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Is the theater where you saw Star Wars still standing ? — Page 3

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Beatleboy99, show us the url you're trying to link to? Maybe we can figure out why it's coming up broken.

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Where were you in '77?

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I imagine he's just trying to paste a locally-stored file into the post editor.

Beatleboy - if that's true, it won't work; you need to upload the image to the internet first (imgur is good) then post the url.

Guidelines for post content and general behaviour: read announcement here

Max. allowable image sizes in signatures: reminder here

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I know I saw the prequel films in theaters in downtown Lincoln, Nebraska...and most of them have been closed down and are now replaced by the Lincoln Grand Cinema and parking garages.

...Including the Starship Nine, our dollar theater where I had most of my childhood moviegoing experiences. 

http://www.cinematour.com/picview.php?db=us&id=11498

I'm sure I would have seen one of the prequels as a second run there...but honestly, one of the only things I remember from my theatrical viewings of Star Wars is that Episode 2 was one of the only movies where I ever actually got up during the movie to go to the bathroom because I was so confident that nothing interesting would happen in the time I was gone, and I remember Yoda bouncing around like the tennis ball on a stick he really was on the set that all the actors had to pretend was a puppet voiced by Frank Oz.

(However, I do remember the first time I saw any Star Wars movie--I was in 3rd or 4th grade, and Episode IV was being shown on TV, and my mom made me watch it with her. It was an awesome bonding moment.)

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Being born in 1989, I didn't really get a chance to see the originals in theater. In fact, I didn't even remember seeing Star Wars until I was maybe four or five? Maybe six? Not a clue.

I'm not sure why I saw it. I just remember a trip to the video store and coming home with Star Wars. I have a notoriously shit long-term memory, but I still very clearly remember seeing Darth Vader for the first time.

I'm not sure the film stuck with me right then or not. I do remember seeing at least The Empire Strikes Back with my cousin during either a re-release of the originals, or the theatrical run of the SE when I was seven or eight. Very clear memories of being in a theater watching the scene where the wampa attacks Luke. No idea which theater it was. Pretty sure it was in Tucson, though.

Keep Circulating the Tapes.

END OF LINE

(It hasn’t happened yet)

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A good chunk of the "second generation" of fans probably first experienced the OT on video. (Or cable tv.) There weren't a whole lot of theatrical reissues in the late 80's/early 90's outside of some charity events. At least in the USA...

Eventually, we'll need a "Is the video store you first rented Star Wars from still in business?" thread. ;)

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Where were you in '77?

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And the answer will be 'Video stores? Do you mean Netflix?'

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The store I rented the OT movies from was originally a West Coast Video that opened near my neighborhood in the early nineties. It became a Forbes and then a Potomac Video before moving next to a smaller space in an adjacent strip mall and then closing.

Potomac video had several locations around the DC area. By complete coincidence, I now live only a few blocks from the last remaining location.

The last time I saw a Star Wars movie on the big screen (RotS) was at the historic, single-screen Uptown in DC. It was the only theater in the area showing Star Wars on May 25, 1977.

They converted to digital in 2010. For 3D movies they usually alternate 2D and 3D showtimes. I'll probably end up seeing Episode VII there at the midnight opening, unless that particular screening is in 3D.

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We ought to think about regional meetups to see the new movie or something. :)

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Where were you in '77?

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Funny story. My Dad took me to see Empire which was playing at "The State Theater" in downtown State College, PA (where Penn State is located). I was 3 years old, and it was the 1st movie I think he ever took me to (well at least I remember seeing). The theater has all the light bulbs in front, as shown in the picture below. Since I was 3, I equated the light bulbs with the stars from Star Wars and thought Star Wars owned the movie theater. I remember I saw the Muppets movie a year later, and thought the Muppets movie must be renting from Star Wars. The theater is still standing, but was shut down until a fund raising campaign happened by local leaders and the theater was remodeled to house live, music, and film events.

I think I saw Star Wars after Empire at a screening on campus. I'm pretty sure I saw Jedi at the same theater.

