And, in a remote village in a country far, far, away, it's likely to reignite debate over how much to emphasize a connection to the hugely successful cinematic saga. When location scouts in 1976 asked to rent a section of the Sidi Driss Hotel in Matmata, Tunisia, for an American science-fiction movie, owner Touhami Jemni quickly agreed, glad for the income.

A film crew spent two months shooting at the hotel, made up of traditional Berber homes carved into cavern walls. It's now familiar to millions as the sunken desert homestead where Luke Skywalker chafes against a dull farm life with his Uncle Owen Lars and Aunt Beru. ("If there's a bright center to the universe, you're on the planet that it's farthest from," Luke complains to droids C-3PO and R2-D2.)

"I don't know why they decided on my hotel," says Mr. Jemni in fractured French. "[But] I was very happy.... It's given Matmata great publicity." That publicity may be in for another boost. Film crews were back last year, filming scenes for "Attack of the Clones."

But as tourism has increased in the past two decades, replacing agriculture as the main source of income, some in Matamata blame the trade for an erosion of traditional culture and values. And in a village where almost no one (including Jemni) has seen any of the "Star Wars" movies, many are reluctant to credit a film created by an American, for a predominantly Western audience, for their success. Director-producer George Lucas used other Tunisian sites as well in creating the desert planet Tatooine (there's a town called Tataouine not far from Matmata).

Exteriors of the Lars homestead, the dried canyons where R2-D2 wanders alone, and the cliff where Luke and Obi-Wan Kenobi look out onto that "wretched hive of scum and villainy" - Mos Eisley spaceport - were shot around the dried salt flats of Chott el Jerid near the Algerian border. Still, Tunisian authorities prefer to emphasize the country's historic heritage, such as its ancient Roman ruins; Kairouan, the fourth-holiest city in the Islamic world; and oasis towns on the northern border of the Sahara.

While there are no statistics for Matmata, tourism in Tunisia overall has grown dramatically, from fewer than 1 million foreign visitors in 1976 (the year before "Star Wars" was released) to 4.8 million in 1999. Tourism revenue has mushroomed from $86 million in 1976 to $1.3 billion in 1999, when tourism ranked as Tunisia's second-largest industry, after textiles.

Those involved in the trade in Matmata stress that the Berber cave homes pockmarking the hilly town drew visitors long before being immortalized on film. "When I saw 'Star Wars,' I thought, 'It's extraordinary, it's beautiful, I'm on the moon.' But it was difficult for me to recognize my own hometown," says Nejia Bouabidi, head of the Matmata tourist office. She concedes, however, that most tourists who drop by do ask about the film.