‘The Force Awakens’ for area’s die-hard ‘Star Wars’ fans (+video)

Granted, the people who stood in line for hours to see the new movie “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” when it premiered on Thursday night were automatically in the mega-fan category.

So it’s perhaps not surprising that they gave the film rave reviews, some saying it was the best of the seven films in the franchise.

But they were pretty convincing.

“It was excellent, just excellent,” said Scott Rue, who arrived at the east side Warren Theatre at 8 a.m. on Thursday morning to wait for the very first showing, at 7:15 p.m. “It had the same feel, the same essence as the original ‘Star Wars’ and ‘The Empire Strikes Back.’”

Rue, who brought 16 friends and family members with him to the movie, described an unusual theater experience.

Bill Warren, the theater’s owner, was at the theater and introduced the movie himself.

The packed house of fans cheered and whooped when the “Star Wars” logo first appeared onscreen, then cheered again each time favorite characters – Luke Skywalker, Hans Solo, Princess Leia – had their first scenes.

Some new, some nostalgia

Rue said he didn’t want to give away any major plot points, but that the new movie had several surprises.

One thing that really surprised him was how much different the main characters looked 30 years later.

“The old cast members did really, really well,” he said. “Though it really surprised me how much they’ve aged. It’s a tell on how old I am.”

Sara Baldwin, who grew up playing with her older brother’s “Star Wars” toys and watching the movies with her family, also stood in line all day to see the premiere. She and her friends got good seats, taking up most of a row in the center of the theater.

She loved the movie and would recommend it, she said, though she did have a few complaints about the film. The main one, she said, was that some of the major plot points were covered in earlier “Star Wars” movies.

“Overall I really liked it,” she said. “I had one major quibble, which is that I’ve seen that movie twice before.”

Some of the characters weren’t as developed as she would have liked, but the new film got her excited about the franchise again. She can’t wait to see what directors do next.

“I feel like the new characters they introduced are really, really intriguing, and I think they have a great direction they’re heading with them. I’m excited to see new ones, which I wasn’t really with the prequel series.”

Serious fans

Rue and Baldwin were among hundreds of Wichita movie fans who devoted Thursday to “Star Wars,” some taking off work and dressing up to attend the movies.

Rue even closed his business, Rue Construction, so that he and his employees could enjoy what he called “Star Wars Day.”

The movie, the seventh in the “Star Wars” franchise, premiered in theaters across the nation on Thursday and is expected to break box office records. It’s set 30 years after “Return of the Jedi,” the final installment of the original trilogy, and features many cast members from the original 1977 movie, including Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill.

“We’ve been doing a countdown,” he said. “Everyone else is counting down to Christmas, but we’ve been counting down to today.”

By midafternoon Thursday, a line of about 40 people had formed inside the east-side Warren Theatre. Rue and his son Nick, who bought tickets as soon as they went on sale in early November, arrived three hours before the theater even opened and waited out in the cold, sipping Warren-provided hot chocolate. They raced a group of four buddies from the parking lot to get the first-in-line spot.

At 11 a.m., the theater allowed the line to move indoors, but by 3 p.m., it had gotten so long, it was nearly stretching outside again.

Behind the Rues in line were several groups of people who also took the day off work to wait in line for seats. One group of young men sat on the floor playing “Settlers of Catan.” Just inside the front door, friends Cade Dotson and Matt Fox sat against the wall, both wearing costumes and earbuds and watching old “Star Wars” movies on a laptop.

Cierra Newberry, a Warren employee, wasn’t going to risk getting bad seats. Dressed as Princess Leia, complete with side-of-the-head buns, Newberry was one of the first Warren employees to ask for the day off so she could see the first screening.

“I like to sit near the middle, and I don’t want to get stuck in the back or squished to the side,” she said.

Newberry was joined by friend and co-worker Carter Robinson, and the two said they hadn’t seen so much craziness over a movie in their three years of Warren employment. But Newberry and Robinson said their managers had prepared the staff for a hectic weekend.

“This is the biggest movie we’ve ever experienced,” Robinson said.

This story was originally published December 17, 2015 at 6:26 PM with the headline "‘The Force Awakens’ for area’s die-hard ‘Star Wars’ fans (+video)."