By Pete Vilmur
Return of the Jedi opened six years to the day after A New Hope on May 25, 1983, and brought with it Lucasfilm's new theater sound quality assurance system: THX. Audiences at special THX-certified theaters were able to experience the acoustic qualities of the film as the filmmaker intended, due to a stringent set of technical requirements and special equipment outlined by the certification. These enhanced frequency and treble response, giving the audience a fully immersive aural experience of the saga's final chapter. Jedi audiences were also the first to witness the now classic "Deep-Note" THX trailer, which has become a fixture of the theatrical experience at many venues.
Like Star Wars and Empire, Jedi brought all sorts of promotional materials to U.S. theater lobbies, including posters, displays, concession premiums, and programs. By the next time a Star Wars movie saw wide release, most of the varied poster formats and all of the lobby cards had fallen out of circulation.
Tickets
With Star Wars hype reaching a crescendo in the summer of '83 and with Jedi seeming a surefire hit before it was even released, benefit organizations, radio promotions, sweepstakes contests and more were all staged ahead of the film to ramp up excitement (and donations). More Jedi preview screening tickets exist on the collectors market today than any other from the classic trilogy, exhibiting a wide range of styles. There are formally-printed cast-and-crew tickets on rag paper with foil-embossed logos, slick cardstock invites for benefit organizations, standard-issue paper stubs with the film title and venue, and some of the first computer-printed examples that are still used today.
Posters
Jedi was the last Star Wars film to offer such a wide selection of poster sizes to theater exhibitors -- inserts, half-sheets, one-sheets, 30x40s, two-sheets, and standees. Theatergoers who had attended films back in December 1982 may have been lucky to spot one of the rare Revenge of the Jedi theatrical teaser posters beneath the "Coming Soon" marquee -- these were quickly sought after by hardcore collectors in the first weeks of 1983, then by the masses after mid-February, when newspapers announced the film title had been changed to Return of the Jedi. Though many lucky recipients may have hoped to retire on the eventual sale of their coveted Revenge poster, no retirement-worthy transactions have been reported to date.
For the film's actual release, the Style "A", or "raised lightsaber" poster was used to herald the Jedi's return. Looking back, its spare composition seems unusual for a Star Wars release poster, since the posters released prior to and since have been predominantly montage. Actually, the raised lightsaber image was borrowed from the first Star Wars poster, isolated and elaborated on to evoke the spirit of the entire trilogy.
The classic artwork montage poster did finally make an appearance later that summer, masterfully composed by Kazu Sano. Interestingly, this was the first Star Wars montage not to include the droids within the composition. The omission would be repeated with the prequel trilogy's final poster submission for Revenge of the Sith.
