Great research, Michael Coate! I think you’ve proven without question the oiginal STAR WARS movie never played at Southtown. Me thinks “BuddyBoy100” may be confusing STAR WARS with STAR TREK.
I thought the original runs of STAR WARS were shown exclusively in “hardtops” and that any drive-in runs didn’t take place until the summer 78 reissue.
***QUOTE: The Doraville lucked up on booking "Star Wars" during its initial release in 1977.***
***QUOTE: One correction on the above post: Star Wars never played at this location. That event took place across Buford Highway at the Septum Buford Highway Twin.***
Actually, you are both correct! “Star Wars” indeed played at both theaters. It played at DORAVILLE from June 29, 1977-December 15, 1977 and then at BUFORD HIGHWAY from December 23, 1977-June 1, 1978.
That makes absolutely no sense at all that Lucas would still be working on the stereo mix on the day the movie opened!
Here’s a bit from the book THE MAKING OF STAR WARS (J.W. Rinzler, 2007) that should set the record straight:
[quote]“On Wednesday, May 25, 1977, ‘Star Wars’ began its theatrical run. Yet Lucas was still working on the final mix, the monaural. ‘We finished the stereo mix, which Fox resisted, and were working on the monaural version for the wide release,’ Lucas says.”
“Believe it or not, Mark Hamill recalls, the night the picture opened, George called and said, ‘Hey, kid, do you want to come down and loop?’ I said, ‘What are you talking about? It’s playing. There are lines around the block!’ Then he explained that the print being shown at Grauman’s was the 70mm stereo mix, and now for the monaural mix for general release, he wanted me to add a few things. Can you believe it? The day it opened…"
[/quote]
I also remember "Star Wars" being there for what seemed like forever the summer it came out, although I had seen it further north at the Esquire.
Forever in this case was 21 weeks. (In comparison, “Star Wars” played for 18 weeks at ESQUIRE. The ESQUIRE booking, by the way, began nine weeks sooner than the UNITED ARTISTS run.)
bigred… My SHELARD PARK question was rhetorical! In other words, my point was that “Star Wars” didn’t play there. (Thanks, though, for the rundown.) Nevertheless, I’d like to know where you found a list that claims it ran at SHELARD PARK.
As for budyboy100 and the SOUTHTOWN thing, your point is well taken regarding the many “Star Wars” return engagements. If budyboy or anyone wishes to research GCC’s old booking records or the newspaper ads on microfilm, the official U.S. re-releases of “Star Wars” were as follows:
07/21/78 (7 weeks)
08/15/79 (3 weeks; included debut of “Empire” trailer)
04/10/81 (2 weeks; included debut of “Episode IV A New Hope” subtitle)
08/13/82 (3 weeks; included debut of “Jedi” trailer)
And in summer ‘83, selected markets ran a “Star Wars”/“Empire” double feature.
If you go to the Happy 30th, Star Wars! discussion, you can (1) see the list of 43 original bookings of “Star Wars” Michael Coate posted (he cites ST. LOUIS PARK for the Minneapolis showing), and (2) can read the debate budyboy100 refers to between he and Coate.
Who do you think won the debate: Michael Coate or budyboy100?
Regarding your “Road Warrior” question, if you’ll scroll up to the NATIONAL’s exhibition history (posted by Michael Coate on May 14, 2007) you’ll see “The Road Warrior” is listed in the 1983 section as a three-week re-release.
And, yes, “The Road Warrior” initially came out in 1982. (The Westwood Village run was at the BRUIN and ran from May 21-June 10 according to 70mm in Los Angeles.)
I’m afraid the passage of time may have created a memory lapse. “Star Wars” did not play at SYOSSET…at least not in the original ‘77 showings. The Long Island engagement you are probably thinking of was at TWIN SOUTH in Hicksville.
Irv asked: “Anyway, it was great to be at the Ziegfeld again. I was also wondering, did [‘Saturday Night Fever’] have it’s first run there?”
Justin Fencsak answered: “nope. It was at the Astor, which was the Ziegfeld’s rival at the time”
Warren corrected: “Nope! You mean the Astor Plaza, which is now the Nokia. The Astor Theatre was a block north of that site.”
And now…R2D2 clarifies:
“Saturday Night Fever” did not play the ASTOR PLAZA (or the ASTOR) during its initial engagements. As referenced from the New York Times microfilm, “Saturday Night Fever” opened Dec. 16, 1977 with the Manhattan bookings being LOEWS STATE, LOEWS CINE and 34th STREET EAST. After the first week, the CINE engagement moved to LOEWS ORPHEUM.
Justin: Where did you get your information? At the time of the release of “Saturday Night Fever,” “Star Wars” was in its 30th week at ASTOR PLAZA, and “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind” was in its 5th week at the ZIEGFELD.
Great research, Michael Coate! I think you’ve proven without question the oiginal STAR WARS movie never played at Southtown. Me thinks “BuddyBoy100” may be confusing STAR WARS with STAR TREK.
