This Star Wars movie marathon is 9 movies and 25 hours long. Here’s how I plan to survive

Here we go again.

Starting Wednesday night, I will disappear into the deep, dark heart of a movie theater to partake in a 25-hour, nine-film Star Wars movie marathon at the Megaplex Theatres in leading up to the release of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.”

That’s right. The marathon will include all nine films from the Skywalker saga, and I will be watching them back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back-to-back, which will include “The Rise of Skywalker.”

And yes, I plan to revise or rework my full power rankings for the Star Wars films. Below you’ll find my temporary power rankings.

Details: The marathon event begins on Wednesday, Dec. 18, at 6 p.m. Participants will receive a bucket of unlimited popcorn and a cup for unlimited soda. There’s also promise of a midnight snack.

My history: This isn’t my first rodeo with marathons. I’ve experienced two so far. One of them pushed my body to its extreme limits and the other was a soft but impactful experience.

• Marvel: You may recognize me from my work on the Marvel movie marathon. It was a 61.5-hour test of my strength to stay awake and breathe normal air. I watched all 22 Marvel films in the lead-up to “Avengers: Endgame.” I ate buckets of popcorn. The air reeked of smelly feet. People were sleeping on the floor. It was a mess. But it was wicked fun. It caught the attention of CNN, which interviewed me about it on one of its weekend programs.

• Toy Story: Megaplex Theatres hosted a Toy Story marathon in honor of the release of “Toy Story 4.” It was a much simpler marathon. Four movies compared to 22 is no sweat. The films were short. But it was a grind. There were few breaks in between each film. I had to rush around to get to the next movie. Just insanely difficult. But it was fun and definitely didn’t put me to sleep as easily.

Schedule: Here’s a full breakdown of the schedule.

• 6 p.m. — Check in
• 7 p.m. — “Episode I: The Phantom Menace”
• 9:30 p.m. — “Episode II: Attack of the Clones”
• 11:50 p.m. — Break
• 12 a.m. — “Episode III: Revenge of the Sith”
• 2:35 a.m. — “Episode IV: A New Hope”
• 4:35 a.m. — Breakfast break
• 5:35 a.m. — “Episode V: Empire Strikes Back”
• 7:50 a.m. — “Episode IV: Return of the Jedi”
• 10 a.m. — Lunch break
• 11 a.m. — “Episode VII: The Force Awakens”
• 1:30 p.m. — “Episode VIII: The Last Jedi”
• 4 p.m. — Dinner break
• 5 p.m. — “Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker”

My plan: The Star Wars marathon doesn’t hold anything back. It’s going to be hard to see some of the best films since they run so early. “Revenge of the Sith” and “A New Hope” run from about midnight until 4:30 a.m. That is a tough stretch. I need to stay awake during those. So what will I do?

• I plan to let myself drift in and out of sleep during “The Phantom Menace” and “Attack of the Clones.” Those are two of the worst Star Wars movies, so it won’t hurt to miss much of them. And it may give me the boost I need to stay awake during “Revenge of the Sith” and “A New Hope.”
• The midnight break comes in handy. It’ll give me the proper break before those two awesome movies drop.
• I’m not too worried about the rest of the schedule. It’s nice how these films are blocked off. “Phantom Menace” and “Attack of the Clones” pair nicely, as do “Sith” and “A New Hope.” The combo of “Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” will be an excellent back-to-back. And then seeing “Force Awakens” and “Last Jedi” will be fun, too, since those films take place minutes apart from each other.
• Soda and popcorn will play a role, too. In the Marvel marathon, I wanted to have two buckets of popcorn per day to make the investment count. For this marathon, I am aiming to eat one bucket of popcorn for every two-film block, plus one final bucket during “Rise of Skywalker.” I also plan to fill up my soda cup for each two-hour block.
• This will be my first marathon without braces, too. So that’ll make eating popcorn much easier.

Rankings: OK, here we go. What are my Star Wars rankings? Well, let’s do this. You’re going to hate me for it. Tweet me.

1. “Empire Strikes Back”
2. “Revenge of the Sith”
3. “Return of the Jedi”
4. “A New Hope”
5. “The Last Jedi”
6. “The Force Awakens”
7. “Attack of the Clones”
8. “The Phantom Menace”

Updates: I will be updating my progress on Twitter with the hashtag #RiseOfScribner and on Deseret.com in a live blog. I will share my review and thoughts on the films as often as I can. Those who have watched me in previous marathons know the drill. So yes, feel free to follow me on Twitter and join me in this quest to see the Skywalker saga in full. I will be tweeting so many Star Wars GIFS.