The beat is getting stronger as we enter May and approach the May 19th premiere of the sixth and final installment in George Lucas's cinematic Star Wars saga, Star Wars: Episode 3 Revenge of the Sith, starring Ewan McGregor, Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Ian McDiarmid and Samuel L. Jackson.
Joining the Hollywood crowd, which has already been in line for a month outside Grauman's Chinese Theater, fans from 22 US states and nine foreign countries including Japan, Peru and Brazil, lined up outside NYC's Ziegfeld cinema on Saturday.
Fans are excited yet wistful to see the film that concludes the series. Chris Bergoch told the BBC that "It's kind of bittersweet; it's the last one which makes it more emotional. "You want to look forward to the movie, but then again you almost don't want [to] since there won't be another one again."
As with the Hollywood bunch, the New Yorker's time in line is helping to raise money for the children's charity Starlight Starbright. Sponsors pledge a sum to the charity for every hour that each participant spends in line. Registration to join the line is open until 11:59 p.m. Sunday, May 8 - rules are here.
In other premiere news, last weekend London's Empire Cinema in Leicester Square sold out the 1,000 "Galactic Passports" for a showing of all six Star Wars movies in succession on May 16. The marathon begins at 7 am and concludes with Revenge of the Sith.
We did a little preparation ourselves for the big event, picking up the DVD box set of the original Star Wars films and watching them over the weekend. It had been many many years for me, and though the original '77 film (now called Episode IV, A New Hope) felt a bit thin and clunky, more like an outline than an actual movie, but it set up the mythos for the series and captured the imagination of the world.
Article comments
1 - Eric Berlin
I've always been an Episode Six guy, which usually puts me in the minority.
Best line ever: "It's a trap!"
And yes, the outfit... most fetching...
I'm just beginning to get super amped for Ep 3... the 12-year old in me who grew playing with Y-wing fighters and Hammerhead et al is starting to emerge.
2 - Eric Olsen
why did Skywalker become Vader? That's as central to the mythos as it gets. If it's done well it could be very powerful; or, looking at the last two ...
3 - Eric Berlin
Word is that it's going to be dark as dark can be, which I think is a good thing, and perhaps a great thing. We have a real bad guy, real evil to combat finally, so this time the gloves are off after the kid-friendly Ep I and the middling Ep II (where the second half got better and darker as it went along). The space fight at the beginning of the new film is reported to be off-the-chain.
4 - Mark Sahm
As in real life for most men, love turns Anakin to the dark side.
That and Anakin's desire to choke people by pinching his fingers together.
5 - Eric Olsen
that would be very helpful in traffic
6 - Eric Berlin
Yes, better than the three-day gun...
7 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
aw man, this better deliver. i loved attack of the clones, so probably i'm easily pleased.
i asked a lass to go see this with me the other night. pfft. that was a waste of a sentence.
8 - googie
i love eating chocolate cake and i love looking at the stars
9 - ahhhahha
twinkies rule and i love lamas and napoleon dynomite is the best movie ever and u know it too
10 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
i love talk of neo-realism and also certain colors of under-garment.
looking for human aged 18-90.
11 - Dave Nalle
We have people here in Austin who have been camped out in a line for a month outside of a theatre which has confirmed that they will NOT under any circumstances be showing Revenge of the Sith, however these people are convinced the theatre managment is trying to trick them and they want to make sure they get the first seats on opening night. A theatre which is definitely showing the film even invited them to come line up there, but for some reason they refuse to move.
Dave
12 - Scott Hater 20X6
Star Wars is so awesome, and I just went and camped out in a theatre line for a night, just to see what it was like. They were so nice! They gave us chips and cokes, and they even had some portable DVD players with Eps 1,2,4,5 and 6 on DVD. We even had a guitar player play then Star Wars theme on his guitar! Then, I found this cool guy, who loves Homestar Runner as much as I do, and we watched SW Ep 2 with all of our other pals. It was cool.
13 - Dave Nalle
Of course there is that one great story, HW. Have you heard how when the Guillotine chopped off Louis XVI's head someone in the crowd shouted "Jacques de Molay is Avenged!".
Dave
14 - Kevin
you guys are all f-cking fags. star wars is for fags. everyone who dresses up like star wars characters are fags.
grow up pussies.
15 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
grow up is right. sheesh. hanging around net-sites talking about "fag" and "pussies".
what are you, 13?
what is the crazy nonsense you're yacking?