Entertainment
 

Yuma Desert

From Wookieepedia, the Star Wars wiki.

Chewbacca, Luke and Han Solo on their way to the Great Pit
Luke: "I used to live here, you know."
Han: "You're gonna die here, you know. Convenient."
Luke Skywalker and Han Solo[src]

Instead of returning to Tunisia, the filmmakers decided to stay closer to home and go to the Buttercup Valley, Yuma Desert in California to film the Great Pit of Carkoon sequence on the Dune Sea. Filming took place in April 1982. The crew stayed in the nearby town of Yuma, Arizona while filming.

The crew returned to Yuma Desert to film additional shots for A New Hope's Special Edition, where they filmed stormtroopers searching for traces of R2-D2 crash landing his escape pod. Later they edited it with the original shots filmed in the Grand Dune in Tunisia.

[edit] See also


Filming locations
Tunisia
Ajim - Chott el Jerid - Djerba - Grand Dune - Hôtel Sidi Driss - Ksar Hadada - Ksar Medenine - Ksar Oueld Soltane - Oung Jmel - Sidi Bouhlel - Sidi Jemour - Tataouine
Europe
Caserta Palace - Ealing Studios - Elstree Studios - Finse - Grindelwald - Lake Como - Leavesden Studios - Mount Etna - Plaza de España - Shepperton Studios - Whippendell Woods
North America
Death Valley - Tikal - Yuma Desert
Asia and Australia
Fox Studios, Sydney - Guilin - Phuket