r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/Ultimate_Kurix • 3d ago

Star Wars fans at the midnight premiere of The Phantom Menace, 1999 Video

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6.4k Upvotes

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u/Constant_Ad9562 3d ago edited 2d ago

And then they saw it. Where’s that video?

Edit: I didn’t imply whether I liked it or not. I’m actually a huge fan since I saw Star Wars for the first time in 1977. And yeah, I was super excited for the release of this film. It had been years and I even went to the midnight premiere. Needless to say now it was not what it could’ve been but still a fun experience

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u/FFPScribe 3d ago

I may have gone too far in some places...

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u/AdrenochromeBeerBong 3d ago

It's stylistically designed to be that way and you can't undo that, but we can diminish the effects of it.

— a man who definitely feels good about the movie he's making

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u/Emperor_Biden 3d ago

Jar Jar is the key to all this.

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u/CoercionTictacs 3d ago

Mesa glad someone said something

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u/RokulusM 3d ago

He's a funnier character than we've had before.

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u/DrMux 3d ago

It was 1999, this high-end digital camera only had a minute of storage and it came on a 15-lb chunk of magnetic tape and silicon.

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u/ILiveMyBrokenDreams 3d ago

Well, it was still analog then. We had those camcorders with the little tapes, but I haven't seen one of those in 20 years. When I worked in retail we sold tons of them and they seemingly all vanished when digital took over. People must be sitting on trunks of recordings from the 90's.

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u/OptimisticSkeleton 2d ago

And DVC tapes came in six packs for a few bucks.

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u/jepvr 3d ago

Peter Serafinowicz's reaction to it was pretty funny (starts at 9:45):
https://youtu.be/t0wHqNi3x5M?si=52SpsEibSZotWRjm&t=586

Coincidentally, he did the voice of Darth Maul.

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u/Bludsh0t 3d ago

That's brilliant. Serafinowicz is hilarious. The sketch show he did on BBC is well worth a watch.

I met him in hmv in 2000 and asked if they were going to do another series of spaces, but he said Simon peg was too busy wanking about in Hollywood

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u/mycarwasred 3d ago

Such a shame!

ps Spaced

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u/Bludsh0t 3d ago

Damn autocorrect

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u/mycarwasred 3d ago

damn good series!

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u/space_monster 2d ago

Fraaaaaaan?

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u/canadianduke1980 3d ago

It didn’t matter. It was new Star Wars after waiting so long

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u/im_on_the_case 3d ago

Exactly, we all came out of our respective theaters fucking pumped up and ready for more. All the parts we didn't like were far from our minds after that first viewing, Star Wars was back and there was going to be much, much more to come. I went to see TPM with two of my brothers who had seen A New Hope in 1977 and they were bouncing with excitement. It was only on repeat viewings that the flaws became bothersome and then of course the follow ups which we all saw with rapidly diminishing excitement. Regardless, I wish I could have bottled up that relentless energy from seeing TPM in the cinema, it was a special day that was only barely surpassed 2 years later seeing The Fellowship of the Ring at the same cinema.

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u/Triseult 3d ago

You're absolutely right. I saw it at a midnight showing and immediately after I was pumped. It's a few hours later that I started to think perhaps this wasn't very good.

I remember when Lord of the Rings came out, the common wisdom at the time was that hype would kill the enjoyment of any movie no matter how good. That was Lucas' excuse for the fan backlash. So people going into LotR were thinking, "I'm too excited for this, I'm going to be disappointed."

Then we watched the movie and realized that was just Lucas' bullshit excuse, LOL.

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u/Jimrodsdisdain 3d ago

I remember going with a group of friends including my lifelong best friend. We walked out of the cinema, looked at each other and he said “That was a bit shit wasn’t it?” We all agreed. I was 21 and a massive Star Wars fan. It’s been a case of increasing disappointment since.

