When you think of “Star Wars” fans, a lot of the time you’ll think of the more modern toxic ones. But back in 1983 during one of the premiere showings of “Return of the Jedi,” there was a whole different group of fans. They’re all excited to see the movie with some of the ticket holders not even old enough to have been born when the first film came out in 1978.
The clip is from Chicago, and you can see all kinds of people there. Generally they appear to be pretty average people, a girl with a Yoda puppet on her hand. A handful of people who dressed up in cosplay, though I’m not sure if it was called “cosplay” then.
Fans ran into the theater with excitement, whooping and cheering in the theater itself. It reminded me of when midnight showings were the norm when it came to Marvel movies instead of limited showings the day before. You can’t beat the audience at a midnight screening, everyone is so excited to be the first to see the film it’s palpable.
The film is celebrating it’s 40th anniversary.