I thought the original runs of STAR WARS were shown exclusively in “hardtops” and that any drive-in runs didn’t take place until the summer 78 reissue.
Were both auditoriums equippped to handle all of the various widescreen and multichannel sound formats?
During the time when this was a twin, how were the screens numbered? Was the big original house #1 and the smaller, new auditorium considered #2?
Actually, you are both correct! “Star Wars” indeed played at both theaters. It played at DORAVILLE from June 29, 1977-December 15, 1977 and then at BUFORD HIGHWAY from December 23, 1977-June 1, 1978.
That makes absolutely no sense at all that Lucas would still be working on the stereo mix on the day the movie opened!
Here’s a bit from the book THE MAKING OF STAR WARS (J.W. Rinzler, 2007) that should set the record straight:
[quote]“On Wednesday, May 25, 1977, ‘Star Wars’ began its theatrical run. Yet Lucas was still working on the final mix, the monaural. ‘We finished the stereo mix, which Fox resisted, and were working on the monaural version for the wide release,’ Lucas says.”
“Believe it or not, Mark Hamill recalls, the night the picture opened, George called and said, ‘Hey, kid, do you want to come down and loop?’ I said, ‘What are you talking about? It’s playing. There are lines around the block!’ Then he explained that the print being shown at Grauman’s was the 70mm stereo mix, and now for the monaural mix for general release, he wanted me to add a few things. Can you believe it? The day it opened…"
[/quote]
Forever in this case was 21 weeks. (In comparison, “Star Wars” played for 18 weeks at ESQUIRE. The ESQUIRE booking, by the way, began nine weeks sooner than the UNITED ARTISTS run.)
bigred… My SHELARD PARK question was rhetorical! In other words, my point was that “Star Wars” didn’t play there. (Thanks, though, for the rundown.) Nevertheless, I’d like to know where you found a list that claims it ran at SHELARD PARK.
As for budyboy100 and the SOUTHTOWN thing, your point is well taken regarding the many “Star Wars” return engagements. If budyboy or anyone wishes to research GCC’s old booking records or the newspaper ads on microfilm, the official U.S. re-releases of “Star Wars” were as follows:
07/21/78 (7 weeks)
08/15/79 (3 weeks; included debut of “Empire” trailer)
04/10/81 (2 weeks; included debut of “Episode IV A New Hope” subtitle)
08/13/82 (3 weeks; included debut of “Jedi” trailer)
And in summer ‘83, selected markets ran a “Star Wars”/“Empire” double feature.
Regarding the recent discussion about image distortion… Isn’t the distortion a result of the high projection angle more so than the curved screen?
bigred… What is SHELARD PARK???
If you go to the Happy 30th, Star Wars! discussion, you can (1) see the list of 43 original bookings of “Star Wars” Michael Coate posted (he cites ST. LOUIS PARK for the Minneapolis showing), and (2) can read the debate budyboy100 refers to between he and Coate.
Who do you think won the debate: Michael Coate or budyboy100?
D. Packard:
Regarding your “Road Warrior” question, if you’ll scroll up to the NATIONAL’s exhibition history (posted by Michael Coate on May 14, 2007) you’ll see “The Road Warrior” is listed in the 1983 section as a three-week re-release.
And, yes, “The Road Warrior” initially came out in 1982. (The Westwood Village run was at the BRUIN and ran from May 21-June 10 according to 70mm in Los Angeles.)
bcareful:
Yes, “The Slipper And The Rose” played at the Dome. It opened March 25, 1976 and ran for eight weeks. The presentation was 35mm & 4-track mag stereo.
Jim Ebersold:
I’m afraid the passage of time may have created a memory lapse. “Star Wars” did not play at SYOSSET…at least not in the original ‘77 showings. The Long Island engagement you are probably thinking of was at TWIN SOUTH in Hicksville.
Irv asked: “Anyway, it was great to be at the Ziegfeld again. I was also wondering, did [‘Saturday Night Fever’] have it’s first run there?”
Justin Fencsak answered: “nope. It was at the Astor, which was the Ziegfeld’s rival at the time”
Warren corrected: “Nope! You mean the Astor Plaza, which is now the Nokia. The Astor Theatre was a block north of that site.”
And now…R2D2 clarifies:
“Saturday Night Fever” did not play the ASTOR PLAZA (or the ASTOR) during its initial engagements. As referenced from the New York Times microfilm, “Saturday Night Fever” opened Dec. 16, 1977 with the Manhattan bookings being LOEWS STATE, LOEWS CINE and 34th STREET EAST. After the first week, the CINE engagement moved to LOEWS ORPHEUM.
Justin: Where did you get your information? At the time of the release of “Saturday Night Fever,” “Star Wars” was in its 30th week at ASTOR PLAZA, and “Close Encounters Of The Third Kind” was in its 5th week at the ZIEGFELD.