The moment 42 years in the making is finally here because Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker is finally out for everyone to see. (And don’t worry if you haven’t seen it yet because this will be a spoiler-free article.) As a huge Star Wars fan, I knew that there would be no better way to commemorate the event than a nine movie Star Wars Marathon hosted by Nerdist at the Disney-owned El Capitan Theatre.
Once I got to the theater, the first thing I did was collect my gift bag that was full of some great swag. I’m not a huge pin collector, but for those who were, the opening night pin was really cool. There was also a comfort kit from United that had a sleep mask, earplugs and a toothbrush. I saw the sleep masks getting some good use, but the toothbrushes seemed to be a little less popular (unfortunately). These items were nice, but I was much more excited about the Millenium Falcon popcorn bucket and the limited edition blanket. The blanket especially has been a major boon to my life because it is one of the softest blankets that I have ever felt (and I’m even writing this article draped in it).
Before The Phantom Menace started at 7 PM on Wednesday, the 18th, there was a costume period, with my favorite definitely being Jar Jar Ren to further propagate the idea of Jar Jar Binks as a Sith Lord. There were not that many people there in costume, which wasn’t particularly surprising because when you are going to be watching nine movies in a row, you want maximum comfort.
The costume contest wasn’t all the fun that we got before The Phantom Menace because Ahmed Best, the actor who played Jar Jar Binks, came out to discuss what it was like to play the characters and give us a few more details about his Jedi Temple Challenge game show that he will be hosting on Disney+. But once it was done, it was finally time to start the Skywalker Saga!
With The Phantom Menace in the books, we got a quick potty break before Attack of the Clones. Before the movie actually began, we got another special guest, Daniel Logan, who played Boba Fett in Attack of the Clones. It was interesting to get to hear about his experiences as a child actor in the film and gain more insight on what it is like to be in a Star Wars movie. So around 9:45 PM, we started Attack of the Clones, and I didn’t quite make it through the movie, falling asleep for pretty much the entire second half of the movie. However, that was the only time that I slept through the entire marathon, so I was pretty proud of myself for being able to limit myself to such a small amount of sleep time.
With Attack of the Clones complete, we got another quick break for the bathroom and also a midnight snack, fittingly pretty much exactly at midnight. Because it was so late, there was no special guests to introduce Revenge of the Sith, so we could get right on our way with a 12:20 AM showing of the film. It had been a while since I had watched Episode III, and I have to say, I really love that movie. I was fully engrossed the entire time and felt pretty far from falling asleep, so you know it was a big success when you can keep me up that well that late at night.
With the entire prequel trilogy complete, it was time to start the original trilogy at the bright and early time of 3 AM. I got myself a bit of coffee before the film began, and man that really did the trick because I was locked into A New Hope for the entire film. It’s already my favorite of the movies, but getting to see it on the big screen was such a rush. We didn’t get any special guests in person before the movie, but R2D2 did show up as well as a video message from Mark Hamill.
After A New Hope, we had a brief 30-minute break to eat some breakfast and prepare to reach the halfway point of the event. For breakfast, we stayed in the spirit of the event, with everyone getting a bowl of Star Wars cereal. We also got some more coffee, so with some more energy in hand, it was time for The Empire Strikes Back at about 5:45 in the morning, with another brief message from Mark Hamill before the movie.
Even with the second coffee, I struggled to stay awake towards the end of Episode V, but I managed to push through to get ready for Return of the Jedi. Again, we were only given roughly a 10-minute break between Episode 5 and Episode 6, so just enough time to stretch out before concluding the original trilogy. In addition to another video message from Mark Hamill, Warwick Davis, who played Wicket the Ewok, sent in a particularly humorous message as well. And so right around 8 AM (we are starting to get into reasonable times again), it was time to close the original trilogy.
The Original Trilogy are the crown jewels in my eyes and getting to see them on the big screen was incredible. They really do stand out as amazing acts of filmmaking with such an amazing storyline managing to tie everything together in a beautiful package. Getting to see them all in a theater was definitely the highlight of the event for me.
With the Original Trilogy in the bag, we had an early lunch of MacDonald’s Happy Meals with a hamburger and Star Wars toys. I’m not going to deny, I was hoping for a bit more robust of a lunch, but I had so much residual goodwill from the Original Trilogy that I wasn’t too mad. After approximately 45 minutes for lunch, we all settled down to hear Greg Grunberg, Snap Wexley in the Sequel Trilogy, chat with us about working with J.J. Abrams and get us excited for The Rise of Skywalker. So starting at 10:50 AM, The Force Awakens drew us closer and closer to the big moment of the day.
After The Force Awakens, we moved almost immediately into The Last Jedi, with just a couple of minutes off for a bathroom break. Surprisingly, we didn’t get a special guest before Episode 8, which I really thought we would with the film starting at a reasonable time of 1:30 PM.
Once The Last Jedi ended, it was around 4 PM, and we had roughly an hour off for a dinner of pizza and hot dogs and to mentally prepare ourselves for The Rise of Skywalker. They also had some First Order stormtroopers scattered throughout the theater, which added a really cool aesthetic to the whole experience. Additionally, they opened up a downstairs exhibit area that had costumes from the film, so I took a few minutes to look at those, but not too closely to avoid spoilers.
After the break, we got a chance to have the traditional El Capitan experience with an organist and a laser show themed to Star Wars. But then, with all the fanfare complete, we finally got to see The Rise of Skywalker. The energy in the room throughout the movie was amazing, and while I didn’t love the movie, the entire experience was incredible and something that I would love to do again if the opportunity ever arose.