If you couldn’t tell by the pictures I posted last week, I went to the midnight showing of Star Wars. Some people might think I must be crazy to squeeze in with the most fanatical of fans just to see a movie, not to mention the sleeping time I was giving up on a weeknight. I’m not a Star Wars, or even a sci-fi, geek but I looked forward to the midnight showing nonetheless.
One could wonder why in the world would I want to subject myself to such craziness, especially considering past experiences with release festivities. Why not wait until the nutters get their fill of the movie first, or even wait until it’s out on DVD?
For me, the actual movie is only half of the theatre adventure. The other half is the audience. I enjoy a movie tenfold more if there is a good audience viewing it with me. A crowd like that will gasp, laugh, and cry with you all in the right places, and I feel an odd sort of connection with them, knowing we are all experiencing the same thing. The right kind of audience will take a collective intake of breath, a kind of half-gasp, when we all hear Darth Vader breathe via his life-sustaining suit for the first time.
This is why I went to the first Star Wars showing, and why I like to attend many movies the first weekend they are out: the audience is more likely to be as enraptured by the movie as I am. They, like me, are so interested in seeing the movie that they will brave the opening weekend crowd. This effect is even more noticeable when you’re talking about a highly-anticipated movie sequel with a huge fan base. So huge, in fact, that many dress up for the show. You know you’ve got a good audience when half of them have adorned themselves with costumes of the movie’s characters.
And so it is with Star Wars. Everyone was pleasant and laid-back, plus Ken knew a bunch of them from classes so they let me take pictures. It seems Carmike learned a wise lesson from the Hannibal fiasco, so they were well-organized and started seating us a full two hours before the movie started. Now that’s class!
Once seated, we settled in with our fellow geek comrades and took out our toys to amuse ourselves. Some waved their flashing lightsabers at each other, others took delight from their Nintendo DSes and PSPs, and a good seven or eight people in front of me played games on their cell phone — one guy had a cool bowling game going on. I, playing the music nerd in this story, waggled my foot to Ben Folds singing to me through my iPod. We were definitely in the crowd where we belonged.
Soon, the Balloon Guy from Niffer’s dropped by to regale the moviegoers with his mad lightsaber-balloon making skillz. It was even more amusing to see how high up he could toss them while the crowd hooted and cheered him on. I got a big red one. As the time got closer to midnight the fans got a bit more antsy and began to check their cell phone clock every minute or so. I could feel the excitement in the room; everyone was ready for the show.
Finally, it was midnight, and they only made us suffer through one movie preview before the screen got dark and the little blue words appeared: “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away . . .”
Quiet, quiet, quiet, whispers, then “Star Wars” blazed across the screen along with the trumpet-blaring theme coursing through the speakers; the whole audience let out a big cacophony of hoots and yelps; their wait was over. I smiled and leaned back, knowing I was going to enjoy the movie; I knew it was going to be a good audience.