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Happy anniversary, Special Editions!
Jan. 31st, 2007 08:20 pmTen years ago today, I got up early in the morning, went down to the Fairfax Town Center theater in Fairfax, VA--the only multiplex in the Washington, D.C. area with THX auditoriums--to meet my friend Debbie for the very first showing of a movie we'd both seen countless times.
Friday, January 31, 1997 was the day SW came roaring back with the release of ANH: Special Edition. A 20-year-old film everybody had seen and everybody owned on VHS managed to rake in a $36 million opening weekend. It completely defied expectations and predictions. Variety was the most generous in figuring ANH would make $25 million over its entire run. Even now, a $19 million opening weekend for a new movie in January is considered pretty good. ANH went on to gross enough to briefly reclaim its crown as all-time North American box office champ. Combined with TESB's and ROTJ's re-releases in February and March of 1997, the Special Editions grossed $250 million in North America and over $500 million worldwide. As the mainstream media scratched its collective head over the new SW mania, fans reveled in the celebration of "the three reasons why they built movie theaters."
And revel we did! We sucked it all in: the t.v. reports, the piles of magazines, toys, t-shirts, standees, various doodads, and food tie-ins. We had SW on our soda cans and bottles for the first time in 14 years. My local Taco Bell was a veritable shrine to SW, with store decorations, employee t-shirts, toy premiums, packaging, and even SW music piped in over the PA. We could hold our heads high. We were cool again.
Certainly it was controversial among some quarters in fandom. Some fans didn't want anything changed in the movies, and having Greedo shoot first was a sore point for years afterward. The first time I heard rumors about changes to the OT in 1994, I thought it was like changing the Mona Lisa. Eventually, I was sold on the idea. As I wrote in my old zine Blue Harvest, it was a tummy tuck and liposuction, not Michael Jackson.
As it turned out, releasing the Special Editions was one of the darn smartest things Lucasfilm ever did. It revived the love for millions of moviegoers for which SW had become a fond memory, it allowed younger fans to experience what they'd missed 1977-1983, and it recruited many new fans. It was not only the apex of the SW revival that had been going on since 1991, it was also the beginning of the prequel roller coaster ride that went on for the next eight years. Indeed, this June will mark 10 years since TPM first started filming. It was a great time that left a lot of great memories.
But a 3D all-digital re-release of the entire saga would be even better.
Friday, January 31, 1997 was the day SW came roaring back with the release of ANH: Special Edition. A 20-year-old film everybody had seen and everybody owned on VHS managed to rake in a $36 million opening weekend. It completely defied expectations and predictions. Variety was the most generous in figuring ANH would make $25 million over its entire run. Even now, a $19 million opening weekend for a new movie in January is considered pretty good. ANH went on to gross enough to briefly reclaim its crown as all-time North American box office champ. Combined with TESB's and ROTJ's re-releases in February and March of 1997, the Special Editions grossed $250 million in North America and over $500 million worldwide. As the mainstream media scratched its collective head over the new SW mania, fans reveled in the celebration of "the three reasons why they built movie theaters."
And revel we did! We sucked it all in: the t.v. reports, the piles of magazines, toys, t-shirts, standees, various doodads, and food tie-ins. We had SW on our soda cans and bottles for the first time in 14 years. My local Taco Bell was a veritable shrine to SW, with store decorations, employee t-shirts, toy premiums, packaging, and even SW music piped in over the PA. We could hold our heads high. We were cool again.
Certainly it was controversial among some quarters in fandom. Some fans didn't want anything changed in the movies, and having Greedo shoot first was a sore point for years afterward. The first time I heard rumors about changes to the OT in 1994, I thought it was like changing the Mona Lisa. Eventually, I was sold on the idea. As I wrote in my old zine Blue Harvest, it was a tummy tuck and liposuction, not Michael Jackson.
As it turned out, releasing the Special Editions was one of the darn smartest things Lucasfilm ever did. It revived the love for millions of moviegoers for which SW had become a fond memory, it allowed younger fans to experience what they'd missed 1977-1983, and it recruited many new fans. It was not only the apex of the SW revival that had been going on since 1991, it was also the beginning of the prequel roller coaster ride that went on for the next eight years. Indeed, this June will mark 10 years since TPM first started filming. It was a great time that left a lot of great memories.
But a 3D all-digital re-release of the entire saga would be even better.
