Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular

• 1. Introduction

  ›

  Star Wars: A Galactic Spectacular lit up the Chinese Theater facade at Disney's Hollywood Studios with fireworks, projection mapping, fire, lasers, fog, and searchlights. It debuted in a celebrity filled premiere on Friday the 17th of June 2016, replacing an earlier display called Symphony in the Stars: A Galactic Spectacular. What show had come before this one, and how had it changed over the years leading up to that replacement? What technology turned this new production into the largest fireworks display in the park's history? Who helped translate decades of film music into a single nighttime soundtrack? The show did not stay confined to Florida. Its story eventually crossed the Atlantic to a park outside Paris, and changed again once it got there.

• 2. A Predecessor's Legacy

  ›

  In 2010, Symphony in the Stars held its debut during the Last Tour to Endor event, highlighting John Williams' musical score from the film series. The show layered in archival voice and sound clips pulled directly from the movies alongside that music. An abridged version later appeared at special events, including the Star Tours Galactic Party on the 19th of May 2011, and Star Wars Day on the 4th of May 2013. By 2014, the show had become an annual presentation during Star Wars Weekends.

  It was retooled as Symphony in the Stars: A Galactic Spectacular, running nightly from December 2015 until its retirement in June 2016. Its soundtrack shifted piece by piece over those years. Battle of the Heroes, Clash of the Lightsabers, the Emperor's Theme, and TIE Fighter Attack/Battle of Yavin were all cut in 2011. Rey's Theme, The Asteroid Field, and March of the Resistance, drawn from The Force Awakens, were added in 2015. That repeated retooling meant the show's name kept changing right up until the moment it was retired for something built from scratch.

• 3. Fire, Light And Projection

  ›

  The new production became the largest fireworks display in Disney's Hollywood Studios' history. Its projection mapping technology resembled that used in Disneyland Forever, Once Upon a Time, Disney Dreams!, and Celebrate the Magic. Imagery from all nine Star Wars saga films played across the Chinese Theater's facade. Two blank projection surfaces flanking the building added extra space for the visuals.

  The main aerial pyrotechnic shells launched off-center from behind the Chinese Theater, appearing to its right rather than directly behind it. They fired from across World Drive instead of from within the park's boundary, unlike earlier fireworks shows. Low level pyrotechnics launched from the rooftops of several buildings, including the former Great Movie Ride, the Hyperion Theatre, and the ABC Commissary. More launched from Walt Disney Presents, Voyage of the Little Mermaid, and Disney Junior - Live on Stage!. Two flamethrowers mounted on either side of the theater's central cupola released jets of isopar fire during the show. Fog machines hidden between the theater's spires produced clouds of smoke and mist. Stage lighting around the hub, plus rope lights concealed in the hub's trees, added further illumination throughout the performance. Every one of those systems had to fire in sync, aimed at a facade built decades before anyone imagined lasers hitting it.

• 4. Building The Score

  ›

  Composer John Williams worked directly with the show's producers, alongside his music editor Ramiro Belgardt, to adapt his own film scores into new arrangements for the display. Industrial Light & Magic contributed custom CGI sequences built specifically for the show's projections. That partnership drew on music and imagery from across the entire saga rather than a single film's score. That kind of direct involvement from a film series' original composer is not something every theme park production can claim.

• 5. A Story In Segments

  ›

  A brief narrated prologue opens the show, recalling the 1977 premiere of Star Wars at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood, California. From there, the dramatic opening shot from A New Hope leads into battle scenes set on Takodana, Hoth, Jakku, the Death Star, and Starkiller Base. A segment devoted to the series' heroes follows, featuring Rey, Luke Skywalker, and Han Solo, ending with the Millennium Falcon's escape scenes.

  Three shorter segments come next: a cantina scene built around the series' creatures and aliens, a segment centered on the Force with Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi, and a romance segment featuring Han Solo, Leia Organa, Anakin Skywalker, and Padme Amidala. A darker sequence follows, recreating the fiery lightsaber duel between Anakin and Kenobi on Mustafar, before sliding into a segment built around the series' villains: Darth Vader, Darth Maul, Palpatine, Supreme Leader Snoke, and Kylo Ren. The trench run attacks on the Death Star and Starkiller Base play out as the finale. The show closes with a montage of poster art from all nine original Star Wars films collaged across the Chinese Theater. That finale played out nightly in Florida for years before the same kind of imagery found a second home overseas.

• 6. Crossing The Atlantic

  ›

  On the 14th of January 2017, a second version of the show debuted at Disney Adventure World in Disneyland Paris. There, the imagery projected onto The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror in Production Courtyard rather than onto a recreation of Grauman's Chinese Theater. The Paris version ran only seasonally, appearing during what the park called the Season of the Force rather than as a nightly fixture. A show born from a Florida premiere, and built around one specific theater facade, had found a way to keep going even when that facade was thousands of miles away.