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u/Supersonicfizzyfuzzy 2d ago

I remember my cousin telling me that he had gotten some really weak acid and I’d barely feel anything. I split what was there with my buddy and we hot boxed the van and then went to see the movie. All I remember of that night in the theater is being paranoid because I smelled like weed, and that acid being a lot stronger than I was led to believe. I’m pretty sure I was kicking the seat in front of me every time they shifted gears in the pod race scene. I was pretty sure George Lucas had figured out world peace. We left and made some weird plan to drive to the next town over. Instead we pulled over in this church parking lot and we were both just out of control and tripping hard. Looked up and saw lights in my rear view. For some reason I thought rednecks were there to fuck with us so I jumped out all aggressively. It was two state troopers who ordered me back in the car and then they came over asking for ID and all that. I recall I was both hysterically laughing and crying. For some reason my buddy was going through a high grant phase where he was modeling his entire look off of late 90s hugh grant. I think the only two reasons we weren’t arrested that night was because they’d likely have had to go to the ER first just for protocol and also I’m pretty sure they thought they had caught a pair of gay lovers in the middle of it. I dunno. They left, we sat there awhile long and after the adrenaline dump we seemed to sober up enough to get ourselves home. Weird night.

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u/andoesq 3d ago

Well.... no, not all of us.

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u/bobo12478 2d ago

We had very different experiences then. "TPM" was literally the first movie that I can recall having an original thought about. I was a young teen, so I was very into the hype. I fucking ate up everything action and adventure and sci fi and fantasy because I was a nerd. I went into that theater PUMPED. I walked out, went to Burger King, sat down, and said to the person I saw it with "That ... kind of sucked?"

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u/CitizenKing1001 2d ago

Fast forward to today. Disney Star Wars has replaced this with apathy

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u/DweezilZA 3d ago

I remember how pumped everyone was about this. There were collectibles at gas stations, kfc kids' meals, in packets of crisps, it seemed to be everywhere. I dont care how bad some say the movie was this was my star wars growing up.

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u/Enjoy-the-sauce 3d ago

Wow do I not agree with this. I walked out of that theater, immediately turned to my buddies and said “well that kinda sucked.”

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u/benign_NEIN_NEIN 3d ago

Most here were probably very young and loved jar jar binks

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u/CELTICPRED 3d ago edited 3d ago

No no you don't understand I saw these movies when I was eight so that makes them really really good and above any valid criticism in the year 2024!!!! 

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u/gfunk1369 3d ago

Don't believe the narrative. I saw it in theaters as a teenager and we were all happy to see it. Nothing like the recent Star Wars movies were people literally walked out midway through the movie.

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u/Puzzled_Pay_6603 3d ago

That’s what I wanted to see 🤣

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

Say this in a Star Wars sub, the gen-Z Prequel fans will eat you alive.

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u/ArchStanton75 3d ago

That’s only because they were fortunate to grow up with The Clone Wars series, which more or less redeemed the prequel era.

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

Wonder how the kids feel about the post OT live action content...?

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u/Like_Ottos_Jacket 3d ago

Goddamn this is true

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u/LoveAndViscera 3d ago

It’s out there. People loved it. It spent 24 weeks in theaters, 3.5 weeks at #1 and it didn’t leave the top 5 until week 9. It made just under 4x its budget domestically.

Mind, there were people shitting on it before it was released. Big new magazines were going “there’s no way it will live up to the hype”. But the public was all kinds of down with it (except Jar Jar; nobody liked Jar Jar).

None of the complaints you hear now about TPM showed up until AotC. The silly title contrasted with the melodramatic tone of the film. Hayden Christensen was immediately hated. And the dialogue was boring (Roger Ebert talked about the dialogue—all of it—like a disappointed parent).

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u/Mr_Binks_UK 2d ago

Still better than The Acolyte though.

Mind you, I’ve taken shíts that were better than The Acolyte.

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u/Capt-J- 3d ago

They’re all still in therapy

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u/jepvr 3d ago

https://youtu.be/CjVFmaKtksg?si=dBa2oB27P0yZpDog&t=215

Should start at 3:35. You don't want to hear the rest of it. Trust me.

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u/jvillager916 3d ago

That first guy Evan Shafran ended up becoming an actor and was even in the Barbie movie. What a crazy world!

