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20 years ago today, the first trailer for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace came out
- Thread starter Bor Gullet
- Start date
Bunch of college friends and I all bought tickets to Meet Joe Black. The trailer played and then we, and half the audience, left the theater. To this day, I have never seen that film.
Holy shit. This was a huge deal. It was only being shown at certain cinemas-not online. So my buddies and I had to go to a theater 30 miles away. It was also only showing in front of 2 movies: The Waterboy and Meet Joe Black. We chose Meet Joe Black, and it was 3 hours long. If you waited until the end of the movie they shows the trailer again.
I could have sworn there was a trailer (teaser?) before this that started out silently looking up at the grassy hill of Naboo as the droid-transportation ships rolled over. Am I misremembering? Or did that come out after?
I remember also being apprehensive seeing some 8 year old flying a space fighter blowing shit up but I was like "'nah this is gonna be great"
I was so hyped, bought tickets at the theater a few days ahead to the midnight showing. The disappointment didn't settle in until a few days after watching it. Same with ep2 wich I also watched at the midnight showing, after that one I skipped ep3 and just rented it instead. The disappointment in those movies is the same feeling I got from TLJ except it was immediate.
Probably the most disappointing movie of all time.
Star Wars was almost invincible and had become legendary. It felt almost guaranteed that this movie would blow everyone away.
The trailers being so good did nothing to change this perception.
Star Wars was almost invincible and had become legendary. It felt almost guaranteed that this movie would blow everyone away.
The trailers being so good did nothing to change this perception.
I read about that in the NY Post. I can't believe that was actually a thing. You live in NYC? How much were movie tickets back then?
It's still a great trailer.
This is the only part of the film I've ever seen.
You know what, screw it. I love this movie, screw the fanbase and the internet that constantly puts me down for liking something they don't like. This film and Star Wars in general was a big part of my childhood
I remember my entire group of friends went to the city to see it opening day. We all had tickets for an evening session, but I couldn't wait and took a bus to watch it first thing in the morning. I then had to go see it again with everyone later that night and pretend I hadn't already seen it.
I imagine hell will be basically just be that day on loop for all of eternity.
I imagine hell will be basically just be that day on loop for all of eternity.
The hype was real. A new Star Wars? Holy moly. It was going to rule.
We know how that turned out.
We know how that turned out.
It was so hype. They played this everywhere. And when I mean everywhere, even tiny toy stores in Malaysia. They even had kiosks playing this 24/7 to push merchandise (well before the movie dropped).
I'm not the biggest fan of the movie (I'll put it at the best of the prequels) but when this trailer hit, we were hyped as eff. Even watching it now, I can still relive that hype.
I know everyone hated this out the gate. I did too. But that aside, how would a competent director depict a child prodigy in that context? You obviously don't have him flying as starship in a battle, so what do you have him do in the final act that neither diminishes his importance or elevate it to absurd levels?
It's weird to think that there will probably never again be a film event this hyped and anticipated again, simply because today's media companies will never allow an IP like Star Wars to lie dormant for two decades.
Even with a creator-driven franchise like Harry Potter, JK Rowling couldn't wait more than 5 years before going back to the well.
Even with a creator-driven franchise like Harry Potter, JK Rowling couldn't wait more than 5 years before going back to the well.
Matinee or evenings? I live in Western NY. I worked in a movie theater at around that time, and matinee tickets were around $4.00 and evening tickets $5.50.
It was Manhattan. Can't even recall if there were matinee prices.
"In A New Hope you have this very organic flow of humor going through all the characters more or less....and [In Phantom Menace] they are all a bunch of poker-faced gits, and the person who is supposed to be funny is the least funny thing in the history of least funny things."
God damn lol
Episode 1 was actually the only prequel movie which actually looked like a Star Wars movie.
Too bad about the rest.
Too bad about the rest.
The trailer did an excellent job at hiding what a horrendous turd the movie will turn out to be and it fooled everyone.
It's fine to like it if you where a kid then, it's not like you have much taste in anything a kid. I took my baby brother who was still in elementary at the time to watch it with me and he loved it then too.
Good hype trailer, they should probably not have spoiled the double lightsabers, but I guess it would have been hard to keep from the marketing/toys.