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Nope. Not a one is still standing.

The two theaters where I saw Star Wars in Connecticut, USA are both gone (although the mall where I saw it first is apparently still there and reportedly quite a place).

The sainted Cine Capri here in Phoenix, AZ, USA where I saw Empire has been gone since 1998. I later saw Star Wars and all three Special Editions there.

The General Cinemas where I saw Jedi is gone, but I think you can see it in Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure. It’s upstairs from the skating rink. And it’s right next to where the new(er) Harkins’ Cinema is where I saw The Phantom Menace.

The theaters where I saw Attack of the Clones is (I think still there). I have no idea where I saw Sith.

Where I saw The Force Awakens and Rogue One are both fine.

– Bill

Never tell me the odds.

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Yes, for me it is the Quinton Cinema (England) - where I saw Empire as a nipper with my uncle, and then bunked off school at the age of 10 to go watch Return Of The Jedi (a different era back then 😉)

And back again for the Special Editions, then the Prequels (no, I didn’t get the refunds I asked for 😉), followed by TFA and then Rogue One…

and now as an ‘adult’, it’s only half a mile from home 😃

 

Decent piece on the cinema itself (which has changed it’s name many times down the years) - http://www.birminghamconservationtrust.org/2013/09/13/from-danilo-to-reel-the-story-of-quintons-cinema/

 

a few pics…

‘The Danilo’ as it was known back then - pic taken in 1939…

 

which became ‘The Classic’ in the 1970’s…

 

‘The Cannon’ as it was known in the mid-late 1980’s…

 

‘The Reel’ as it is known today (and still going - https://reelcinemas.co.uk/quinton/now/)…

 

£5 on Tuesday and Wednesdays, £6.90 other times - about $6.50 & $9 in US money

A little patience goes a long way on this old-school Rebel base. If you are having issues finding what you are looking for, these will be of some help…

Welcome to the OriginalTrilogy.com | Introduce yourself in here | Useful info within : About : Help : Site Rules : Fan Project Rules : Announcements
How do I do this?’ on the OriginalTrilogy.com; some info & answers + FAQs - includes info on how to search for projects and threads on the OT•com

A Project Index for Star Wars Preservations (Harmy’s Despecialized & 4K77/80/83 etc) : A Project Index for Star Wars Fan Edits (adywan & Hal 9000 etc)

… and take your time to look around this site before posting - to get a feel for this place. Don’t just lazily make yet another thread asking for projects.

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It’s still there at Eagle Ridge Mall in Lake Wales, FL. I haven’t been back but maybe I will to see TLJ.

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Unfortunately I was born after the first trilogy was made but the theater where I saw the SE of ANH is still around. Frank’s Theater in EHT, NJ.

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I only saw the SE’s in the theater, but the one we went to is still there, its a discount theater now. They built a more modern one a little up the road in the place where Hills Department Store used to be. That’s where I got a lot of my Star Wars toys as a kid.

It seems like people are really embracing the new characters. In fact, the big question people ask me now about Star Wars is, “Are Finn and Poe gay lovers?” And really how the f*ck would I know? My second husband left me for a man, so my gaydar isn’t exactly what you’d call Death Star level quality. ----Carrie Fisher

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The AMC theater where I saw Revenge of The Sith on opening day is still standing. I was born in '97 so I didn’t get to see the originals or the special editions.

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This is quite cool and I am not sure if it has already been posted before on this forum.

Some close up moving footage of people queing up and getting tickets in late 1977/early 1978 for the UK theatrical debut of Star Wars:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9WVNMYPpJQ

I saw Star Wars in 1977. Many, many, many times. For 3 years it was just Star Wars...period. I saw it in good theaters, cheap theaters and drive-ins with those clunky metal speakers you hang on your window. The screen and sound quality never subtracted from the excitement. I can watch the original cut right now, over 30 years later, on some beat up VHS tape and enjoy it. It's the story that makes this movie. Nothing? else.

kurtb8474 1 week ago

http://www.youtube.com/all_comments?v=SkAZxd-5Hp8


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The old theater I saw the Empire SE at closed in 2004. (It had been around since 1966.) It remained empty and forlorn until demolished in 2011. Lots of good movie memories there, going all the way back to 1974. This photo captured it at it’s best. I might have even been inside the day it was taken.