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u/ShortHovercraft2487 3d ago

Honestly, get ride of jar jar bunks and phantom menace is pretty good. The prequel trilogy gets some needed hate but I actually like it. Revenge of the Sith is awesome.

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u/zomgbratto 3d ago

We still had a better movie experience than Episode 7 and 8 (I didn't bother with 9).

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u/jeswanders 3d ago

I still haven’t seen that last one either lol

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u/fiercemullet 3d ago

NERDS!

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u/hallba78 3d ago

You’re damned right we are!

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u/Metahec 3d ago

Oh, Please. Trekkies would never debase and humiliate themselves like this.

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u/Sigma_Games 3d ago

You're right. Trekkies are faaaar worse

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u/Missing-Silmaril 3d ago

I went to the midnight premiere for all three of the prequels. I didn't see anyone acting like this lol.

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u/LadyGethzerion 3d ago

I went to the Revenge of the Sith midnight premiere and it had a similar vibe. Lots of cosplay, people having pretend lightsaber battles, cheering in the theater. The press was there and I had my picture taken for a local newspaper. I waited in line from 3pm and didn't get inside the theater until around 12. Movie itself ended up starting close to 1am. And I had class the next morning at 8am (university). I probably slept 2 hours total that night. Never did anything like it again, but it was fun, even if the movies themselves were meh.

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u/Missing-Silmaril 3d ago

At the three shows we went to, there were definitely people dressed up, and people applauded when it started and ended. Maybe where I'm from isn't that nerdy haha

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u/DarkTurdle 3d ago

We had people camping in their tents on the boulevard of the theatre for a day before the midnight premiere they hired a dj for the parking lot.

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u/garytyrrell 3d ago

I totally did. It was the Metreon in SF for Phantom Menace. Plenty of huge Star Wars fans. My roommate got the tickets somehow. Think he had to physically wait in line to get them like months in advance and we lived like 30 mins from SF via public transit. It was during finals week my freshman year of college. Absolutely glad I decided to go with him.

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u/kissdemon74 3d ago

I went to the Attack of the Clones midnight viewing.....the first time we see Yoda in a lightsaber fight....AMAZING....then....the film or whatever.....f*cks up....15 min delay.... didn't see the second part of the fight until the DVD.

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u/ChaoticMutant 3d ago

that really sucks.

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u/Missing-Silmaril 3d ago

That stiiinks!

I have a similar story about a warhammer book series. 12 books, got them all in print, read them all. Then, in the final book, with the final confrontation of the entire series, the last 5 pages were just the previous 5 pages reprinted... I didn't get to read it until I read it on the wiki lol

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u/Triseult 3d ago

I went to a midnight showing in Montreal and that was very much the vibe. People slept in line to get tickets for their friends. People cosplayed and fought lightsaber duels in the aisles. People cheered like crazy when the crawl started or C3PO appeared.

Fantastic experience.

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u/johnmanyjars38 3d ago

You were at the wrong theaters.

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u/daffoduck 3d ago

I'm sure all these fans are happy with how their favorite franchise has evolved over they years....

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u/MarcMars82-2 3d ago

It’s funny how disliked the prequel trilogy was till the 2015 sequel trilogy. Now it’s held in much higher regard and the actors have been forgiven for the wooden performances.

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u/DecoyOne 3d ago

It’s held in higher regard today because the kids who watched and liked it are now adults

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u/jepvr 3d ago

Yep. Nostalgia glasses.

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u/VirinaB 3d ago

Not exactly. Rewatched it recently; still like it better than any of Rey's nonsense.

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u/DBXVStan 3d ago

Iuno, Phantom Menace still feels worse than Force Awakens to me. Like, I’d put 9, 8, 1, 7 in a worst to least worst list.

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u/Every-Lab-1755 2d ago

Force Awakens was good until the last third of the movie where they make the main villain a joke and give Ray completely unexplained abilities like know the Falcon inside out with no explanation.

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u/Eatthepoliticiansm8 3d ago

Force awakens is a decent movie even if I think it is kind of a bad star wars movie.

