Star Wars, 20 years later...

    It was Memorial Day weekend 1977 and what turned out to be a world-wide phenomenon was sweeping the country. George Lucas' low-budget space cowboy movie, Star Wars, was opening in theaters across the nation.

    Word of mouth brought more and more people out of their homes and to the theaters, making Star Wars the 2nd (or 4th depending on your source) highest grossing movie of all time, behind such big hits as E.T. and Gone With The Wind. Not bad for a movie that only cost $16 million to make.

    The movie has been back to theaters in its original form many times over, but never like this before. For the 20th anniversary of Star Wars, George Lucas wanted to go back and fix up those things in Star Wars that have bothered him for a long time.

    At the time of Star Wars' filming, the budget did not allow the completion of certain scenes, that while not detrimental to the movie itself, helped to set up the other movies in the trilogy and added ambiance. You can see some of these scenes at the official Star Wars site.

    Here at the BigScreen Cinema Guide, we are very excited about this upcoming event and are looking forward to seeing this all-time classic on the "BigScreen" again. Many of the theaters in the Milwaukee area will be showing this attraction starting with its nation-wide release on January 31^st, 1997.

Theaters that have contacted us concerning their plans for showing this classic:

    The Oriental Theater on the "fashionable" East-Side will be showing Star Wars starting on the 31^st on its largest screen which measures 40 feet wide by 20 feet tall. They have 12 surround speakers hanging on the walls to help take full advantage of the Dolby Digital sound.

    The Capitol Cinemas in Pewaukee will be showing Star Wars on two screens! One will have DTS sound and the other will have SDDS sound.
    Capitol Cinemas has also informed us that they will be giving away t-shirts at the screenings on opening night and that they will have special Star Wars collector cups available to those who purchase drinks.

    Marcus Theatres' Ridge in New Berlin, Southtown in West Allis, Hillside in Delafield, North Shore in Mequon, WestPoint in Waukesha, Northtown & Skyway in Milwaukee are running some special events opening weekend. Contests, Trivia, Posters, Prizes and more!

    The Hartford Theatres will be showing Star Wars on their largest screen with DTS sound.
    They have 32oz Special Edition Trilogy, glow in the dark, plastic drink cups available to be purchased at the concession counter. They will also be offering a Free Movie Poster with the purchase of $10.00 or more in concessions starting on the 31^st.

Remember, these are not the only theaters showing Star Wars, just the ones that have contacted us concerning their plans. Check the Now Showing page for Star Wars to see where else it's playing.