Your Ep. II Experience [a few masked spoliers]

[darth_mcbain]

I'm curious to hear what all went on at the theaters and your experiences waiting in line for the premieres. Don't post your opinions of the movie - there's plenty of threads for that...

For me, it was simply incredible. I got there about 9 PM for the midnight show. I was waaaaay back around a couple corners. I figured I'd get a seat way in front or in a corner or something. But one of the coordinaters was having impromptu trivia contests along the line, and if you impressed him, he hooked you up with better seats. When he got to my area, I answered a few questions right - and wham - next thing I know I am first in line. I couldn't believe it!

The line was great, lots of lawn chairs, tents, costumes, lightsabers, radios. Just a heck of a good time. Dominoes donated (or the theater provided - still not sure) about 200 free pizzas to the crowd.

We were all obviously stoked for SW, but just about everyone was also listening to the Avs Sharks game 7 on the radio, and when the Avs won - the whole line erupted!!!

Once we got inside, I scored incredible seats - right in the center!!! Also, due to a last minute seat change with one of the guys in my party, I had an empty seat next to me, which was really nice. They had raffles for prizes, trivia contests, staged lightsaber duels, beach balls flying around. Just an all around great time.

Everyone was incredibly into the movie, and there were the usual assortment of cheers when the opening drumroll started, at the opening crawl, and especially at the death of Jango Fett and the appearance of Yoda

I can honestly say I've never had a better time at a movie than last night!

[Dasquian Belargic]

I went to see a showing after school, almost missed the start infact because of someone driving VERY slowly infront of our car ! >_<

Anyhow, when I get there, there was no one in costume! Very upset at that, I was. However the cinema attendants all had lightsabers, and one girl had Padme's makeup on :)

Anyhoo, it was more interesting afterwards. Everyone was humming the music and people took to the pavement outside with the toy lightsabers to recreate the arena scene :lol

[Jedieb]

My theater had a few people in costume. One guy had a great Stormtrooper outfit. I was surprised at how many people brought toy llightsabers. Two news crews were there interviewing fans. If you were dressed, you got on TV. It was a very festive atmosphere. I hope I get a chance to go again this weekend.

[Beldarine]

I have to say.. where I live sucks. When I went to go see TPM, I lived in Gainesville.. I camped out for tickets.. I camped out for good seats, I dressed up in costume (yes), and there were a ton of others in costume as well.. It was an amazing experience.

Flash forward 3 years.. I live in a podunk area of Florida, and first of all, I have to drive an hour and 15 minutes JUST TO FIND A MOVIE THEATER SHOWING THE MIDNIGHT SHOW OF AOTC. We got there an hour early to ensure we'd get good seats, and we were first in line.. NO ONE WAS THERE. The theater didn't even sell out.. No one was in costume.. It was VERY, VERY disappointing.

I gotta find someplace better to see the third movie.. This town sucks.

[Master Yoghurt]

First, I would like to quote the report at theforce.net, because this is very similar to what I saw (same theatre, same choreography as the day before):

[quote starts]
"Hi, I thought you would like to hear about a charity showing of AOTC in Norway last night.

While waiting outside the theater, we enjoyed watching the hardcore fans all dressed up, several Jedis and Darth Mauls having lightsaber-fights, one guy had made his own neat Jango Fett suit! Then suddenly a huge explosion, and on top of the entrance stood Darth Maul, staring evilly down at us. Then the familiar SW music kicked in, and out marched a horde of Stormtroopers, lining up for the grand entrance of four Imperial Guards, and even the Emperor himself! The crowd went absolutely wild :-).

Then we were allowed inside, and walked in between Stormtroopers on guard. As we came inside, the corridors were pitch dark, we heard only Vaders breathing, and Stormtroopers were lined up along the walls. Truly cool and scary!
Master Yoghurt: While everybody (full house, approx. 1000 people) got seated, the band from the Episode IV Mos Eisley bar (?) played in front of the screen, with various aliens dancing and singing for us. What a great idea! The Stormtroopers came back, the Emperor and Darth Maul entered and sat down right in front, the alarm went off, troopers ran out, sounds of laserfights roared (wow, that was LOUD), in came a Jedi Knight, Darth Maul ran out to face him, and suddenly Maul's head came rolling onto the stage :-).

Oh, and then the movie started, and we went even wilder :-) Plenty of cheering and clapping during the film, but I leave it to others to comment on the film itself. Thanks to everybody who made this evening something special!" [end of quote]


I counted in all 23 stormtroopers that had a special military parade/drill just before the movie started. The Imperial march thundered as they marched. Great build up! The crowd was nuts. A lot of people had costumes. I had the honor of sitting next to a Sith Lord. There were lightsaber battles too.

Ah and about the theatre.. Colosseum is the world's largest THX theatre. It is so huge, it used to carry around 1,500 people before it was upgraded to THX standard a few years ago. The real impressive bit is not the the number of seats though, but the entire scale of the theatre. There is a huge aweinspiring dome on the top. The super beefed up sound system makes sure every seat is a good one. The screen is really, really large. IMO, it has to be one of the best theatres in the world, and I have been to many good ones, including a bunch of IMAX.

The crowd went wild when the Star Wars logo appeared, it was a great mood among the audience. A lot of laughter, applause and cheering. Everyone seemed to love it. The first comment when the credits appeared, of course was "arghh... 3 years to the next one!". Oh, and I did watch the credits all the way to the end of course, and that is quite special coming from someone who just about never bothers to watch those.

All in all, it was an unforgettable experience! :)

[Jedi Master Carr]

Well nobody dressed in costume for my 1:10 show, though I heard there was a lot last night at the theater I went too. Some people did have toy lightsabers though. There was some cheering especially when when Yoda showed up

There was some clapping at the end and some guy said, "Spiderman take that." or something to that affect, I could hear all of what he said.

[darth_mcbain]

At my third viewing, some guy proposed to his girlfriend right before the show right in front of the theater. Everyone was cheering. She said yes...

[CMJ]

Everyone in town is at the Chinese so the Vista(where I saw it) was quite dead. I was the first one there bright and early at 8AM this morning, for the 12:45 show. Talking to some of the fans that arrived subsequent to me was fun as hell. By the time they opened the doors it a line had begun to snake around the block...STILL it asn't like the Grauman's theatre. Actually the Vista was two thrids full...but nothing like the Chinese which is sold out through like SATURDAY now.

[JMK]

4 people in costume at my noon showing, and it was probably 85% full. I lined up for an hour and got the sweet spot in the theater, we wound up being the 10th people into the theater.