Everyone likes a big movie marathon–once a fairly inexpensive opportunity to celebrate your favorite fandom with a few hundred people for the better part of a day, it’s now something more for diehard fans. Perhaps the most recent major national marathon event was in 2019, Tim Burton’s Batman movie marathon. The longest was the 20-movie Marvel movie festival in 2018 (discussed here). The more recent Planet of the Apes trilogy marathon was in 2017. You might have seen the nine-hour The Hobbit Marathon in 2014. And for most-fun marathon you want to think about the Cornetto trilogy marathon in 2013, the first nine-movie Marvel marathon and Dark Knight marathon, both in 2012. But this week features an annual event celebrated by fans around the globe every year, and it falls on a Saturday, which is also Free Comic Book Day at comic shops everywhere. It’s May the Fourth–Star Wars Day.
For this Star Wars Day a few fans will be able to “see them again for the first time”–all nine Star Wars movies in the theater featuring Luke Skywalker and his family saga running a bit more than 20 hours over May 3 and May 4. That’s The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, the original Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and The Rise of Skywalker. Sorry, no Rogue One or Solo.
We’ve seen many Star Wars marathons over the past 40 years, with the nine-movie version at the release of the final movie in the saga. The original trilogy must be seen in the theater, and a recent national Star Wars trilogy marathon took place in 2016. Are we nearing the end of movie marathons? When you can watch all eleven movies plus the TV series at home as part of your $7.99 Disney+ streaming package, paying $80 to $130 or more for 20 hours of movies also means not many theaters will be participating (the last published count was 13 nationwide).
An exclusive look at The Acolyte, the upcoming Disney+ series set during the High Republic era, will be part of The Phantom Menace screenings. Those attending will receive a special limited-edition poster celebrating 25 years of Qui-Gon Jinn, Darth Maul, and Mace Windu, all introduced in The Phantom Menace.
Tickets are on sale now, and you can visit Fandango for more information. If your closest theater is full, don’t fret: you can always host your own marathon at home.
C.J. Bunce / Editor / borg