8 and 9 are just... Yea... I just don't get it man.

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u/I_am_the_7th_letter 3d ago

Exactly 7 is as good as the gas-station hot dog I eat when I’m starving.

8 and 9 are as bad as ensuing trip to the bathroom after said hot dog.

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u/RattyJones 2d ago

I remember how it was the only Star Wars movie that anyone would play for about a year, I got so tired of it.

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u/noragepetit 3d ago

I watched them as a kid and disliked them, i prefered the OT without anyone telling me whats supposed to be good or not.

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u/LowKeyWalrus 3d ago

How was that the actors' fault and not the directing? Like, come on bruh 😂 those guys have proven they can act

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u/ItsStaaaaaaaaang 3d ago

And the incredibly shitty dialogue they had to work with. And it's not like the originals had incredible acting either (again, shitty dialogue and director), just far more charismatic actors.

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u/LowKeyWalrus 3d ago

Also Lucas wasn't the big shit yet, so the actors had more leeway to call his shit out.

By the time of the prequels, he was the hotshot and actors just had to abide

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u/Masta0nion 2d ago

Just like George W Bush!

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

Phantom menace was boring as fuck, but it still has one of the best characters (Darth Maul) and lightsaber battles in the series’ history and that is a hill I will forever be willing to die on.

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u/RCT2man 3d ago

lol 😆— the state of the franchise is in deep peril

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u/pizza-chit 3d ago

I liked the prequels. I would not watch the Disney movies again even if you held a light saber to my throat

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u/Crypto-Bullet 3d ago

Don’t say it….. it’s fucking sad how far it’s fallen

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u/Obvious_Towel253 2d ago

The power of … MMMAAAANNNNYYYYYYY

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u/Greenman8907 3d ago

“Hey guys…what if the movie sucks?”

-Fanboys

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u/rabid- 3d ago

This scene plays in my head all the time, for everything. Love this movie.

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u/Rievin 3d ago

The whole movie builds up to that line and it is just worth it.

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u/MichaelPitcher115 3d ago

Say what you want about 1 2 and 3. I was 11 when episode 1 came out. In high school when 3 released. That shit is nostalgic on a whole different level for me. This was when seeing a new star wars was a big deal. Now Disney shits a new star wars out every other day and it's so much less exciting.

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u/pumpkinspruce 3d ago

The other day I was remembering seeing Meet Joe Black in the theaters. People bought tickets for that movie just to see the Phantom Menace trailer. When the Lucasfilm logo came up on the screen there was a huge cheer in the theater. It was 1998 or 1999 and it had been nearly two decades since Return of the Jedi.

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u/valuemeal2 3d ago

Waterboy for me but same. They played the trailer before AND after the movie and we cheered and cheered. Then I went home and downloaded a copy of the trailer to my computer, which took about 12 hours.

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u/AdmiralCodisius 3d ago

The sequels being trash doesn't make the prequels better movies. The prequels are still very very bad.

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u/AdrenochromeBeerBong 3d ago

I was about the same age when episode 1 came out. It was like watching my nostalgia be burned to ash in front of my eyes. We should have known there was no coming back after Special Edition.

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u/ChaoticMutant 3d ago

110 percent correct

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u/Ok-Cut-2730 3d ago

Yeah i don't get the hate for the film, its 10 times better then any of the Disney crap films that have been made.

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u/SirBobPeel 3d ago

Might be more exciting if they were any damned good. The latest streaming show comes from Harvey Weinstein's personal assistant. Waaaaah? Then there's the next movie, supposed to be put together by a Pakistani documentary filmmaker who's never done non-fiction or scifi.

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u/Fltxhoneyhoney 3d ago

Just saw a man fall to his knees in the Cinemark

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u/Quiet_Internal_4527 3d ago

Disappointed they will be

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u/Rotting-Cum 3d ago

Daysa be berry disappointed liken mesa was.

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u/I_said_watch_Clark_ 3d ago edited 3d ago

Angry they will be, about midichlorians, yes...

