What was it like in the theater when The Empire Strikes Back was first released?

Lots of dicks in bags of popcorn.

One could still light up and enjoy a smoke

There was a guy and his wife in the seats in back of me and they were talking about how thus was the first in a series and how. Excited they were about it. Blah blah blah.

It was dark, with a slight buzz of excitement among the audience.

I was 13 years old upon its release. The lineups weren't quite as bad as the first movie, and it wasn't in the theatres for as long.

The original movie (known simply as 'Star Wars' then) was in the theatres forever and was the place to go for every birthday party I attended for over a year (a lot at that age). I saw it on 66 occasions, which was not at all unusual for the time. It was before VCRs so the end of a golden age of having to go out to see a movie.

As an aside, I agree with most of the critics who feel The Empire Strikes Back was the best of the lot. I also (like most my age) completely lost interest after the third movie. All of them were terrible afterwards.

I was a big star wars fan as a kid. I had all of the action figures.

I think I had my 7th birthday part at the opening of the movie. I remember there being way more excitement than for any film nowadays but then again I was 7.

Back then without cable, I think the 'stars' and 'big events' are bigger than they are now. Michael Jackson was WAY bigger than anyone know.

Good memories.

I was a little kid when my dad took me to see this and I was super-excited. But shortly after we sat down, he left and slipped into the theater showing the Blue Lagoon. Fortunately, he returned before Luke got his cyber-hand.

I remember not being into all of the snow stuff in the beginning and I couldn't wait for them to get into space.

rojo wrote:

I was a big star wars fan as a kid. I had all of the action figures.

I think I had my 7th birthday part at the opening of the movie. I remember there being way more excitement than for any film nowadays but then again I was 7.

Back then without cable, I think the 'stars' and 'big events' are bigger than they are now. Michael Jackson was WAY bigger than anyone know.

Good memories.

Bigger than Usain Bolt at the Olympics? Is that true or are you being sentimental rojo?

I have never seen it.

It was glorious- i.e., there were no obnoxious Millennials texting on their gdamn iphones.

Saw episodes 1 and 3 in the theaters but not 2. Actually saw 3 before 2. As someone else said, Empire didn't seem to be in theaters long. I was about 10 when 3 came out and it was very much anticipated. Kenner toy company really capitalized on the movies - I had a few figures and later got the Death Star used from a friend. I remember back then you could get a small bag of popcorn for 10 cents. Soda was still sold in glass bottles but you were supposed to give them back the empties before you left the theater. I can still hear the sound of bottles rolling on the floor down to the front of the theater.

I was eight. I went to see it with my dad and my best friend. It was a pretty big deal but the theater wasn't packed. The snow scenes seemed really slow and I had no idea where the hell they were. The snow-yeti thing? WTF? And all this bs talk about the crumbling rebel alliance was boring to my eight year old mind. I wanted lasers and spaceships and light saber fights. By the second half of the movie I was kinda bored and confused so I couldn't even remember how it ended. Other than Luke getting his a$$ handed to him by Darth.

I had my birthday party for Return of the Jedi which I thought was awesome and on par with Star Wars.

I tried to watch the prequels I-III and I just couldn't make it through. They were awful.

Lines were massive when it first came out. I do not think the theaters anticipated the response and did not put it on enough screens. 1980 had a lot of big movies come out with some big (and bad) sequels in addition to Empire.

I loved the first battle scene in the snow. The AT-AT Walkers were amazing from a special effects standpoint in that they combined stop motion animation with live action pretty seamlessly.

I thought that Yoda sounded too much like Kermit the Frog and was a bit bored with the whole Jedi training thing, mainly because Luke was so whiney about it.

From the time they got to the cloud city to the end, it was kind of a drag. The good guys just kept getting their butts kicked. It was so dark for a big science fiction movie.

Much like it was before Titanic was first released. Only different.

Precious Roy wrote:

I thought that Yoda sounded too much like Kermit the Frog

I was five so I LOVED Yoda.

and was a bit bored with the whole Jedi training thing, mainly because Luke was so whiney about it.

That was the whole point.

From the time they got to the cloud city to the end, it was kind of a drag. The good guys just kept getting their butts kicked. It was so dark for a big science fiction movie.

That was the whole point: "The Empire STRIKES BACK". The Rebel Alliance won round 1 by blowing up the Death Star. The Empire wins round 2 by crushing retaliation that fvcked up everything for the Alliance....except the realization by Luke and Leia that he (they?) could win over everything with the Force on their side.

The AT-ATs were the SHIT! I got one for Christmas and I was envied by children far and wide.

Sky City was awesome. How did it stand? What did it stand on? Why didn't it fall over in high winds? My five year old mind just had to know.

The "I am your Father" line was absolutely EPIC back then! I mean HUGE. What a reveal. "How could it be? This couldn't be true, could it?! Was this a Darth Vader trick? Don't believe him Luke!!! Kick his ass Luke!!" I used to sit on my knees in movie theaters as a kid (because we didn't have stadium seating...and screw you kids!). I remember that line vividly. I remember thinking Darth Vader was just trying to trick Luke with some Dark Side mindfvck. No way this could be true and no way Luke was going to fall for it. As it became clear that he was telling the truth, I remember "jumping up" onto my knees, holding onto the armrests, the same way someone might jump off their couch when their football team is getting the shit kicked out of them. I turned to my mom. "WHAT?! Noooo waaaayyyyyyy!!!" I was soooo pissed off.

Aaaaaaaand then that epic moment was followed by this gem of an acting job

. Even at five years old, I was embarrassed for Mark Hamill.

I wasn't alive at the time, but I imagine it was similar to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neuMyI8M5fc

Star Wars geeks were already desperate to get a Boba Fett action figure before its release. The real one that fired rockets.

This despite the words "Boba" and "Fett" never being uttered in the movie. Just like "Grand," "Moff," and "Tarkin" were never in the first one. To know what the hell was going on you had to shell out more time and money to be a geek fan, the movies just sucked people in to buy more stuff.

In that context, seeing Darth Vader beat up Luke Skywalker and freeze Han Solo was great. I could already tell that Vader was the real hero from the first one so it should have ended after the second with Vader having saved the Empire from those religious terrorists. Or the third one should have been Vader and Luke overthrowing the Emperor and establishing an enlightened secular monarchy.

easy weeks wrote:

I also (like most my age) completely lost interest after the third movie. All of them were terrible afterwards.

When the prequels were released you were no longer too young to notice the horrible dialogue and science ignorance, like "Kessel run in 12 parsecs," which the second prequel addressed with "12 parsecs outside the Rishi Maze."