Today marks the 25th anniversary of the release of “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” which debuted in cinemas May 19th 1999 and went on to generate an astonishing $1 billion at the box-office.
To celebrate the date, Lucasfilm’s YouTube account has just posted a remastered version of the original teaser trailer which debuted in cinemas in November 1998 attached primarily to copies of “Meet Joe Black” along with a few other films like “The Siege” and “A Bug’s Life”.
It marked the first footage from the film anyone had seen and was a major event. At the time, Dark Horizons was the first to publish screen caps from the trailer prior to release – namely the shot of Neeson and McGregor’s characters in the sub.
The trailer generated a ton of excitement for the film, with the next trailer doing even better – scoring over 1 million downloads within its first 24 hours of release and getting airings across various entertainment shows.
The film recently had a 25th anniversary re-release in cinemas and debuted second place at the U.S. and Canadian box office with $8.8 million and grossed an additional $6.4 million internationally, the film taking in $14.5 million worldwide for that re-release debut weekend.
As this was the final “Star Wars” film to be shot on 35mm film until “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” the remastered trailer here is visually quite distinct from the “Star Wars” of more recent times.
“Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” is on Disney+ now.
