It happened in 1977

[No_0ne]

I saw Star Wars in a theater in Jackson, Tn. on Day 1, although I'm not sure if it was May 25th or not (Jackson never seemed to be at the forefront of movie distributions).  I was 16, drove there myself, there were maybe 20 people in the theater that night as nobody in that area had ever heard of Star Wars before.  A week later, I drove by the same theater, the line stretched around the block ...

I haven't missed a theatrical release of a Star Wars movie since ...

[analog_kidd]

One of my fondest childhood memories was the day we went to see this movie. We didn't have a lot of money, and so we never went to the movies. This movie was all the rage and everyone I knew was going to it. My family went shopping one evening, and in the shopping center was the theater, and I saw it was playing, and dreamed of a day when I might see it, perhaps for free on TV several years later. 

Well, my sister and I followed our parents down the strip mall, window shopping like we often did. When we came to the theater, my dad asked "You all want to go see this movie?" It was better than Christmas. I'm sure they must have been planning it all along. What an awesome surprise!