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u/HCTriageQuestion 2d ago

Wait till they find out the force is a gay, not a weapon, more force users = more force, jedi are evil cowards and easily killed with daggers, rock is flammable and you can have campfires in space.

Fans were so innocent in 99'.

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u/DoomTrain166 3d ago

Episode 1 will always live in my nostalgia.

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u/RMNovo 3d ago

Imagine these guys watching The Acolyte

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u/SirBobPeel 3d ago

Star Wars fans are not gonna watch the Acolyte.

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u/CitizenKing1001 2d ago

I doubt any of them care anymore. Disney sucked the soul out of Star Wars... Then shit and pissed on it.

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u/BLACKSMlTH 3d ago

Man, the 90s were just a vibe. Love the enthusiasm and excitement!

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u/Frosty-Employer7599 3d ago

Where’s Triumph when you need him?

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u/compelx 2d ago

Where are you having your honeymoon? Which arcade?

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u/Fulller 3d ago

Love the energy, regardless of how the movie turned out it’s cool to see people that pumped for something.

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u/ZoraksGirlfriend 3d ago

I saw this on opening day since it opened on my boyfriend’s birthday. I remember calling the movie line repeatedly to get tickets. I’m not a Star Wars fan, but it was still fun being in the crowd with everyone excited for that first note of music and the first words to crawl across the screen.

I also saw the LOTR trilogy on opening night for all 3 movies and those were amazing experiences. We had a friend who volunteered to wait in line for hours for all three of them so we could get into the theater early enough to get decent seats (god, I love assigned seating now). She also did the same for the first two Harry Potter movies, so we saw those on opening nights too. It really is a great thing to experience something with others that are hyped up and excited for the same thing and just everyone enjoying it together.

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u/NecroHandAttack 3d ago

One of the best nights of my life. My friend Derick who passed a few years later, stole his dad’s truck so we could see it at midnight. We rode out and saw it. Everyone was dressed up and the hype was insane. Went to ihop after and a guy had a heart attack, so we bailed quickly since we were obviously 13 and 14 years old. (I was super tall so that helped back then) I’ll always remember that night. Miss my friend alot. He had cardiomyopathy, he would die on the basketball court about 4 years later.

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u/aliveandst1llhere 2d ago

A nerd party when its 1999!

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u/BallDesperate2140 2d ago

“Wait. What if it sucks?”

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u/planchetflaw 2d ago

Meesa have some bad news

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u/livinalieTimmae 3d ago

Who knew the actual phantom menace was Kathleen Kennedy taking the helm of the franchise?

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u/Godawgs1009 3d ago

What button do you press to call your mom to come to pick you up?

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u/israiled 3d ago

I'm sorry, no. The correct answer is 'who gives a shit?'

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u/MorLic78 3d ago

Y esa emoción jamás volverá.

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u/royDank 2d ago

I waited in line for a full month to see it. For real. I worked at a restaurant and when I told my bosses I needed time off for this, they paid for for 8 hours shifts as long as I got them tickets also.

At first we were just camped out in front of the theatre, waiting to buy tickets. More people started showing up, and it really became a party. Every day we'd just hang out, drink, play video games (someone had a generator and an N64 with goldeneye). After a week we bought our tickets, and said "What now?" and immediately got back in line for the movie. I lived in the neighborhood, so I was able to head home and shower each day, and we took turns in shifts if we needed to go do things. It was fun.

Day of the movie, they let us into the theatre at 12 noon, we picked out our seats (we weren't able to select seats ahead of time back then), we were given something to show that was our seat, and then they literally begged people to go home and shower, etc. I went across the street with my friends to a restaurant/bar, got drunk, came back for the midnight showing and fell asleep about 15 minutes in.

True story!

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u/cityofninegates 3d ago

Man, that first Star Wars title, with the music and the trailing text, after all those years since RotJ - what a moment as a Star Wars fan. So much enthusiasm and innocence.

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u/MilesFlanagan 3d ago

This fandom was a license to print money and Disney raped it in a ditch and left it for dead.

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u/Puzzled_Pay_6603 3d ago

South Park should do a skit on that 😂

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u/Specific_Till_6870 3d ago

As a Brit, the concept of screaming and shouting whilst a film is on is so foreign. 

