on a different planet," said John Lawson, who manages the 240-acre property. "We want guests there to reconnect with themselves or whomever they are with, forge new relationships, and get away from their everyday life."
Outpost X is the brainchild of Travis Chambers, who conjured up the idea while working as a social media manager for 20th Century Fox and other film industry jobs, building $100,000 disposable film sets that were summarily scrapped as soon as filming was over.
"I thought it would be really cool to build a film set that people could stay in overnight," said Chambers, who is now based in Boise, Idaho. "I wanted to build movies that people could immerse themselves in 鈥 and escape the city and modern life."
The sale of his ad agency for millions of dollars in September 2021 put that dream within reach. After traveling with his wife, Chelsea, and their three children and staying in off-the-beaten-path adventure hotels in 30 foreign countries, Chambers bought the land for Outpost X for about $110,000.
To get the resort off the drawing board and onto the ground, Chambers turned to crowdfunding, from investors in exchange for stays of up to seven nights once the project was completed. Unable to find a builder during the post-COVID-19 construction boom, Chambers teamed up with various contractors and bootstrapped the project.
Construction started in 2022, and Outpost X, which can accommodate up to 35 people, has enjoyed about 90% occupancy ever since opening. The resort's living quarters consist of three upscale, cave-like dwellings similar to Luke Skywalker's abode in the desert world of in "Star Wars." It also features four smaller and less expensive futuresque zen glass domes ideal for stargazing in an area devoid of light pollution.
Welcome to the Apocalypse
Although the resort is built on the concept of nothingness, it is a mistake to assume there is nothing to do. Even before guests arrive at the post-apocalyptic-style property, they are for a front-end education on the backstory of Namaajin, a planet destroyed during a cosmic upheaval that they will be asked to resettle as part of their stay.
Guests' immersive experience continues upon their arrival as they hop aboard one of five electric "Star Wars"-style landspeeders鈥攅ssentially modified golf carts鈥攖o cruise the site and stop at 20 interactive stations to glean more about the planet, its checkered history, and its colorful characters.
Nightly rates range from $320 to $475. Visitors who want to take over the whole property can do so for $5,000 a night.
For an extra $20 during their stay, guests can dress up as one of 20 prominent Namaajin denizens, including an eco-priestess, geophysicist, and mercenary. The only limit to how far guests can take their role-playing is their imagination.
Aiding that imagination is an array of amenities. There's the Kaan Lounge, which resembles an avant-garde Viking longhouse or French Polynesian dwelling. It's a lush communal hangout where guests can lounge on couches to watch movies on a drop-down screen, download an app for yoga and kickboxing tutorials, or jam on guitars, sound bowls, and drums.
Guests can further indulge their whims outside, where they can throw atlatls, fight with heavy duty foam light sabers, or climb boulders. There's also a two-story building nearby, the downstairs of which is devoted to a game room where guests can piece together puzzles, play board games, or seat themselves at the controls of a PlayStation, which is ensconced in a replica of a spaceship cockpit.
Upstairs is the Mocktail Cantina, where guests can pay extra to access recipes and ingredients to make exotic nonalcoholic drinks. Those preferring alcoholic libations are free to bring their own. Just outside the cantina is a skydeck where visitors can take in the 360-degree views of, well, nothing, other than nearby structures, barren fields, and distant mountains.
There's also an outside common area where guests can gather around two fire pits for conversation, communal cooking, or to throw pottery on a nearby clay wheel that they can air dry rather than use a kiln.
A nearby spa area on the other side of a walled entry has a sauna, mud baths, clay wash pits, a cold plunge pool, and hot tubs, one of which is equipped with a waterfall.
The cold plunge brings back warm memories for Lawson, who recalls seeing a coyote drinking from the pool as a couple were in the water a few feet away.
"They were actually enjoying the experience," Lawson said, "taking pictures of the coyote as it drank."
For his part, Chambers enjoys the experimental aircraft that soar overhead from Area 51, the clandestine government base secreted 125 miles away in the Nevada desert.
The Stairway to Heaven
Out on the playa, a short distance away, is the Stairway to Heaven, where some guests meditate and others levitate drones to take aerial photos. Another oddball attraction, even by Outpost X standards, is the fully made bed located in an empty field near the cave rentals.
Staff removed the bed from a cave rental and placed it outdoors for removal after deciding it didn't fit with the resort's decor. Alas, the guests had other ideas.
"Guests really love the bed," Lawson said. "We have found people sleeping in the bed and jumping or taking pictures on it, so we decided to leave it there. The hardest part of that is changing the sheets every day and chasing pillows blown away by the wind."
All the resort's caves and zen domes come equipped with modern amenities, including large-screen televisions, heat and air conditioning, and kitchenette and shower areas. Guests can bring and cook their own food or purchase exotically named meal packages designed by celebrity chef and influencer that they can cook themselves in their rental or on a communal fire pit.
Outpost X's cinematic mix of solitude, communal gatherings, and creative role-playing was a big draw for Las Vegas residents Dennis and Lizzie Haro, who took their two children to the resort.
"We wanted to do a quick off-grid getaway," Lizzie Haro said while checking out the Kaan Lounge. "We enjoy doing unique stays and once stayed at a spaceship near . When we heard about this one, we loved the 'Star Wars' feel about it and decided to take our children here."
Others find the resort equally alluring.
"We've had tons of Star Wars fan groups stay and film out here," Chambers said, "like , which is one of the largest of those groups."
National Geographic and Vogue magazine photojournalists have also visited the site, and Utah videographer Devin Graham, better known by his online moniker, DevinSuperTramp, recently to promote Star Wars Outlaws, an action-adventure video game for and . A large Star Wars-themed wedding, meanwhile, is slated for next spring.
To fully enjoy the Outpost X experience, resort officials urge would-be visitors to come with an open mind and let go of any preconceived expectations.
"This is not a hotel," Chambers said. "This is an experience."
And it's an experience that is spreading. With the success of Outpost X, Chambers plans to expand the resort. He is also constructing an adventure resort in the jungles of Puerto Rico and shopping for land in the Rocky Mountains to open a Viking village.
"Now we have proven that this immersive and experimental concept can work," he said. "My goal is to build about 20 of these projects over the next 10 years."
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