The perfect storm:

Wife and daughters leave down on girls' trip Friday morning at 10 a.m.
Star Cinema Grill begins showing The Empire Strikes Back Friday morning at 11:40 a.m.

I try to let them go 24 hours just to be fair. I try to get them online between 7-9 a.m. because by 9:15 a.m. everyone is sick of being at work and goes on TexAgs.

I introduced my girls to the 1960 version of Swiss Family Robinson on DIsney+ the last couple of days and couldn't help thinking a couple of scenes looked straight out of the OT.

Looking on IMDB confirmed it - Lucas was a huge fan of the film apparently and paid homage to with the dianoga scene in the trash compactor mirroring a fight between two of the Robinson boys vs. an anaconda as well as the log-rolling of the AT-ST in ROTJ coming from a very similar log-roll trap the Robinsons spring on the pirates at the end of the movie.

Also, the director of SFR is Ken Annakin.

Going to see ESB in a couple of hours Will post a full review later.

I've heard good things.

please remember to use spoiler tags

It had trailers for Black Widow, Maverick, and Tenet on it that I had previously not seen with updated release dates for all three.

ESB made $175,000 on Friday at the box office. Expected to hit $400K-$500K this weekend.

https://ew.com/movies/the-empire-strikes-back-top-grossing-film-box-office-40-years-after-original-release/

Also, I just realized the smaller theater in my town is playing ESB today as well. Only $2 a pop.

I know what I'm doing today.

(This will be my first ever theatrical experience for an OT movie!)

If you are COVID free and can make time, I would really recommend going to see Empire at your cinema. My brother and I had an absolute blast on Friday - there were only 4 other people there so we were able to talk at reasonable volume throughout, reminiscing and cracking jokes "Why does General Veers stand so close behind Vader on the Star Destroyer?"

Getting to watch it wall to wall with the person I have enjoyed Star Wars with my entire life felt really special. My brother and I probably saw each other 2-3 times a week when we were in our 20s and early 30s, but now we live 20-25 miles apart and always seem way too busy to make time outside of texts and email. We've talked about doing some sort of sci/fi - fantasy podcast for years but can never get the ball rolling.

Anyway, even better they showed the Special Edition, not the DVD version with Luke's long wail during the fall in Cloud City. Empire seems to have the least amount of stuff added, other than the cringy "Why didn't you use James Earl Jones' voice" for "Alert my Star Destroyer to prepare for my arrival"

We talked about what it felt like that first time in the theater when you realize that this little green gnome is actually Yoda, then seeing him lift the X-wing, then Vader's revelation. And about lesser moments that add so much to the mythos - Leia hearing Luke's call through the Force. Han Solo drawing down on Vader without a second's hesitation, Luke using the Force to move an object for the first time, etc.

And the brilliance and boldness of having the sequel to the most popular movie of all time having its main character mostly getting his ass kicked for 2 hours.

Man I missed the theater!

Waiting on my showing to start.