Cinema manager details the 'nightmare hellscape' of screening Star Wars: The Force Awakens
'I’ve never dreaded coming into work like I did for the Star Wars:The Force Awakens opening'
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Your support makes all the difference.The immediate rush for Star Wars: The Force Awakens tickets has died ever so slightly, with many people having now had their fix of the sci-fi saga.
However, that initial weekend will go down at one of the most straining times in history ever for cinema workers. One cinema manager has detailed the chaotic weekend for Fusion, leaving his name anonymous to protect his job.
To begin, the manager of a ‘major theatre chain for four years’ described some of the stranger stuff he’s seen in the past: “A projectionist walking off during the middle of a shift and leaving the building to reel 20 screens of 35mm film, a damaged drive forcing film critics to wait 2 hours, and the cinematic classic known as Oogieloves: The Big Balloon Adventure.
“But I’ve never dreaded coming into work like I did for the Star Wars:The Force Awakens opening last week.”
The first challenge was apparently staffing. As the film had yet to premiere, no one knew if it would be any good, and therefore booking staff in - which had to be done six days prior to the weekend - was a huge issue.
They made guesstimates based on the release of Age of Ultron, but then they didn’t know how many screens to run Star Wars on.
“Most Thursday 7pm premieres don’t feel very special. They’re just like regular shows, and barely attended outside of a few tentpole titles.
“But Star Wars was different. It felt like the population of a small town migrated into the lobby of the theatre I manage for the movie on Thursday night.”
He continued: “In a single moment at 7 p.m., we had to process more people than we normally do on an entire Friday night of business. These are the moments you learn that hell is real, and we are living in it.
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“The huge crowd stressed the power supply to the point that the frozen drinks machine kept breaking and the oil line for one of our two popcorn kettles burst open, knocking it out of commission. In a situation like this, I could have 50 staff and it would not make a difference.”
Apparently there were also people there to see films other than Star Wars, with 11 people attending The Hunger Games and four seeing The Good Dinosaur.
“For reasons that remain mysterious, these movie-goers planned to see those movies that Thursday night, and no monstrous crowd ravaging the parking lot and spreading through every inch of the lobby would keep them from seeing Katniss take on the Capital a month after the release date.”
There were a few people there in costumes, with many lightsabers, only one of which actually went off in the screening.
“The buy-out crowd had no trailers, so went straight in with an eruptive cheer. The 2D crowd ended their trailers with an explosive cheer that could be heard from outside the building.
"The 3D crowd was inexplicably silent throughout the movie, even during the obvious cheer lines, like when Harrison Ford saunters in. I will never understand why.
“Once the crowds were in their seats, things got interesting. While the theatre staff scrambled to clean and restock a lobby which was drowned in butter and popcorn (there is always one person who drops their entire container of popcorn on the floor) I juggled managing three theatres.”
What’s amazing is the amount of rubbish the audience generated: “A single showing of Star Wars can generate 10 more trash bags of garbage than a regular show, and between the three theaters it can take 75 minutes to clean.
“Cleaning up people’s left-behind garbage is, and always shall be, the worst.
“It’s not all broken equipment, under-staffing and garbage up to the ears, though. There were good moments. A person two towns away drove 26 miles to see our midnight show because his local theater closed after the 7 p.m. show and he needed to see it again.
"An elderly couple sat through the credits and told me how they dated while the first movie was out and saw each one together and were so happy to have this new memory and experience.
“And in the end, the crowds made it worth it. There was an excitement in the air I had not felt since The Dark Knight Rises came out and subsequently ended the concept of midnight screenings.
“Star Wars brought home the magic, even if it did ruin my life for a weekend.”
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