This is topic Moron is waiting at theatre for 22 weeks for Episode III in forum Film-Yak at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=8;t=003806

---

Posted by Richard Greco (Member # 2032) on 01-07-2005, 12:52 AM:
 
This guy is nuts
forgot what site it was from...

--------------------------------------------------------

'I'm Having The Time Of My Life Out Here'

January 5, 2005

By Corwin Haeck

SEATTLE - Are you ready for Star Wars: Episode Three? Don't get excited just yet, the new movie doesn't open until May.

But for one Seattle fan, it's never too early, or too cold, to start the wait.

Jeff Twieden doesn't care that it's freezing outside. He's camping out in front of the Cinerama Theater in downtown Seattle, waiting for Episode Three to open. It's only 22 weeks away.

"I've got another sleeping bag coming, so that's sleeping bag number three," he says. "It's better to be too hot than too cold."

In 1999, Twieden made international headlines when he and another fan camped out for months in this same spot to see the first of George Lucas' prequel trilogy.

"A lot of people say 'Get a life,' stuff like that. But I'm having the time of my life out here."

Twieden thinks prequel episodes one and two were a mixed bag, but he can sum up the potential of Episode Three in one word.

"Vader, baby. Vader."

In the film, the villainous Darth Vader makes his first onscreen appearance in over 20 years.

"We all want to see Vader kick some ass," he says.

There's a potential problem in the long wait. Twieden isn't even sure Episode Three will play the Cinerama.

"That's the assumption I'm going on," he says. "If it isn't, I'll be more than happy to move to a different theater. It's really about the wait."

Rain or shine, through sleet or snow, the wait will last another 134 days.

"Star Wars is about independence and freedom," Twieden says. "And that's really what this wait is about. That complete and utter independence."

For More Information:

waitingforstarwars.blogspot.com
 

---

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-07-2005, 01:39 AM:
 
Dude, you better think of where you found that article and post a link, or Mr/Ms. Mod will slap you up.
 

---

Posted by Jim Ziegler (Member # 86) on 01-07-2005, 02:06 AM:
 
Waiting 22 weeks for star wars? Isn't that enough to get you committed to the loony bin?
 

---

Posted by Adam Martin (Member # 641) on 01-07-2005, 03:22 AM:
 
Somebody needs to call his mom and tell her he's not at band camp all winter like he said.
 

---

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 01-07-2005, 04:59 AM:
 
Bizarrely, there seems to be a whole tribe of Star Bores loons. Just before I left the theatre business we showed the first of the new lot, and we even had people coming in (usually they were either teenage kids or middle-aged men - a worrying combination if you ask me!) asking if we were showing the trailer, and with what film. We considered sticking the trailer (of which we only had one print, that was delivered and had to be returned separately by recorded delivery) on the front of some real turkeys and advertising the fact, just to drum up business.
 

---

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 01-07-2005, 07:45 AM:
 
An Open Letter to the Star Wars "fan":

Dear Sir,

You are not a Jedi Knight. Luke Skywalker is not going to walk off of the screen to ask for your help in a light saber battle. You will never see a real Death Star and you will never meet Darth Vader for a latte at Starbucks. It is all fiction. It is just a movie. It's sole purpose is to make money, not to present the untimate truth. George Lucas does not care that you are out there and neither should anyone else.

You are an adult. An adult should be contributing something back to the universe, through work, charity or just making the world, in some small way, a better place. Your loitering does none of that. It is a waste of human time and I regret that you feel this is a worthwhile endeavor.

Your "quest" is no longer amusing. It is very sad...sad in that an adult has decided that sitting in the same place for 22 weeks is a noble cause. You say that this is about independence. With independence comes responsibility. Jedi Knights DO noble things. They don't sit back and watch the world go by.

Time will pass, as it always does. False excitement will build until the picture opens, then you will sit in a dark room with a few hundred people and then, you will leave. This movie will not change your life, nor make it better in any way...it is simply a trifling entertainment. It will amuse you for about 2 hours and then disgorge you into the lobby of life. The world will keep turning, life will go on, and you, sir, will be quickly forgotten.

Please, just go away.

