Star Wars Prequel Fans Can Turn The Phantom Menace Into A Box Office Hit Once Again

The summer movie season kicks off in earnest this weekend as Universal Pictures' "The Fall Guy" arrives. But that's not the only big movie hitting theaters — or should we say returning to theaters: Disney is bringing "Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" back to the big screen in honor of its 25th anniversary. It will also be back in theaters just in time for Star Wars Day. Much has changed in the years since this movie originally debuted, and those changes may help make "Episode I" a hit once again.

Disney is rolling out the red carpet for this re-release of the first entry in George Lucas' "Star Wars" prequel trilogy. It's getting a wide release, a sizable ad campaign, and even a beautiful new poster by artist Matt Ferguson. The majority of moviegoers are likely to flock to "The Fall Guy," which is looking at a box office debut as high as $40 million. But an opening of that size still leaves plenty of room for fans of a galaxy far, far away to fill theaters all around the country as well — and it looks very much like that's what's going to happen.

"The Phantom Menace" previously returned to theaters with a 3D version back in 2012. That edition opened to $22.4 million domestically and went on to pull in $102.7 million globally. While I'm a little skeptical of this latest re-release getting past the $100 million mark, I think a domestic opening in the $20 million range is in the cards. Official tracking numbers have not been revealed, but I can anecdotally say that the majority of primetime showings on Friday in Austin, Texas, where I live, are sold out or very full at chains like AMC and the Alamo Drafthouse. If it's playing just as well in other big cities, "The Phantom Menace" could do much bigger numbers than recent re-releases such as "Shrek 2."

This may bring some real, meaningful business to theaters to help kick off the summer season. We may not have a new "Star Wars" movie to lean on, but nostalgia is doing its thing in this case.

In its original run, "The Phantom Menace" was a once-in-a-generation event that brought a new "Star Wars" movie to the big screen for the first time in more than a decade. It made an astonishing $924 million in 1999, becoming the top-grossing movie of the year. Through its various re-releases over the years, it has since amassed $1.02 billion globally. This is in spite of the fact that critics of the day were quite unkind to the film (to put it mildly).

But the biggest thing that has changed in the last 25 years is a major re-evaluation of the prequel trilogy, particularly from those who grew up with those films and are now adults. In no small part thanks to the much-beloved "The Clone Wars" TV show, the prequel era is now a beloved thing in larger "Star Wars" lore. As such, the fanbase for this movie has only grown. That bodes well for the prospects of this re-release.

Last year, Lucasfilm brought "Return of the Jedi" back to theaters for its 40th anniversary. It pulled in $5.1 million on its first weekend, which was a solid number for a movie that was already well into profits by then. The best-case scenario here would be something in the ballpark of the 1997 "Star Wars" special edition re-releases. That year, "A New Hope" returned to theaters and opened to $35.9 million before pulling in a whopping $138.2 million in total. Again, I would hasten to be quite so bullish on the prospects for "Episode I," but for the younger generation, this might end up feeling like a true cinematic event given that many of them never got the chance to see this movie in a theater. In short? The Force may be strong with this one.

"Star Wars: The Phantom Menace" returns to theaters on May 3, 2024.