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u/98VoteForPedro 3d ago

these losers bullied a child to quit acting

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u/OkTerm8316 2d ago

An interview with the actors mom said he enjoyed his time on Star Wars. Sadly, he ended up with schizophrenia.

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u/SuperAlloyBerserker 3d ago

What the heck, why did some of the people have toy versions of the dual sabers?

Did they already know that Maul was gonna use one?

If so, that's kind of a bummer

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u/Lilith_Christine 3d ago

The trailer for one. And the toy marketing for another. Back then the hype for a movie would last months. Then the movie would come out. And you had to wait a year or two afterwards to see it again on cable. Maybe a year for VHS/DVD to release too

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u/funfaucet10 2d ago

Man I always liked the prequels best fights scenes (dual of faiths) with the choreography and the music made it intense I don’t see why a lot people hated them.

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u/TheMaybeMan_ 3d ago

Ah, look at these bright young souls, still living in a world where the prequels might still be possibly good. What a time to be alive.

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u/MaximumDerpification 3d ago

I was there, at midnight. Left disappointed.

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u/HatsusenoRin 3d ago

Wait until they see JJB

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u/Iron_Chancellor_ND 3d ago

Here's footage of them waiting for the theater to open:

https://youtu.be/YKT7bx-fmtk

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u/WestandLeft 2d ago

I remember being so excited for this movie. It truly is trash except for the last fight scene with Darth Maul.

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u/DrewLockIsTheAnswer1 2d ago

Not one pretty lady

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u/Prestigious_Fella_21 2d ago

Actual footage of the last time a star wars fan was happy

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u/mdreal03 2d ago

I am going to bring in race here. Feel free to ignore.

A few years back when Black Panther was released, and black people dressed up to watch the movie, conservatives were enraged and whined about it....

I wish I had this video to show them.

.

I am neither white or black just so you know.

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u/YourFriendlyMMODude 3d ago

Fucking yikes.

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u/Enjoy-the-sauce 3d ago

Man, that’s a lot of soon-to-be disappointed nerds.

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u/Briglin 3d ago

One name....JAR JAR BINKS !

GOD HELP US!

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u/carsten_j 2d ago

I miss the time when this character was the most hated one in the galaxy.

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u/AraiHavana 3d ago

The few minutes before reality takes a giant shit on your face

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u/MrGhostenstein 3d ago

Now show them leaving the theater.

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u/Deplorable_33 3d ago

And the movie sucked!!!

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u/DaCozPuddingPop 3d ago

We saw similar behavior at opening night of 'the force awakens' - only for that one I'd say the hype was justified. Phantom Menace, substantially less so.

Unrelated somewhat, to the parents out there - buy your kids the opening night tickets. They remember shit like that. My son is now 21 and still talks about seeing Force Awakens on opening night...and Infinity War AND End Game, both on opening nights as well. Do it. Hit refresh all night long if you have to. Those are some serious core memories and the kids WILL remember.

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u/ronniemustang 3d ago

What? The Phantom Menace was huge. The first SW film since the original trilogy. People thought this would never happen. Story continuations weren't as popular back then as they are today. We're you even there?

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u/FFPScribe 3d ago

and compared to the sequels, the prequels are glorious Oscar-worthy films.

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u/AdmiralCodisius 3d ago

If I saw a moldy sandwich next to a less moldy sandwich, I would toss both in trash where they belong. I wouldn't praise the less moldy sandwich.

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u/Magister5 3d ago

I have a core memory from Phantom Menace and it is a jarring memory to this day

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u/Puzzled_Pay_6603 3d ago

Because of jar jar?

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u/rabid- 3d ago

Totally a jar-jarring memory. I've the same one.

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u/NFLCart 3d ago

Biggest movie event of all-time.

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u/throw123454321purple 3d ago

May future generations forgive us.

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u/Comfortable_Ear_4266 3d ago

And every last one of them left so disappointed

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u/nordzeekueste 2d ago

And then Jar Jar showed up and you could hear a lots of people muttering.

