Return of the Jedi

10th Anniversary Issue

This seems to be a very confusing issue for some collectors so we wanted to try to untangle it for you.

It all began with the controvery of the original release of Revenge of the Jedi. With the 2 different original Revenge of the Jedi posters recalled and distributed through the Fan Club, the prices started rising rapidly. By the late 1980s the price had skyrocketed and Revenge posters were bringing $500 to 700. Around 1990 a batch of 2000 beautiful 27x41 reproductions were brought in from Japan. Wholesalers were selling the reproductions for $35 and moving them like crazy. At the time, dealers didn't realize that they were so close to the originals. Suddenly, dealers couldn't tell the difference... it caused real panic in the poster collecting industry and crashed the market for the Revenge of the Jedi posters. The 1992 Poster Price Database lists the value of the Revenge poster at $80.

In 1993, Lucas knew, of course, of the controversy and of the poplarity of the original Revenge artwork drawn by Drew Struzan. Lucas issued 2 different styles for the Return of the Jedi 10th Anniversary.

ADVANCE ISSUE

As an advance, Lucas issued the controversial Revenge artwork through Killian Enterprises. But he did it a little different. Here's a chart of the distribution:

Size
Title
Description
27x41
Same artwork with multicolored print for the title. Issued both number and un-numbered posters.
27x41
Same artwork with gold foil lettering.
27x41
Same artwork with gold foil lettering but also has a gold foil Lucas Fan Club tag on the bottom.
27x41
Red Foil Issue
Killian Ent.
Same artwork but Red foil lettering instead of the Gold foil. Only 300 made for executive and friends of Lucas.
27x41
Same artwork but NO lettering at all. Supposedly only 50 were made. Has 'Test Proof' in the bottom border with the other Killian border credits.
27x40
 Same artwork but with gold paint. This was a licensed reprint issued from Germany. Zig Zag credits are across the bottom of the artwork.

IN ADDITION....

There was also a commercial poster of this artwork released through Western Graphics. It was smaller, only measuring about 23x35. This was issued as a set of 3 different.

REGULAR ISSUE

For the regular issue, Lucas pulled out the 2nd place artwork winner from the original artwork contest for Return of the Jedi. It was done by Kazuhuri Sano and printed by Killian Enterprises. To me it's one of my favorites of ALL the Star Wars series posters. Mainly because it has a wide variety of the characters shown on the poster.... (also the only one with the Millinium Falcon on it).