Monty Python's Life of Brian December 1976, with a first draft completed by mid-1977. The final pre-production draft was ready in January 1978, following "a concentrated two-week writing and water-skiing period in Barbados". The film would not have been made without Python fan former Beatle George Harrison, who set up HandMade Films to help fund it at a cost of £3 million. Harrison put up the money for it as he "wanted to see the movie" — later described by Terry Jones as the "world's most expensive cinema ticket." The original backers, EMI Films, had been scared off at the last minute by the subject
Cinema of the United Kingdom of a Window Cleaner" (1974). More elevated comedy films came from the Monty Python team, also from television. Their two most successful films were "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" (1975) and "Monty Python's Life of Brian" (1979), the latter a major commercial success, probably at least in part due to the controversy at the time surrounding its subject. Some American productions did return to the major British studios in 1977–79, including the original "Star Wars" (1977) at Elstree Studios, "Superman" (1978) at Pinewood, and "Alien" (1979) at Shepperton. Successful adaptations were made in the decade of the Agatha Christie