'Star Wars': TBS to Air First Six Original Movies on May 4

Denise Petski
Updated

May the Fourth be with you. Turner’s TBS will air all six original Star Wars movies on Thursday, May 4, a date known around the world as Star Wars Day.

The six Lucasfilm classics will run in order, back-to-back, with limited commercial interruptions over 16-plus hours. The marathon kicks off at 6:40 a.m. (ET/PT) with Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and closes with an 8:15 p.m. telecast of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. You can watch a promo above.

The marathon follows a mega domestic licensing deal between Turner, The Walt Disney Studios and 20th Century Fox last September. The agreements grant TBS and TNT the exclusive linear basic cable and companion ad-supported on-demand rights to the original six films, as well as the network premiere windows for the recent blockbusters Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story; the upcoming Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which hits theaters on Dec. 15; and the following two yet-to-be-released Star Wars films.

TBS plans to make its Star Wars Day marathon an annual television tradition similar to the network’s 24 hours of A Christmas Story, Friends for Thanksgiving and Festivus for the Rest of Us marathons.

Here is the full May 4 schedule (times ET/PT):

6:40 a.m. — Star Wars: The Phantom Menace

9:25 a.m. — Star Wars: Attack of the Clones

12:20 p.m. — Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith

3:10 p.m. — Star Wars: A New Hope

5:40 p.m. — Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

8:15 p.m. — Star Wars: Return of the Jedi

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