Mark Lensenmayer
 

---

Posted by Jeremy Fuentes (Member # 2135) on 01-07-2005, 07:50 AM:
 
Yeah, what he said.
 

---

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 01-07-2005, 10:06 AM:
 
Maybe Jeff Twieden thinks he's going to score with some hot chicks over this stunt. Yeah. I can just imagine the pickup line:

Twieden:
"hey babe, I waited outside a theater for 5 months so I could be first in line to see the next 'Star Wars' prequel. Aren't you impressed?"

Hot Chick:
"F**k off, geeky loser!"
 

---

Posted by Eric Hooper (Member # 1730) on 01-07-2005, 11:12 AM:
 
He's gonna be pissed when other people buy tickets on Fandango from the warm comfort of their own home, and then they let the Fandango line in first! LOL
 

---

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 01-07-2005, 12:35 PM:
 
HAHAHA! What a dork. I have pictures of my theater back in 1999 when the line wraped around the building for two days. By three hours before advance tickets went on sale, the front met the back!!

This guy reminds me of a clip I saw of Triumph the Insult Comic Dog talking to people waiting outside the Ziegfeld for Episode II.

Watch it here: http://www.milkandcookies.com/stuff/triumphvsw.asx

Be warned, it's about 10 minutes long but WORTH IT...

....FOR ME TO POOP ON!

=TMP=
 

---

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 01-07-2005, 12:58 PM:
 
If you dress up as a movie character and then go out in public like that to stand in line to see a movie, you'll probably wind up on some secret blacklist banning you from sex for at least a decade.

Maybe there might be an exception in the case of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." In that event, you might be getting laid right after the movie, or even right there in the movie theater!
 

---

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 01-07-2005, 01:21 PM:
 
Well, the Seattle Cinerama is a nice theater- I flew there from California to see 2 movies! This guy ought to just see whatever's playing there right now though instead of wait outside.
 

---

Posted by Jon Miller (Member # 163) on 01-07-2005, 02:34 PM:
 
This guy is definitely a moron!

Some of us don't have enough time to take care of everything that needs to be done for work, school, home, etc. And here is this guy waiting for five months to see a movie that probably won't be worth standing in line five minutes for. This has to be the worst case of misplaced priorities...
 

---

Posted by Christopher Seo (Member # 7) on 01-07-2005, 02:56 PM:
 
Hmm, was that guy waiting in 2002 also, for Ep II? If so, I met him and have his autograph (and the autograph of whoever else was waiting there).

It's actually a pretty sweet deal, a stunt like that. The day I visited the Seattle Cinerama back in January '02, a photographer from Der Spiegel was there to see them, and they mentioned a company giving them free highspeed Internet access.

Can't say I want to see Ep III that badly, though. Or at all.
 

---

Posted by Darren Crimmins (Member # 1116) on 01-07-2005, 05:39 PM:
 
This moron ought to just get a part time job at the theater if he is just going to sit out there. Make sure he is scheduled for that opening shift the day the movie opens, go in with all the other workers before the public gets in. When the movie starts, he can go in and watch it, and then afterwards, quit. The least he could do is make a little money instead of being a complete loser and sitting outside.
 

---

Posted by Matthew Peters (Member # 1495) on 01-07-2005, 07:14 PM:
 
Full story... http://www.komotv.com/stories/34678.htm


 

---

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 01-07-2005, 07:16 PM:
 
Highspeed internet is about $40-50. What is so cool about getting that by sitting outside a theatre? That is a pretty bad deal really. What is he going to do with it when he is sitting outside the theatre all the time anyway? Did they give him wireless access and a notebook with a really long extension cord too?
 

---

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 01-07-2005, 08:19 PM:
 
He's all excited about Darth Vader being in the third one and kicking ass. I hope someone informs him that Vader is supposedly only in the film for 2 or 3 minutes at the end.
 

---

Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 01-08-2005, 12:11 AM:
 
I wonder what Lucas thinks of people like this. And I wonder if say Lucas told these people to get a life what they would think.
 

