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Author Topic: "Return of the Jedi" -- 30 Years Old Today Manny Knowles "What are these things and WHY are they BLUE???" Posts: 4247 From: Bloomington, IN, USA Registered: Feb 2002 posted 06-01-2013 02:39 PM                     I saw the original trilogy at the only (decent) theatre we had in Nassau (Bahamas) back in those days. It was a single screen that sat about 868 people. (I'm 99% certain that's the actual seat count.) The balcony offered reserved seating, with seat assignments. My favorite was A-8. Oh! and back in those days, smoking was permitted in the balcony! That theatre only had mono sound until the release of "The Last Boy Scout" in 1991 -- so I saw the originals in mono sound until I got them on VHS-HiFi, and then LaserDisc. Opening night of Jedi -- reels got messed up and we cut to the middle of the battle on Endor sooner than we should have. Oops. I was very young when the first one came out -- When I saw it again on video, I only remembered "Would somebody get this walking carpet out of my way?" and the rope swing. The rope swing was particularly memorable because it was (for me) the hightlight of my Super-8 digest, which I had until a Hurricane (Andrew?) ruined it (and my poster collection, which included ones from the original SW movies). SW Toys -- I still have most of my action figures. They were originally called "mini action figures" because there were also larger ones (about 12" tall for Vader). Of the ships, my fave was the snow speeder and the AT-AT, although I remember wishing they had made them proportional to each other. My least-favorite SW toy would probably have to be the inflatable light sabre. Empire Strikes Back -- this movie, along with the 1978 Superman -- made me want to make movies. I was especially interested in special effects. I think I still have my Betamax copy of "SPFX: The Making of The Empire Strikes Back" which I recorded off-the-air from the original broadcast. Also, an entire edition of "World" magazine (Nat. Geo. for kids) was devoted to the making of "Empire." Great edition. Jedi -- I have both "Making of" programs on VHS, as well as the Ballantine book. Back in those days, it was a lot harder to find reliable information about how movies were made. Every month, I'd scour the "M" section of the TV Guide, looking for anything that started with the words, "Making of.." and there was a special wall-size calendar on the back of my bedroom door with only those shows. Special Editions -- I saw all three of the "Special Editions" at Mann's Chinese in Hollywood. The first two had lines that formed hours in advance, and wrapped around the block -- My spot in line was about half-way up Orange Drive. The line for "Jedi" was noticeably shorter, but maybe I wasn't there on the first night.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 06-01-2013 03:47 PM                        That doesn't surprise me....I hadn't really seen the original Star Wars all the way thru until that 1997 re-issue and even as just a casual fan at best, it was easy to pick out the additions. I thought it detracted. Sad to say, I don't have a laserdisk or VHS player anymore, but I do have the DVD set from a few years back that (I think?) had the original theatrical cut in it. Haven't ever watched it, but I've heard that version doesn't look too good.  |  IP: Logged James Westbrook Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1133 From: Lubbock, Texas, Usa Registered: Mar 2006 posted 06-02-2013 02:29 AM                     Looking over the list of theaters that played the film in 1983 is almost a complete list of theaters which cease to exist anymore. Looking at the Texas list, the only theater that may still somewhat exist is the UA Prestonwood 5, where UA unveiled it's THX system (as did the General Cinema Northpark 1 and 2.) Last I read it is a Studio Movie Grill or similar venue. (Unless it's a different Prestonwood cinema that was converted...seems AMC had a theater near there.) In Lubbock, the Winchester was demolished to make way for the first Market Street United Supermarket. It was here that Tech Basketball coach Bobby Knight had a temper tantrum with the Chancellor of Tech, who's name I can't recall, being the target. At the salad bar. Made the national media as it was a slow news day. Some of the reporters for the national press had trouble describing the venue as it seemed odd to them that people would have lunch inside a supermarket...  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 06-02-2013 10:07 AM                     I thought the Prestonwood theater was demolished. The Prestonwood Town Center Mall went bust and was demolished a long time ago. I thought the movie theater nearby met with the wrecking ball about the same time. It was a pretty good theater. I watched Speed there in 1994 (THX-DTS). A lot of the movie theaters that were in business in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in the early 1990s no longer exist. Many of them were shut in the late 1990s as theater circuits raced to build new stadium seated theaters. Dallas had a lot of THX certified theaters prior to the stadium seated theater building boom started in 1995 by AMC's Grand 24. Today, I'm not sure if the DFW metroplex has any movie theaters with THX certified screens.  |  IP: Logged James Westbrook Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1133 From: Lubbock, Texas, Usa Registered: Mar 2006 posted 06-02-2013 12:58 PM                     It probably was demolished. I took a gander in the picture warehouse and found the UA Prestonwood was reconfigured as the Grenada Prestonwood. Studio Movie Grill nor Movie Tavern had anything to do with it. The projection equipment was the original UA acquired, with ORC consoles in a few houses and Christie in others. After Jedi opened, UA started building what I call their "Ugly Eights." South 8 near I 20 south of Red Bird Mall, Northstar 8 in Garland, Bowen 8 in Arlington. Most of those shuttered after the Grand changed the landscape with all stadium, the first one being South 8. In 1999, UA and GCC went bankrupt, which some still speculate was to rid themselves of their lease obligations to the existing twins, threes, fours... I'm currently working in Lubbock's oldest theater, which opened as a 12 in 1990, has been added to, retrofitted for stadium seating and has an XD screen. Tinseltown opened in 1998, followed in 2012 by Premiere Cinema 16 with Imax (just a half mile East of my theater as the crow flies). Alamo Drafthouse is building an 8 screen to the North. None of which any of us considered possible back in May of 1983. 21 screens, 6 theaters in 1983. 57 screens, 4 complexes by 2014. (If Alamo opens by May of that year, as planned.) Boy howdy.  |  IP: Logged Bobby Henderson "Ask me about Trajan." Posts: 10973 From: Lawton, OK, USA Registered: Apr 2001 posted 06-02-2013 01:28 PM                     But are any of those new theaters THX certified? According to the THX web site there are no longer any theaters in the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex carrying THX certification. Some theaters still in existence, such as the UA complex in Garland, were originally built for THX standards. But they didn't pay the yearly fee to keep the certification (same thing happened here in Lawton with the Carmike 8). The tiny town of Candadian, TX (up in the northern part of the TX Panhandle) has a theater that's still THX. I think it has a Sony 4K projector as well.  |  IP: Logged James Westbrook Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1133 From: Lubbock, Texas, Usa Registered: Mar 2006 posted 06-02-2013 01:52 PM                     At my theater, auditoriums 3, 4 and 15 were certified until late 1994 or early 1995. I don't think the newer breed of movie patron knows the existence of THX, but they seem to know of Imax. The larger screened auditoriums have struck their fancy as of late. Canadian Texas is the only THX location around here that I am aware of. I am not aware of any new THX installs. Interest in THX seemed to wane around the late 1990s.  |  IP: Logged Aaron Garman Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1470 From: Toledo, OH USA Registered: Mar 2003 posted 06-02-2013 03:39 PM                     Two screens at the Mishawaka Cinemark Movies 14 (10 when it opened in 1995) were supposedly built to THX specs but never certified. To this day, those two houses still sound better. Those baffle walls really do help. AJG  |  IP: Logged Jarod Reddig Jedi Master Film Handler Posts: 513 From: Hays, Ks Registered: Jun 2011 posted 06-03-2013 02:23 PM                     Does anyone know roughly how much the fee is to keep renewing THX certification at a theater? Is it charged per theater thats been certified or one fee for the whole house?  |  IP: Logged

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