Look, “fan” is short for “fanatic” so this sort of thing shouldn’t surprise us anymore. But as someone whose butt starts to go numb during hour four of “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King” extended edition (a yearly tradition of mine, might I add), even I have to think twice about a “Star Wars” marathon including all nine movies of the Skywalker Saga. But that’s exactly what Lucasfilm is doing to ring in May 4 this year, so may the Maker be with all of you who inevitably take this on as a challenge.
In Lucasfilm’s announcement, “The Phantom Menace” re-release and the special sneak peek at “The Acolyte” attached at the end will only be the start of the festivities. Fans can now buy tickets to an entire marathon of the mainline Episode films in theaters through Fandango at this link. Screenings will actually start on the evening of May 3, meaning that you’ll likely be wide awake to at least get through the prequel trilogy, physically hold your eyelids open in order to enjoy the acclaimed original trilogy, and then deal with the hangover-like effects early in the morning while watching the sequel trilogy. For those allergic to doing math in their heads, the total runtime will be 20 hours and 22 minutes. I wish you all the best of luck. Now let’s all circle up and say a little prayer for the unfortunate theater employees who’ll have to clean up after these screenings, many no doubt still traumatized by similar marathon screenings for the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
“The Acolyte” will begin streaming on Disney+ June 4, 2024.