---

Posted by Phil Hill (Member # 371) on 01-08-2005, 12:37 AM:
 

quote: Tom Procyk

---

Triumph the Insult Comic Dog talking to people waiting ... for Episode II

---

quote: Mike Heenan

---

I wonder what Lucas thinks of people like this. And I wonder if say Lucas told these people to get a life what they would think.

---

quote: Michael Schaffer

---

...SNL episode with William Shatner at the Star Trek convention where he tells the fans to get a life and move out of their parents' basement and they all get really upset.

---

Hahahhaha... that's right, Mike. Another excellent parody on the losers that have no life... I love it!
 

---

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 01-08-2005, 02:17 AM:
 
Obviously this guy has no job, no friends, and no purpose in life other than to wait in line. He obviously has no ambition to get a job or friends and probably somehow thinks that this is his main claim to fame. He is easily entertained if waiting in line for months constitutes as having "the time of his life".

He should be shot and then fed to hyper, screaming monkeys that are being constantly shocked by electric currents.
 

---

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 01-08-2005, 04:30 AM:
 
How about e-shocking him first and then feeding him to the screaming monkeys while still alive?
 

---

Posted by Mike Heenan (Member # 392) on 01-08-2005, 10:46 AM:
 
Yeah that SNL sketch was hilarious!
 

---

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 01-08-2005, 01:18 PM:
 
I'm surprised someone doesn't just beat the out of him while he sleeps... like a hobo.

=TMP=
 

---

Posted by Aaron Mehocic (Member # 15) on 01-08-2005, 04:52 PM:
 
He is not going to score with any chicks like Bobby suggests simply because after sleeping on a side walk for 22 weeks one could only imagine what he will smell like.

I think all of you are missing the bigger picture here . . . SEATTLE . . . enough said.
 

---

Posted by Bruce McGee (Member # 131) on 01-10-2005, 07:11 AM:
 
Local TV here (was not paying attention which station) ran this story a few minutes ago. The news anchor shook her head and laughed. Scary.

And I thought that I had no real life. Gee.
 

---

Posted by Paul Howard (Member # 1706) on 01-10-2005, 07:25 AM:
 
Episode 1 and 2 are both completeley shit and belong in a wheelie bin, obviously Episode 3 will belong in the same place, so in fairness you have to salute the guys ability to hold out hope in the sheer certainty of badness.
but then again he is probably an unemployed vegetable who thinks, well, erm nothing.

paul
 

---

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 01-10-2005, 07:27 AM:
 
What's a wheelie bin?

=TMP=
 

---

Posted by Paul Howard (Member # 1706) on 01-10-2005, 07:56 AM:
 
Sorry, it is a bin with wheels.

Like a small dumpster

That is what our useless council here in our part of liverpool are calling bins these days.

Take care Paul
 

---

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 01-10-2005, 11:15 AM:
 
A wheelie bin:



You could also put Star Bores 1 & 2 in a skip:


 

---

Posted by Carl Martin (Member # 1146) on 01-11-2005, 05:46 AM:
 
ha, i thought that forkelevator was going to try to lift the skip. i see now it's just dumping some trash into it.
 

---

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 01-27-2005, 07:39 AM:
 
Now the Star Wars guy has a blog:

Star Wars Moron's Blog

There are some very weird things there, including someone who thinks Jeff "will be in my own personal top 5 list of the most creative and uniquely powerful individuals I have ever met."

I guess we're supposed to be impressed with a blog. That's no big deal, any more. Even my DOG has a blog.
 

---

Posted by Paul Howard (Member # 1706) on 01-27-2005, 09:20 AM:
 
The website proves, This is the most pathetic man in the universe and he will die very lonely.

Its a judgement call and im making it.
 

---

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 01-27-2005, 09:55 AM:
 
I believe I've admitted this here before, but...

For Episode I, I took two weeks off from work to go scout around and find a suitable theater to see the movie, then camp out for tickets. (I wasn't working in a theater at the time.) I ended up finding one and spending two days outside the theater, sleeping in a tent, although I didn't get much sleep. Of course, I wasn't the only one there, there were about fourty people there overnight, playing games, watching movies (the theater provided us with an extension cord and their little TV/VCR thing that they used for training), listening to music, cooking hamburgers, etc. We were on at least three radio stations, and three TV stations in the course of two days. One TV station focused their traffic camera on us during their AM news report, and we saw it on our little TV and started waving. It was an absolute blast, and I'll never forget it.

