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Long wait ends for ‘Star Wars’ fans
Costumed moviegoers flock to see ‘Revenge of the Sith’
 Jenny Evans / Getty Images Fans dress up for the first "Revenge of the Sith" showing in Sydney, Australia. |
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NEW YORK - Jay Greene and his friends had a pact: When the sixth and final “Star Wars” movie came out — the one that brings the plot back around to George Lucas’ original 1977 masterpiece — they’d be there, on opening night.
Like the legions of other fans who turned up for midnight showings of “Episode III — Revenge of the Sith,” Greene, 26, was eager to see how the saga all came together.
“Regardless of knowing what’s going to happen, you still get that excitement, and it’s closure for you,” he said early Thursday after emerging from, appropriately enough, the AMC Empire 25 Theatre in Times Square.
“What’s incredible is seeing him (Anakin) finally become Darth Vader,” added Ryan Smith, visiting from San Diego.
Sold-out showings of “Episode III,” the final installment of the seminal science fiction series created by Lucas, drew enthusiastic crowds to theaters across the country — many dressed in full “Star Wars” regalia with Jedi light sabers at the ready.
Both Greene and Smith described the excitement in the theater “like a party on opening night and that’s why we’re going back in.”
Similar scenes played out nationwide ahead of the opening. People waiting for days and in some cases weeks could hardly contain themselves as the clock wound down Wednesday night.
In Chicago, 31-year-old graphic designer Ben Delery said that for him “Revenge of the Sith” was the most widely anticipated of the “Star Wars” epic. He noted it finally explains what drives Jedi hero Anakin Skywalker to embrace the dark side and transform himself into Darth Vader.
Much like the cult-following that emerged with the 1977 debut of the original “Star Wars,” many fans said they would be repeat viewers.
“I could understand why. I would do it myself if it wasn’t so late,” said Charles Smallwood, of Philadelphia, who joined his mother at the midnight showing in New York.
Renee Portee, 45, added: “It lived up to all the hype. It brought everything together.”
A few hours after the movie started rolling on East Coast screens, several Web sites already claimed to offer pirated copies for downloading over the Internet.
In Los Angeles, the line stretched around the block for the midnight showing at the Vista Theater on Sunset Boulevard. A group of cloaked youngsters watched previous “Star Wars” movies on a computer as they sat on the sidewalk.
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