As part of the movie’s 40th anniversary celebrations, Star Wars: Return of the Jedi will be back on the big screen this month.
Return of the Jedi has hit a major milestone this year, with the final film in the original Star Wars trilogy celebrating its 40th anniversary. Episode IV was released on June 2, 1983 and completed George Lucas’ epic saga at the time. Now, four decades on, the movie is heading back to the big screen for a limited run, complete with a new poster commemorating the event.
Lucasfilm announced at Star Wars Celebration Europe 2023 that Return of the Jedi will be available to watch in theaters (or cinemas) in the US from April 28 to May 4 and in the UK from April 28 to May 1. The film last received an official re-release 26 years ago as part of the Star Wars Trilogy: Special Edition in 1997 and included a number of controversial changes and additions, such as a Jabba’s palace musical number, the Sarlacc’s beak and revised end celebrations.
For Return of the Jedi’s 40th anniversary, artist Matt Ferguson was also commissioned to create a striking new poster, shown above. In discussing the artwork with the official Star Wars website, Ferguson said, “I’m so happy and grateful to get to work on these movies again, even more so to be given the freedom to continue what I started with Empire.” He went on to say, “For that poster, a cold mechanical vibe completely takes over the whole composition. But Return of the Jedi is very much the triumph of Luke and the Rebels, so I wanted to have more of the warmer colors coming back into the art, hence pivoting to green with red accents.”
Images: Star Wars
