My, how things have changed since 1983. That was the year Return of the Jedi hit theaters, and the year that Larry Dewayne Riddick, Jr. decided to make a fortune by stealing the film and selling it to bootleggers who would copy it to newly-popular VHS tapes for profit.
Riddick, 18, stood in the parking lot of the Glenwood Theaters in Overland Park, Kans. and watched as John J. Smith exited the building. Smith was the projectionist; Jedi was finishing its sixth week as the most popular film attraction in the country. It was after midnight. As Smith walked to his car, Riddick came up beside him and flashed a gun. He had come for the movie.
Smith told him roughly 20 people were still inside the theater. Riddick stewed in Smith’s car for 20 minutes, waiting for the last patron to leave. Once inside, he forced Smith to unspool the 70mm film print from the large metal canisters and into a series of portable containers. It took over an hour.
Riddick was far from the only one with the idea of stealing Return of the Jedi from a theater. Read how that case, and others, turned out at mental_floss.