|
 Caroline Ritter, 34, a truck driver, and firefighter Andrew
Porters, 29, were among about 100 die-hard fans who camped
outside Hollywood's Chinese Theatre since Dec. 5 for the opening
of "The Force Awakens."
Ritter was walked down the aisle by another fan, dressed as
Darth Vader, and a violinist played the "Star Wars" theme music
as the couple exchanged vows. They plan to celebrate by seeing
the movie afterward.
Online ticket seller Fandango said on Thursday that the new
movie, which has received glowing reviews, has already broken
its record for the most tickets sold for any film's entire
theatrical run.
"It is Fandango’s top-selling movie of all time, even before it
has even hit theater screens," said Fandango President Paul
Yanover.
But movie studio Walt Disney Co says millions of tickets are
still available this weekend as theaters add capacity to meet
demand.
At the first set of screenings on Thursday at Universal City,
near Hollywood, fans were dressed in characters ranging from
Jedi soldiers to Stormtroopers.
Carol Vasquez, 24, from South Gate, California, who came in
costume, said she was excited to see the return of Luke
Skywalker and Han Solo.
"It's something so incredible that I can't even describe. It's
like family, this is family here right now," she said.
[to top of second column] |
 In San Antonio, Texas, several dozen fans stood in line at
dawn on Thursday to watch a 16-hour marathon of the first six
movies in the "Star Wars" franchise to set the mood for seeing
"The Force Awakens" later in the day.
"Part of it is like the mythology of it, the religious aspect of
it," fan Matt Shavers said. The storytelling is so amazing. It's
gorgeous. It's the greatest saga ever written," he said.
Although "The Force Awakens" has several strong female characters
and marketing for the movie has been directed at women more than
ever, some 68 percent of those buying tickets in advance are male
and the majority are people over the age of 30, according to data
from Movietickets.com.
"Star Wars: The Force Awakens" is expected to take some $200 million
at the North American box office over its opening weekend, according
to box office analysts, making it one of the biggest openings of all
time.
(This story was refiled to fix a typo in the gender in the eighth
paragraph)
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant, Piya Sinha-Roy, Lisa Richwine, Jim
Forsyth and Reuters Television; Editing by Lisa Shumaker and Cynthia
Osterman)
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