So speaking from experience, while I may be slightly crazy to some of you, I think I can safely say that this guy is slightly crazier than I am.
 

---

Posted by Dean Kollet (Member # 1789) on 01-27-2005, 09:55 AM:
 
something tells me that the girls are not 'flocking' to this guy....
 

---

Posted by Kurt Zupin (Member # 2751) on 01-27-2005, 11:23 AM:
 
You are right Dean...there not flocking to him...well not anymore that is.

HOT NEWS, IDIOT WAITING FOR STARWARS GET REMOVED FROM THE PROPERITY BY SEATLLE POLICE DEPARTMENT.

Dateline January 27,2005
Star Wars Saga
Be warned, the Man is watching you . Star Wars fan, Jeff Tweiten, was removed by police from the sidewalk in front of the Cinerama Theatre in Seattle. 27-year-old Tweiten and his mini-camp had been sitting outside for 139 days straight in anticipation of the release of "Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" in theatres on May 19, and had not been booted because there had been no complaints. But according to SPD spokesman Sean Whitcomb, an anonymous caller did complain. "So the individual (Tweiten) was provided with a copy of the (no sit/no lay) ordinance, the individual was given a verbal admonition and told that, if he did not move, the individual would be cited the next day," Whitcomb said.

With a sleeping bag, finger-thawing cups of java and other supplies from friends, the Seattle artist had hoped to stay put until the opening much as he had for "Episode I" and "Episode II." But by a single anonymous complaint, the jig was up for Tweiten's stake-out. Three police officers and a traffic engineer arrived to assess the setup, Tweiten said. They told him he was blocking a pedestrian right-of-way, but said it very cordially. "They told me they didn't really want to do it. In fact, one said they felt like asses," Tweiten claimed. Tweiten's back up plan was to call Diamond Parking and see if he could relocate to a nearby lot. No luck.

Tweiten doesn't blame the officers, but he's disappointed in a city that he says has become so humorless and controlling that it can't tolerate a little color. Some who've noticed Tweiten's removal agree. "Seattle did its best to drive out the characters that made the city what it was," Scot Ranney said. "In the '80s and '90s Seattle turned from a city of art and interest to a city of Microsoft and dot-com money. A city of people who look at their toes instead of at people as they run down the sidewalks making sure they're not late for their Starbucks luncheon with others ... who think the acquisition of money and power is what life's all about." That's why Ranney and a lot of others moved to Bellingham in the past 15 years, he said. "With people who wanted to find a community that embraces their individualism."

Others insist that the law is the law. If homeless people are told to move along and not sit or sleep on sidewalks and in doorways, then why should a "Star Wars" fan be an exception just because he's a paying customer who is helping to promote a big-money movie? Still others simply see Tweiten as a self-indulgent slacker who ought to be working.

What they don't know, Tweiten says, is that he does work, saves his money and gives a whole lot of it away to charities. "I make enough money to be able to do this," he said. "But I also challenge the idea that you're wasting your time if you're not stuck in a cubicle all day."

But Seattle, in fact the world, hasn't seen the last of Jeff Tweiten. He plans on returning to the sidewalk before the Cinerama Theatre tomorrow -- on his own two feet.

Standing? Until May 19?

There's a long tradition in America of waiting in lines for openings, Tweiten reminded. For tickets for sports events, concerts, Ichiro bobble-heads, the sighting of a superstar. Tweiten's own grandmother used to camp out in front of the Silverdale Mall to be first in line for the opening of a sale.

To his credit, Tweiten did try to apply and pay for a street use permit, but the Department of Transportation turned him down.

"What next? Will we be denied the right of assembly?" Tweiten asked. "Then let's not have voting anymore. Let's just have the lawyers decide like they're doing in the governor's race." By this point Tweiten was pretty fired up. And he may need that zeal if he's going to literally make a stand. "I figure I can stand 16 hours a day if I take little breaks," he said. He admits it won't be comfy or easy but just the idea of being told he can't be out there fuels his motivation. "This time I'll either leave in shackles or an aid car," Tweiten vowed. "And, as soon as I get out of the hospital, I'll be back."

