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Small poster Star Wars
rare original "Reward" poster issued in 1983 regarding the real-life theft of a film print of Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi from a cinema in Hastings, England.
Details of the Incident
Theft Date: The film reels were stolen from the Classic Cinemas in Hastings on Saturday, June 18th, 1983. Thieves reportedly broke down a door to gain access to the cinema.
Purpose of the Theft: The primary goal of such thefts during this era was video piracy. Thieves intended to transfer the 35mm film prints to VHS tapes to sell them illegally before official home video copies were available.
The Reward: Lucasfilm, 20th Century-Fox, and Classic Cinemas offered a £5,000 reward (or about $7,700 USD at the time) for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible.
The Outcome: The stolen print from Hastings resulted in many bootlegged VHS copies being made and sold to the public.
Wider Context: The Hastings incident was one of several thefts of Return of the Jedi prints that occurred across the UK and the US in the summer of 1983. In a separate US incident, a teenager who stole a print was arrested after trying to sell it to undercover FBI agents for $10,000.
The Poster Itself
This specific poster is a unique piece of movie memorabilia. It was printed and displayed to warn the public about the illegal copies circulating and encourage them to report information to the local police or the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), a British organization established that same year to combat intellectual property crime. |
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