Crack that whip said:
Though it's not my favorite of the four (that will always be Raiders of the Lost Ark, I'm sure), it's actually the one I've seen theatrically the most times, at seventeen. That's sixteen Indyvidual screenings back in '89 (fourteen by itself, plus twice more in the double feature Paramount gave it in late summer with Star Trek V: The Final Frontier), plus once more in the AMC marathon in September of 2012, to commemorate the Blu-ray release.
Hi, Crack. It's always nice to see you return to The Raven.
Love your "Indyvidual" remark. Nice one.
Wow! 17 times?!?
The only movies that I've seen that many times in a theatre are 21 "Star Wars" screenings and 15 for "Empire Strikes Back" because those were the days before the home video market and Lucas had said that "Star Wars" would never, ever be shown on TV!
The reasons I saw "Crusade" only 2 or 3 times at the cinema were because:
a) It was VERY DISAPPOINTING & hokey
b) It didn't last very long at the theatres in my area
c) I knew that it would eventually be available on VHS
Which leads me to this:
AndyLGR said:
Something thats easy to forget now, is that back then if you didn't see some something at the cinema you could be waiting a while to watch it again, whether on video rental or on the TV. There was none of this it'll be out in 2 months to buy like there is now.
IndyForever said:
Yeah in the UK it used to take 18-24 months for a VHS release...
AndyLGR said:
Sometimes longer, I rememeber ROTJ took at least 3 years to hit video.
While I do remember those long waiting periods, things had changed by the late '80s. "Crusade" was actually released on home video within c.8 months after its theatrical premiere (which would've been about 4 months after it left the theatres in my area, perhaps even less time in others places with a longer run). The first North American VHS came out in very early 1990 (
my insert for a mail-away offer had an expiry date of April 30th).
This was likely the same for the UK, too, because it was released
twice in 1990 over there. (See
JuniorJones' info here:
Indiana Jones UK VHS releases)