Ok everybody, be prepared to cancel your...everything. If you’re super excited for the upcoming release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens - as in, "so excited you’d actually watch the prequels again" excited - then the Star Wars event to end all Star Wars events may be at hand. We’ve got some pretty good evidence that some theaters will be hosting complete Star Wars marathons that will conclude with a screening of the new film.
The evidence comes by way of a placeholder page on Fandango.com. The page is simply titled "Star Wars Marathon," and while there is just short of zero information on the page, the little bit that is there looks legit. The page contains an image of a movie poster, and though it’s a tiny image, it is still readable when blown up to a decent size. Along with the tagline "All seven movies. One epic journey," the poster lists all seven movie titles in the traditional scrolling text format we’re familiar with, starting with The Phantom Menace and finishing with The Force Awakens. The poster also lists a date: December 17.
The other additional piece of interesting information is that the marathon is listed as a 3D showing. While there was a plan to release 3D versions of the prequel trilogy a few years ago, only The Phantom Menace ever saw a theatrical release. The other two films were killed in order to focus efforts on the new trilogy. The other two films did eventually get their 3D treatment, but they’ve only been screened at events like the Star Wars Celebration in the U.S. and Europe. Does this mean the entire series will receive the 3D treatment, or will some films be seen in 3D and others not? The poster does not specifically mention this one way or the other.
The December 17th date is the day before the official release of The Force Awakens, so the timing certainly works. Be prepared to take the 17th off, as a marathon of the other six films will take most of the day, and it will likely then culminate in the new movie screening around midnight. The marathon may be set for AMC theaters, as we’ve seen some evidence previously that it may happen. AMC has also been home to some epic Marvel movie marathons that actually include more films than this one would, so it wouldn’t be the first time they’d put fans through a cinematic endurance test.
Are you ready to buy your tickets to the Star Wars movie marathon? We’re just wondering if we’ll still be allowed in if we show up a couple hours late. What’s the exact runtime of The Phantom Menace? We’ll be exactly that late.
