Empire magazine exclusively announced Star Wars: The Phantom Menace is returning to cinemas for its 25th anniversary on 3rd May.

In 1999, anticipation for the first instalment in George Lucas' prequel trilogy was fever pitch and its coverage saturated mainstream media.

Before the release of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, Hasbro interviewed me for a multimedia role and I saw some of the upcoming toys. I anxiously waited for QuickTime trailers to drop online - blocking my parents' landline - as I coded my first website and listened to John Williams' soundtrack on an import CD (remember CDNow?). As with the original Star Wars soundtrack, a major spoiler was contained in a track title: Qui-Gon's Noble End left little to the imagination.

Eventually, I saw Star Wars: The Phantom Menace six times at the Odeon Exeter. Podracing and the climactic duel between Qui-Gon Jinn (Liam Neeson), Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor) and Darth Maul (Ray Park) pulled me back for more. And there were Pepsi cups to collect.

Stay tuned for further coverage of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace’s 25th anniversary.

Are you looking forward to seeing Star Wars: The Phantom Menace on Star Wars Day? Let me know in the comments below.