ok so this is not a drill. Star Wars: A New Hope is getting an IMAX 70mm re-release on February 19, 2027, for the film's 50th anniversary, because apparently the powers that be decided we all deserve to suffer emotionally in the largest format possible. USA Today broke the news and I've already started mentally preparing.

Quick context for why this matters, and I'm gonna overexplain this part on purpose. IMAX 70mm is the format everyone lost their minds over during the Oppenheimer run, the one where the prints are physically enormous and theaters need special projectors and only certain locations can even screen it. Rarest, most ridiculous, best way to watch a movie. and now it's pointed at a film from 1977.

February 19, 2027. Write it down. We don't have full technical details yet on what the print will actually look like, and theaters and ticket info are still to come. What we know: it's happening, it's for the 50th, it's IMAX 70mm, and now we have a date.

I keep thinking about how this lines up with everything I wrote about ticket scarcity last month. IMAX 70mm screenings are already scarce by design, there are only so many prints and so many projectors. Add "Star Wars" and "50th anniversary" to that equation and you get a bloodbath. Set your alarms now, is all I'm saying.

I've seen A New Hope more times than I can count. On TV, on laptop, on a decent theater screen once. But watching that opening star destroyer crawl over your head in actual film IMAX, with an audience? that's a pilgrimage. My grandma saw it in theaters in '77 and never shuts up about it (affectionate), and after this I finally might get it.

so there you have it. February 19, 2027. When tickets go live it's going to be instant. May the queue be ever in your favor or whatever.