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STAR
WARS
TOTALLY
AWESOME!!!
All
theaters jampacked at midnight opening!!
2.2
million people expected to skip work today!
May 19, 1999
(CNN) -- "Episode 1: The Phantom
Menace" has landed, having opened in theaters on Wednesday morning at 12:01
a.m. And with pre-sold-out, round-the-clock showings in every theater
from here to Tatooine -- and an estimated 2.2 million people playing
"Wookie Hooky" from work Wednesday -- no earthly force (sorry, Force) can
keep it from pulling in, at the barest minimum, a record $100 million
by Monday.
Either some critics have it wrong,
or "Star Wars" fans are blinded by loyalty. Moviegoers, who have
been lining up for weeks just for the tickets began packing theaters at
midnight. And, unlike some critics, they came out with rave reviews.
"The best of the bunch," extolled
16-year-old Phillip DeBono, who saw the film at New York's Ziegfeld Theater.
"It's as good as Darth Vader is bad."
The rest of the folks leaving
that Manhattan theater reassured those waiting outside in the rain that
they were in for an "excellent" and "fantastic" experience. There
were similar scenes at theaters across the country, from Charleston, West
Virginia, to Los Angeles.
The New York crowd, filled with
Wookiees, Obi-Wan Kenobis and Princess Leias, partied for hours before
the first show. Scalpers joined them, asking $100 for a ticket, more
than 10 times face value. They'll be working long hours. City
theaters are playing "The Phantom Menace" around the clock.
Cinemas shouldn't have a problem
filling up. One employment agency has estimated that 2.2 million
people will skip work today to see the film.
Take a look at how fans, and their
employers, dealt with this interstellar dilemma:
One Indiana company -- Net Direct,
an Internet access company -- tried to head off a potentially costly sickout
by giving its 25 workers free tickets to opening midnight screening in
exchange for showing up today. The general manager says paying $100
for the tickets was chump change compared to what it would have cost if
they didn't show for work.
A company in New Jersey took a
different approach. It decided to suck up the loss and please dozens
employees, by giving them the day off to see the movie.
Warren Deans knew better than
to play hooky. The 26-year-old paralegal from Brooklyn, said he would
still be able to make it to work Wednesday morning after a 6:30 a.m. screening.
"I've been waiting 16 years to
see this," he said. "It brings back the child in all of us."
Could it be critic-proof?
The new film is the freshest "Star Wars" material, since "Star Wars, Episode
VI: Return of the Jedi" was released in 1983. Fans say it was worth
the wait:
"It took you almost into another
world," marveled Keith Arbeeny, who donned a "Star Wars" stormtrooper's
helmet. "It was mind-boggling, like nothing I've ever seen."
"I'd see it five times, 10 times...
it's a very good movie. Better than the first one, maybe."
"The best part was the last part,
the action series... that was the best part. No way was I disappointed,
critics are wrong! 'Star Wars' number one!"
"The movie was amazing!
By George, you've done it again. It was wonderful."
Fan Robert Farrel says paying
$100 to a scalper for tickets was worth every penny. "The special
effects are out of this world," he said.
Ultimately, the box office cares
only about what the fans think -- they're the ones buying the tickets.
"The Phantom Menace" is expected to easily beat the opening record of $90.2
million set by "Lost World: Jurassic Park" in 1997.
No doubt the film will be able
surpass by opening weekend the $115 million it cost to make, but the bigger
question is whether it can compete against its predecessors. The
original "Star Wars, Episode IV: A New Hope" which scored a whooping $461
million in its first showing in 1977 in the US alone.
Sure, the hype should help generate
business. But it also seems to prompt some people to considerable efforts
in response. For example, a 28-year-old actor in Tucson, Arizona,
says he has legally changed his name to Obi-Wan Kenobi. Terry Wilkowski
says it wasn't a publicity stunt. But it could help his career.
He says he didn't get a lot of calls because his name was long and hard
to pronounce.
This is not an original idea.
Earlier this month, North Carolina school teacher officially changed her
name from Jennifer Briggs to Obi-Wan Kenobi Briggs.
It's all too much for Peter Allen
Webb, a sophomore at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in Terre Haute,
Indiana. He created an anti-"Star Wars" Web site. Webb insists
the backlash is all in good fun. He has tickets for todays opening
showing, too.
The Associated Press contributed
to this report.
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