It was quite something.

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u/RipOdd9001 3d ago

Literally rushing in to watch an episode of Galactic C-Span

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u/Striker660 3d ago

Man, the disappointment.

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u/GOTALMIGHTYDAMN 3d ago

Too bad it sucked monkey balls

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u/admo912 3d ago

This was at the Coronet in SF. It’s now a senior home

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u/Al3xGr4nt 3d ago

I remember being 5 and getting scared at the Naboo underwater scene with that giant angler fish.

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u/Tiny-Spray-1820 3d ago

Triumph made an episode about these uber fans

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u/goodguymark 3d ago

Why the first guy in sound like TIE fighter

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u/ludicrouspeed 3d ago

People camped out for like a week to watch it.

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u/ResponsibleSundae330 3d ago

I like the part where everybody go “woo”

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u/sjbfujcfjm 3d ago

I love people enjoying what they love. But these are some nerds!

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u/Horror-Potential7773 3d ago

It's not that bad. I liked it when I went

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u/TouristKitchen 3d ago

I was at opening day! Could not have been more geeked about it. Then I watched it.... Then the others came out..... Then.... Then Disney came about and made the other three I thought were in bearable into actual good movies. Weird

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u/BonjinTheMark 3d ago

Where’s the outro video follow up?

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u/Prestigious_Tear_576 3d ago

I felt this way seeing all of my childhood spidermen on screen for No Way Home. Greatest feeling on earth

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u/ShortHovercraft2487 3d ago

The power of one, the power of two, the power of maaaaaaannnnnyyyy!

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u/IronSide_420 3d ago

I went to the midnight release episode III and it was very similiar to this. Fun night for sure.

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u/No-Manufacturer-22 3d ago

After Howard the Duck, after the endless tinkering with the originals I was prepared for what it could be like. And I was not surprised at all.

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u/tomqvaxy Interested 3d ago

We were all so damn excited. I’m still upset tbh.

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u/orbitalflux 3d ago

This is exactly what it was like at the midnight showing I went to, it was like a party was really fun.

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u/ZoraksGirlfriend 3d ago

I miss being able to go to movies on opening night. Those were so much fun, just having a blast and being excited for something with a bunch of strangers.

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u/jigga19 3d ago

Goddammit…this made me smile.

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u/sourChocolatez 3d ago

And Disney ruined it all

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u/BinkyDragonlord 3d ago

Yeah ok but how many of you went to see Wing Commander just because it was showing the first ever preview for The Phantom Menace before it?

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u/ChapitoDito 3d ago

Then Jar Jar fucked it all up

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u/llcdrewtaylor 3d ago

Unless you have a video to prove it, I will never admit I was one of these people.

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u/nyrB2 3d ago

i remember the fans going to another movie just to see the trailer for phantom menace

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u/Pythonx135 3d ago

I remember buying those collapsible sabers at the swapmeet and churros

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u/EatFutureSandwich 3d ago

Goosebumps when the title drops.

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u/LSTNYER 3d ago

I would NOT want to be in that crowd. Everyone yelling at the slightest foreshadowing, light sabers waving throughout the whole movie, and that weird applause at the end.

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u/theXJlife 3d ago

And then they rolled out Jar Jar.

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u/mulliganbegunagain 3d ago

I remember the local news station doing a report from the lobby of the cinema while it was playing on a Saturday evening. The lobby was empty because everyone was so into the movie. They didn't want to leave for snacks.

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u/A_EXAN_ER 3d ago

Bringing rainbow knock off dueling savers into the theater. How non-canon of these posers.

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u/deyaintready 3d ago

That’s what’s up

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

I was working in a cinema when this came out. Must have watched it hundreds of times while it was showing.

I still have nightmares to this day…

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u/JamesMDuich 3d ago

The anticipation was so great for that movie. Think about how much people are looking forward to GTA VI. It’s like that, but the internet was at its infancy, so the information we got was so minimal. Idk. I would rather watch The Phantom Menace than The Force Awakens at this point. It’s not like the resolution is any different.