The Comic Critic Reviews Star Wars

I kid you not, the first time I heard the words “Star Wars” was when a classmate was looking over my shoulder while I was drawing. He was incredulous that I was drawing a fantasy sci-fi scene without the movie as an inspiration. I was immediately intrigued—and without any forethought tried to see it that night. I had no idea what a huge phenomenon it already was. That first attempt to see Star Wars was thwarted: a sold-out theater. I was stuck listening to odd, muffled noises that wormed their way through the exit doors. When I finally got to see the movie later that year, it was after my entire family, including our live-in foreign exchange student Yuki Okada, had spent the whole afternoon baking under the summer sun. Since everybody has seen Star Wars by now (or should have), I thought I’d tell my lesser-known personal story. Star Wars was so popular that theaters got away with charging extra to see it. Our tickets cost an outrageous $2.75, more than 50¢ higher than the regular price. I saw the success of Star Wars’ ticket prices as a precursor to even higher ones. When I went off to college, ticket prices were firmly entrenched at $3. It says something for the industry that even with the onslaught of video rentals, video games, and online streaming, ticket prices have still crept up. But in all honesty, they barely keep up with inflation. The equivalent of a 1977 dollar today is $3.88.