I first started at the Bemidji (Minn.) Pioneer as an intern in the summer of 1996. That would begin six years as a news reporter, sports reporter and copy editor for a small, six-day-per-week daily newspaper in northern Minnesota. I wrote a large range of stories from multiple beats, to features to sports, my favorite being the coverage of the Red Lake Reservation High School basketball team named the Warriors. Here is a collection of my stories from my time at the Pioneer.
Feb. 4, 1997
By Devlyn Brooks
Staff Writer
Bemidji moviegoers defied the "Force" this weekend while the "Star Wars" movie-induced craze enveloped the rest of the nation, propelling the movie to the top of the box office charts, said Duane Black, Amigo 5 Theaters manager.
Although "Star Wars" sold out one of the movie theater's 11 showings this weekend, he said he failed to see the frenzy other theaters across the nation did.
The second opening of the refurbished film was the top-selling January weekend release ever, according to movie industry figures released Sunday, garnering $36.2 million over the three days.
In fact, the 20-year-old movie, which has been enhanced with special effects and a few new scenes, was only $2 million shy of outselling the other nine movies on the box office top 10 list for the weekend.
Black said people started arriving at Amigo 5 Theaters about 2 p.m. for Friday's opener, which meant they had to stand in line about two hours before the first showing at 4:30 p.m.
Although it is uncommon to see people waiting in line that long for a movie in Bemidji, Black said, other big hits such as "Jurassic Park" have also sold out showings.
"The big movies do sell out," he said. "But the unique thing about this movie is that it is 20 years old, and in this weekend's box office it was almost bigger than the rest put together."
Black said the Amigo probably sold about 1,000 tickets for "Star Wars" this weekend, but it will be determined this week how long the re-released film will be shown here.
More than likely, he said, it will run until the second refurbished film of George Lucas' space trilogy, "The Empire Strikes Back," is released in about four weeks.
In other cities across the nation, people slept outside of theaters the night before the Friday opener assuring themselves a ticket.
In its 1977 release, "Star Wars" grossed $323 million in North America -- then a record and still fourth on the all-time list. The release is expected to push it higher on the list.
(This story includes material from The Associated Press.)
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