Jesse Saville, a sophomore psychology major, thinks some UB students almost singlehandedly crashed Fandango’s website to get “Star Wars”tickets.
The new film, “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,”premieres on Dec. 18 with many of the cast members returning from original trilogy. The film shattered pre-sale ticket records, with fans purchasing $6.5 million in IMAX tickets just days after the film’s trailer debuted during halftime of Monday Night Football on Oct. 17. The new movie has created a buzz amongst fans, including those at UB, as it is expected to be one of the highest-grossing movies of all time.
Saville said a girl from one of his classes mentioned that she, along with 16 friends, bought their tickets for the premiere and were planning on being the first people lined up at the theater.
Saville said that he couldn’t blame them considering “a lot of the original cast is coming back for this one and that is pretty cool.”
Actors from the original trilogy, like Harrison Ford (Han Solo), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) and Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca) will return to the galaxy far, far away as their personas that audiences fell in love with in the late’70s and early ’80s.
The movie also stars a new cast of younger actors like Adam Driver (Kylo Ren), Daisy Ridley (Rey), John Boyega (Finn) and Oscar Isaac (Poe Dameron).
Disney bought Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion in 2012 and the new installment will be the company’s first of many films film based on “Star Wars” creator George Lucas’ vision.
“I’m looking forward to seeing what Disney does with the movie because it would give Disney a chance to defend itself against all of the trash talk about how Disney is gonna butcher the series,” said Ethan Zieja, a freshman computer science major.
Zieja is optimistic about the new film because of director J.J Abrams, who also directed the last two “Star Trek” films that revitalized the series.
“J.J Abrams impressed me what he did with ‘Star Trek,’”Zieja said. “So I am confident in his ability to do justice to ‘Star Wars.’
Tory Lebaron, a sophomore civil engineering major, said it’s been a while since she’s seen any of the films.
“Growing up my dad made me watch all of them,” Lebaron said.
She said she’s planning on seeing the new film, but not until a while after the release date just because she doesn’t want to deal with all of the craziness immediately after the release. Lebaron is going to prepare for the new film with her friends by having a “Star Wars”marathon to watch all of the previous films before seeing the new one in theatres.
But unlike Zieja, Lebaron doesn’t have much faith in Disney’s control over the series.
“Disney is honestly a hit-or-miss with their movies,” she said.
But she has confidence in Abrams because his other films impressed her.
“I probably have more confidence in J.J. Abrams than Disney,” she said.
“Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith,” released in 2005, had a budget of $113 million and made $848.8 million in sales.
Will The Force Awakens top it with a budget of $200 million?
Fans will have to just wait and see.
Tomas Olivier is the assistant arts editor and can be reached at arts@ubspectrum.com.