May the Force be with Jeff Tweiten.

This guy goes on the what an idiot list that seems to be evergrowing this week. I bet the "anonymous" person was the theater manager calling about the horrible aroma comming from out side his theater door. If he has enough money to just give it to charity then Jeff you can send $100 a day to Kurt Zupin 111 1/1.......
 

---

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 01-27-2005, 12:19 PM:
 

quote: Kurt Zupin

---

There's a long tradition in America of waiting in lines for openings, Tweiten reminded. For tickets for sports events, concerts, Ichiro bobble-heads, the sighting of a superstar.

---

quote: Michael Schaffer

---

I don't think there will be too long lines anyway when the movie comes out.

---

quote: Kurt Zupin

---

That's why Ranney and a lot of others moved to Bellingham in the past 15 years, he said. "With people who wanted to find a community that embraces their individualism."

---

Wait a minute. I don't want these hippies in my city!

For what it's worth, Seattle is a testing ground for WiMax wireless broadband, which works over about a 3 mile radius with no line of sight restrictions. Not sure if this guy was on board with this, but I just wanted to stick it to Joe.
 

---

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 01-28-2005, 09:16 AM:
 

quote: Joe Redifer

---

Wireless internet doesn't have that kind of range.

---

I have a Verizon Wireless Broadband PCMCIA card for my laptop. It's basically a cell phone that dials into the Verizon cellular network and gives me broadband speed when I'm inside the city and normal dial up speed when I'm anywhere else.

Or were you talking about Dean's new 802.11p protocol?
 

---

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 01-28-2005, 11:56 AM:
 
At first, I thought this guy was a dork/nerd what have you. But now that all this is involved, I think I've changed my mind.

He wasn't hurting anybody! Unless he was on private property (the theater) and keeping their business away. Let the kid have his fun. Everyone else is just jealous because they're OLD and have to WORK and have had all of the FUN and EXCITEMENT of life sucked out of them by a timeclock. Well guess what, it sucks to be you!! I bet this "anonymous" person was just looking for some gratification in the fact that THEY don't have the time or imagination to pull a stunt like this. At least he got his 15 min of fame!

Just like that one guy that starved himself in a glass box in the UK a while back. People threw things at him, swore at him... and what the fuck for? Just because he's doing something YOU think is stupid means that IT SHOULD NOT be allowed. UGH!

Reminds me of those old ladies that used to sit on the front porch when I lived in Chicago. Just sitting there waiting for one of us to ride by on a bike so they can yell at us. THOSE kinds of people... not the ones who "waste time" having fun but those who waste time preventing fun... are the true dorks/nerds/assholes in a different sense. Sitting in line day after day at least has a purpose in the end.

=TMP=
 

---

Posted by Michael Schaffer (Member # 1204) on 01-28-2005, 01:51 PM:
 

quote: Thomas Procyk

---

Let the kid have his fun. Everyone else is just jealous because they're OLD and have to WORK and have had all of the FUN and EXCITEMENT of life sucked out of them by a timeclock.

---

So your idea of fun and excitement of life would be sitting in front of a movie theatre for a couple of months? You're a real adventurer!
 

---

Posted by Thomas Procyk (Member # 1170) on 01-28-2005, 02:04 PM:
 
No. My idea of fun would be to go INSIDE a theater and see if I could sneak up to the booth to see what kind of setup they have. See? Different kind of "dork" but the same kind of marginal "legality" as this "stunt."

And yes, you must sneak into the booth. Asking for forgiveness is easier than asking for permission.

=TMP=
 

---

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 04-01-2005, 05:58 PM:
 
Look out, LA. They are in line at the Chinese!

Chinese Theatre Moron Line
 

---

Posted by Jesse Skeen (Member # 586) on 04-01-2005, 10:08 PM:
 
Walk by 'em and tell them that Darth Vader turns out to be Luke Skywalker's father
 

---

Posted by Christian Volpi (Member # 2370) on 04-02-2005, 02:12 PM:
 
Don't these people have jobs?
 

