Could Star Wars have survived this long with just one movie?

I was fourteen when ROTJ was released, and I had discovered women...hehe so I saved all my muni and I used the critics excuse to skip it. Years later, I rented it at my local video store, and regretted that I listened to the critics. I hated the Ewoks at first, because I wanted Wookies but over time, I grew to love the Ewokes. My favorite scene in ROJ is when Leia meets wicket and of course the throne room scenes. Its my third favorite if you want to rate them, but I see all of the film as one story.

 

Depends on what you mean by "survive". Great movies don't really die, it would have continued to be a beloved/classic film like so many stand-alone films of the past have. But the fandom would look a lot different, there wouldn't be giant Wikis or mountains of merchandise and all the other stuff that Star Wars has become.

 

Let me tell you something Kylo Solo, even with all three OT movies out there was a time when SW did die. For many years SW faded out of existence and nowhere could you find anything related to it. I'm 42 and I have to tell you that in a time without the internet there wasn't anything of SW to go around. No toys, books or comics, no magazines or shows nothing. But just as the Phenix rises from his ashes SW was revived by the mindblowing awesomeness of Timothy Zahn novel trilogy Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising and The Last Command. It was Zahn who is responsible for SW returning to greatness and I have no idea what would have happened if he hadn't written those novels.

 

If ANH was the only Star Wars film made, I think it would retain its "Generation X" fanbase from the 70's, but it would slowly dwindle throughout the 80's, 90's, 00's and 10's as the fans slowly died off from old age and/or overeating. It may now in 2017 have attained the same level of cult following as other such solo classics as "2001: A Space Odyssey", "Close Encounters Of The Third Kind" and "Silent Running".