I remember seeing an employee in a safety harness changing the marquee letters once in a while. They needed a big ladder to get up there!

The multiplex I saw Star Wars SE and TPM at closed in late 1999. Remodeled and reopened in 2005. I saw TFA there.

The 80’s era multiplex I saw AOTC at closed in 2012 after a newer larger theater complex opened at the mega shopping center/housing development down the road. It’s now a church.

The 90’s era multiplex in the area where I saw ROTS is still chugging merrily along. Saw Rogue One there.

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Where were you in '77?

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The theater where I saw the OT is still standing and is still a theater (last time I was in my old home town which was a few years ago). The local theater where I’m told Star Wars played back in 1977 is still standing, but is no longer a theater.

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Still standing. Yep. Still a theater? Sadly nope.

Elmo cinema in Salzburg:
http://www.salzburg2.at/i2/elmokino.jpg

“People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power are barbarians”

“In the future it will become even easier for old negatives to become lost and be “replaced” by new altered negatives. This would be a great loss to our society. Our cultural history must not be allowed to be rewritten.” --George Lucas on March 3, 1988

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I saw it in seven different locations, the first one, a multiplex is still existent as a larger multiplex, I no longer live in that city and haven’t seen a movie at that location since 1989.

The second theater, once a luxury hotel in my hometown, later turned into a movie theater and is now a retirement home for people on a fixed income.

The outdoor theater that I saw it at is long gone, no idea what is on that real estate now.

Venue #4 charged me a dollar and I would sit through it twice while my late brother and father went off to play golf. Probably saw it 15 times that way on that re-release. The building exists still and I think that the theater has been repurposed to a music venue.

The next venue was a free standing movie theater in the parking lot of a mall, the mall is still going but the theater is a Toys R Us, also still going. I saw Star Wars there when Saturday Night Fever was big and the theater had a large cardboard cutout of Travolta with the arm and finger pointing up, I remember thinking who would want to see that when you can see Star Wars?

I saw the 1997 re-release (does this count, too?) at a little four screen tucked into a mall on a college campus, the mall was razed over a decade ago and now there’s a new mall and high rise student housing there.

Lastly, my childhood home where I watched the Ken Films Super 8 cutdowns still exists. The city that it is in is a casualty of 35 years of trickle down economics and the neighborhood has gone to hell. The currently owners have failed to maintain it as a shrine to my youth.

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The one from 1997 is still there, which doesn’t count for much. The one where we used to go as kids the very start of the 90s was sold to the city university so it sort physically of exists I guess.

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The theater I saw the SEs in is still standing but now derelict. (Built in the 70’s next to a shopping mall) I found out much later that the two big halls in the back (8 screens) were originally one large 70mm theater where Temple of Doom premiered in TN.

The big Regal I saw TPM in was an early version of their huge multiplexes and had amazing quality when it opened in 1998. They still operate as a big theater but the quality is nothing like it was. I saw TFA here in the premium theater and it was nothing like films used to be in the same space.

The renovated six screen vintage theater I saw midnight openings of AOTC and ROTS is still operating.

The IMAX I saw AOTC still is operating…as is the Omnimax dome where I had the extreme motion sickness inducing pleasure of also seeing AOTC. You haven’t hated sand until you’ve seen AOTC across an IMAX dome.

VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
YT channel:
https://www.youtube.com/c/DamnFoolIdealisticCrusader

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Watched Clone Wars at the South Side Works. I then saw Force Awakens, Rogue One and The Last Jedi at the Manor Theater (a cool 1930s-era cinema).

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So…the first Star Wars you saw in a theater was The Clone Wars.

Ugh.

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TV’s Frink said:

So…the first Star Wars you saw in a theater was The Clone Wars.

Ugh.

The first one I saw was The Force Awakens!

Not enough people read the EU.