---

Posted by James R. Hammonds, Jr (Member # 673) on 04-02-2005, 02:56 PM:
 
Does it matter?
 

---

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 04-04-2005, 08:09 PM:
 
Well, it looks like the new STAR WARS film will NOT be playing at the Chinese after all. Fox has it booked into the Arclight.

Oh, Boo, Hoo, George is Being Mean to Us!!!

Here is a quote from the head liner:

quote:

---

I just got off the phone with my contact at Mann Corporate. It is indeed officially NOT booked and with no plans for booking, as the GM had told me earlier today.

She said that our line actually came up in their meeting today, but the decision had been made about a week ago. She then forwarded me to the CEO of Mann where I spoke to the CEO's secretary as he had already left.

She said that they didn't have too much say in it and that the ultimate decision to play the movie at the Arclight came from 20th Century Fox. So if we need to do some persuading, it's with Fox that we need to do so, or by the press putting the pressure on them by showing us out there.

That's all there is for now on this. Any new developments that come my way, I'll let you know.

---

quote: Mark Lensenmayer

---

looks like the new STAR WARS film will NOT be playing at the Chinese after all.

---

quote:

---

...diehard Star Wars fans (i.e. lifelong virgins)...

I can only imagine what Triumph the Insult Comic Dog would to have to say about this group.

"Which one of these buttons calls your parents to pick you up?"

...

What kills me about the "nerds" waiting in line for Star Wars prequels is they are such posers.

When Empire came out, people waited in line days in advance because it was the only sure way to get in on opening night.

Today, you can buy your tickets on-line in advance and show up just as the previews are starting. There is no reason to camp out for seats other than pretending to be as "hard core" of a fan as those who slept out for the original movies in '77, '80 and '83.

Hey, you in the Jedi robes! Here's a clue: Real nerds will have already seen the illegal torrent file of the movie before you even get in the theater anyway. There's no geek-cred to be won simply by being the "first" to see the new movie, and all of the prequels are lame anyway. Go home and take a shower.

...

"The telling thing is -- for me, at least -- if the film is not playing at the Chinese ... I have zero desire to see it at all," a fan who calls himself Obi Geewhyen posted on the message board at Liningup.net. "I'm in it for the lineup only and don't give a darn about the conclusion of this lackluster, so-called 'Star Wars' series."

...

(323) 462-9609

This is the number to the payphone outside of Grauman's Chinese Theater.

...

The line is more fun than the movie, by far. Everyone out there is there because they're dorks, nerds, geeks. They enjoy Star Wars, and a film premier is likely one of the few times they get to gather with other fans and geek out about their hobby. It's always a good time with people sitting around playing cards, eating pizza, drinking soda, playing board games (video games one year when the theater owner rolled out a TV on a cart for us to use) etc. Essentially the line ends up being a day or two long party.

...

The fans in line have heard your pleas and have answered with the following from liningup.net :

Liningup.net is staying in the spot where we have great relationships with the theatre, the local businesses, and the Hollywood Division of the LAPD. We are lining up at the theatre where the first Star Wars premiered in 1977, where all of the prequels have played, where George Lucas, R2D2, Harrison Ford, and Darth Vader have their footprints in the world-famous "Forecourt of the Stars".

We are raising money for an amazing charity, Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation, that works to brighten the lives of seriously ill children. We've only been in line for 3 days and we have already topped more than $6200 in donations, with hopefully tens of thousansds more to be raised.

Twice before we've lined up at Grauman's Chinese Theatre without confirmation that the films would play there. Twice before, we've been told it was going to play somewhere else. Hopefully, our luck holds out for a third time. If not, we'll still have an incredibly fun time relaxing with other Star Wars fans and raising both funds and awareness for the Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation.

---

quote:

---

Inside Move: Fanatics laying it on the line

'Star Wars' fans stew in queue

By GABRIEL SNYDER

If a movie isn't playing at a theater, will its fans still line up outside? For "Star Wars" fans, the answer is a befuddling yes.

Saturday, 46 days before "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" opens on May 19, the trilogy's enthusiasts began their vigil outside Grauman's Chinese Theater.

