Six Years Later I'm Finally Ready To Talk About What 'The Rise Of Skywalker' Premiere Was Like, And It Was ... Weird
I've been thinking about that day a lot recently, December 16, 2019 ... now, somehow, over six years ago. Obviously a lot happened in the coming months right after that day that would overshadow just "seeing a bad movie." There was something both innocent and sad about the whole endeavor, in what would wind up being one of the weirdest night's of my life, just from the circumstances alone. I mean, right off the bat, attending a Star Wars movie premiere isn't a normal thing to do, even in my line of work. In fact, this is the only one I've ever been to. And, at least up until now (which will change soon with the release of The Mandalorian & Grogu), it's somehow still the last one to ever happen.
The premiere was held in the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, which, yes, is where the Oscars take place. This theater is in a mall. Like, seriously. I realize people who live in Los Angeles already know this (I do not live in Los Angeles; I live in New York City), and I have been told this fact before, but I think I always assumed this was some sort of exaggeration. Like, it was just close to a mall. Nope, the Oscars literally take place at a mall. Right before the actual movie started, J.J. Abrams came on stage to give some remarks and he seemed visibly anxious. At least from my perspective, this was not a director who looked or sounded confident about what he was about to show an enthusiastic crowd. I remember he used the word "hope" a lot. In that he hoped we liked it and he hoped they made a good movie. It was, frankly, an auspicious start.
(This is technically a "May the Bridges I Burn Light the Way" post for paid subscribers, and I do promise the paid subscribers to The Hard Pass some content just for them, so this is that. If you are on the fence about continuing, I can tell you this piece is over 2100 words long. So, if you do subscribe, you aren't being tricked into paying for just one more paragraph or something like that.)
