Lucasfilm announced that, to celebrate the 25th year anniversary of “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace” and timed to Star Wars Day (May the 4th), fans can see the entire Skywalker Story on the big screen.
Yes, you can watch “Star Wars: The Phantom Menace,” “Star Wars: Attack of the Clones,” “Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith,” “Star Wars: A New Hope,” “Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back,” “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi,” “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” on the big screen in a single, nerve-wracking marathon.
Additionally, the marathon will also feature a special first peek at “The Acolyte,” the new Disney+ series set 100 years before “The Phantom Menace” in a period of “Star Wars” lore known as the High Republic.
Those who attend will also get a limited edition poster, to remember the time spent in the theater watching “Star Wars” movies all day.
The “Star Wars” story started with George Lucas’ groundbreaking original in 1977. Two sequels followed in 1980 (“The Empire Strikes Back”) and 1983 (“Return of the Jedi”). For those of us who grew up in the 1980’s, it felt like that was it for “Star Wars.” Instead, a steady stream of merchandise, spin-off material like the novels and television movies like the two “Ewok” films, plus the animated series “Droids,” would keep us busy.
Every now and then there would be a cross-platform event like “Shadows of the Empire” in 1996 that included games, a novel and a video game whose difficult boss fights still haunt us to this day. We imagined a world where “Star Wars” was a single trilogy.
Naturally, that all changed when Lucas chose to create the prequel trilogy, which would tell the story of Anakin Skywalker becoming Darth Vader. Installments would be released in 1999 (“The Phantom Menace”), 2002 (“Attack of the Clones”) and 2005 (“Revenge of the Sith”).
After Lucas sold Lucasfilm (and “Star Wars”) to Disney in 2012, building on a relationship that had already been established via the Star Tours attraction at various Disney theme parks, Disney quickly started on a new series of films that would be released in 2015 (“The Force Awakens”), 2017 (“The Last Jedi”) and 2019 (“The Rise of Skywalker”). They would prove more controversial with fans but just as lucrative in terms of box office.
There were also a pair of “Star Wars Story” films released (“Rogue One” and “Solo”), with Lucasfilm turning to streaming after the release of “The Rise of Skywalker,” with series like “The Mandalorian,” “The Book of Boba Fett,” “Andor,” “Visions,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi,” “The Bad Batch” and the upcoming “The Acolyte.”
Prepare to witness the whole thing on the big screen. Tickets go on sale tomorrow, Friday, March 22, at 9 a.m. PT / 12 p.m. ET.