Problem is 20th Century Fox doesn't plan to open the film at the Chinese, opting instead for the ArcLight a few blocks east.

"Star Wars" or no, the diehards are resolute about keeping their line on Hollywood Boulevard.

Underneath a make-shift awning yesterday afternoon, 11 people were in line doing what appeared to be homework, pecking at laptops and talking to members of the media.

"We've heard all this before," said Sarah Sprague, one of the designated spokesmen for the group. In 1999 and 2002, there were plenty of rumors (ultimately false) that the previous two pics weren't going to open at the Chinese.

This year the rumors seem to be true. Fox and the ArcLight haven't finalized their "Star Wars" deal, but execs on both sides say they expect "Revenge of the Sith" to play the ArcLight and not the Chinese.

A media-savvy bunch, those waiting at the Chinese hope press interest in covering (and most likely mocking) them would persuade George LucasGeorge Lucas and Fox to move the booking.

And Sprague was adamant the line isn't moving to the ArcLight. "This is still the epicenter for 'Star Wars' fans. For the big iconic pictures of the 1970s, people lining up were here. They weren't at the Cinerama Dome."

Their other reason is that it'd be more difficult to raise money for their charity Starlight Starbright if they weren't on Hollywood. However, cops won't let fans collect donations from passersby; instead, they pass out pamphlets with a Web site address.

"Even if it's not here, we'll just go see it somewhere else. We're not doing this just for the movie." Besides, she added, "What's the point of lining up at the ArcLight if someone is going to go online and get the best seat in the house?"

But wouldn't that still make more sense than spending a month outside a theater that isn't playing the movie?

"Lining up for anything, what part of that makes any sense?" she responded philosophically.

As theaters normally do, the ArcLight is likely to ask Fox that it be the only theater playing "Revenge of the Sith" in the immediate area. And even if it doesn't, Paramount confirmed it will open "The Longest Yard" at the Chinese the week after "Revenge," which means Fox won't want to book the theater for just one week. (Paramount partly owns Mann Theaters.)

The kerfuffle has inspired some soul-searching among the fans, and they have discovered that standing in a "Star Wars" line is actually more important than seeing a "Star Wars" film.

"The telling thing is -- for me, at least -- if the film is not playing at the Chinese ... I have zero desire to see it at all," a fan who calls himself Obi Geewhyen posted on the message board at Liningup.net. "I'm in it for the lineup only and don't give a darn about the conclusion of this lackluster, so-called 'Star Wars' series."

Hope springs eternal, Sprague said. After the last two "Star Wars" films, "We're all a little beaten down," she said. "But this one could be it!"

Date in print: Wed., Apr. 6, 2005, Los Angeles

---

 

---

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 04-07-2005, 04:09 PM:
 
Morons have been queuing up outside wrong theatre! - BBC coverage

quote:

---

Star Wars fans have started queuing seven weeks early for the opening of the final movie - but appear to have camped outside the wrong cinema. Dedicated fans are lining up outside the famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood but have been told it will open on 19 May at a cinema a mile away.

Producers opted to open the film at the ArcLight cinema, making it unlikely other cinemas in the area will show it. But the fans are refusing to move, believing the news to be false.

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith will open at the ArcLight complex, which is adjacent to another Hollywood landmark, the Cinerama Dome. "We've heard all this before," said Sarah Sprague, one of the small group already queuing. She said similar stories were circulated ahead of Star Wars releases in 1999 and 2002 - but the films had eventually opened at Grauman's.

"This is still the epicentre for Star Wars fans," Ms Sprague added. "For the big iconic pictures of the 1970s, people lining up were here. They weren't at the Cinerama Dome." Revenge of the Sith will be the last of three prequels to the original 1977 science fiction classic.

Executives from 20th Century Fox and ArcLight told Variety magazine Revenge of the Sith would be showing at the Arclight although a deal had yet to be completed. In 2002, two die-hard fans started camping outside their local Seattle cinema four months before the release of Episode II: Attack of the Clones.

Despite mixed reviews for the past two Star Wars releases, anticipation for the final instalment is expected to be high. Director George Lucas has said Revenge of the Sith is darker and more emotional than previous Star Wars films.

---