Peter Jackson has a very optimistic view of human bladder capacity.
^^^When it opened in1968, and I was 12, we went as a family to 2001, A Space Odyssey and I distinctly remember it had an intermission. Whatever happened to that concept?
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It will probably make me cry to see Leia and Hans and Luke, all aged just like me. Now when I see clips from Movie #1, they look like babies. Carrie Fisher is my age.
I am always entertained to see Darth Vader. In the first movie, a guy that we have flown with, was responsible for the sound effects. You know the heavy breathing noise that Darth Vader makes? That’s a pilot’s oxygen mask, and that’s what we sound like sometimes when are wearing it, and breathing heavily. At least that’s his story, that it was his idea.
D flew in for winter break late yesterday afternoon and really wanted to see the movie - she is a huge fan. We stopped on the way home from the airport and got the last 2 tickets - my guys are away at a hockey tournament so it worked out well. The movie was terrific!
I ordered this for her as a stocking stuffer:
http://www.funnyguymugs.com/products/may-the-force-be-with-you-equation-tumbler?variant=3248290049
My youngest is seeing it with reserved seats tomorrow with girlfriend. We weren’t invited. 
I hope he likes it enough to be willing to see it again during Christmas week when the whole family is together. He despised what JJ Abrams did in the last Star Trek movie. (Broke the universe by making transporters unnecessary among other things, even I caught that one.)
I think I saw the first two only. I enjoyed the first one, but my interest eventually wore out.
I do remember lines reaching around theaters when the first one came out.
I think a lot of kids today are growing up just as enthused by Star Wars as earlier generations because the bug is caught from those who had it before them. It’s pretty self-sustaining, what with periodic infusions of new enstallments to the franchise. The characters are so culturally iconic now, that I can’t envision a time in the future when they don’t represent something salient in American culture (of course, I’m speaking specifically about Luke, Leia, Han, and Darth Vader). I was at my Allergist’s office yesterday, and met a Dad and his young son in the waiting room. The kid (about 10 years old) was wearing a Darth Vader tee shirt. They were both pretty excited about the new movie, and said they had tickets to a showing tonight.
My D still buys and constructs Lego Star Wars sets (we gave her a fairly large one just this past October for her 29th birthday!—Holy *%#^, I can’t believe I’ve been a member of CC since she was 17 and applying to colleges. 
She has several sets displayed in her office (along with lots of other memorabilia), so anyone who walks in has no doubt that she’s a bit of a fanatic. Her half brother (who is 10 yrs. older) is also a SW geek, so they have been happily fan-flailing together for decades. He has two young children who are also carrying on the tradition, so it’s kind of funny when they’re all together.
I bought my cousin’s grandsons star war Lego sets, one was the Darth Vader figure. Toys r us had a separate aisle just for these. The 10 year old is all in.
My son is waiting until he goes to g/f’s house over Xmas to see this movie. I remember picking him up from school on a Wednesday, and surprised him with tickets for that opening day. He still went with his friends on Friday night. I’ll take my guy friend as a thank-you for coming to airport with me. I was always into Star Trek and Star Wars.
I think a case could be made that Star Wars was the Harry Potter of its day in terms of broad appeal and new people coming into the franchise. I’m not hugely a fan of either - nothing wrong with them, but I tend not to be into “alternate worlds” type of shows - but that’s just my personal taste and I’m glad other people are having fun!
The 2nd 3 movies came out when our kids were in elementary school so they grew up with them as well as the originals which we had on VHS. S has every lego kit and they had costumes and action figures galore. They had kiddie computer games - Droid Works and one other. I sewed them jedi costumes at one point. It’s fun to have something everyone can get behind. We all watched the Phantom Menace tonight. It was the one “new” movie that we had on VHS and only just got on Blue Ray so we hadn’t seen it as much as the last 2. The kids still new al the lines.
Unlike LOTRs and Harry Potter the Star Wars franchise had no books to be compared to. It was the movies themselves which created the fanatics. The other two came with an established fan base. Not always a good thing for the movie makers because the readers have strong expectations,
Saw the movie today. Great fun!
Our S celebrates his 31st birthday this coming week, and got tickets to see SW last night. He loves the franchise. I mentioned to him that H and I saw SW the first day it was released back in 1977. “Do the math”. He knew the franchise had been around a while, but I don’t think he quite understood just how long.
Well, I stand corrected. D2 and her BF went to see Star Wars last night. She had to buy tickets in another town because all the theaters in our vicinity were sold out. She loved it.
Saw the movie today. Loved it. IMO The Force Awakens is the second or third best movie in the Star Wars franchise.
The kids’ high school’s marching band rented a theatre for a private showing as a fundraiser. S saw the posters and just had to have tickets for that, so we saw it Friday. Great fun! It’s a Star Wars movie alright!
Star Wars TRIGGER WARNINGS
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=G4MemWayPcA
lol…
I saw it Friday afternoon (was off from work). I liked it, my son described it as a combination in some ways of Star Wars and Empire strikes back, and I think that describes some of the ‘retro’ feel of it. Without giving anything away, I think that the actors are much better chosen for this film (the two prequels, outside Ewen MacGregor and the guy playing the emperor, it was bad casting) and there is a solid basis going forward (personally, I think BB8 should get the academy award lol). I suspect that Abrams, obviously a fan of the original films, did this the way he did so he wouldn’t have the fans going berzerk on him for breaking cannon and all that stuff, I suspect the next film(s) will go their own way, rather than repeating the same themes as the original. I appreciated that with the special effects they limited the use of CGI, when you see a crowd of stormtroopers, for example, it really is people in costume, and the effects like the explosions were done old school, as were the ships and such, it makes it feel a lot more continuous with the originals. The music is great, it was nice that Abrams brought back John Williams, and the opening and closing credit music was conducted by Dudamel, the conductor of the LA Phil (something of a rock star in the classical world), I thought that was cool.
I’ll also add that I will probably see it again at least once, there is a lot in the film, and I am sure I’ll pick up other things I missed.
The only irritating thing to me, that might actually work against the movie, is the hyper cross marketing (not surprising given this is Disney). The original was a marketing machine, but this is unreal, the tie ins are just idiotic. Some of the commercials are fun (I kind of like the dodge ad with the white and black cars led by a black one), but a lot of them are just plain annoying.
We saw it on Sunday with D and her bf and loved it! My D and I thought it had the feel of “A New Hope.” We will have many discussions over Christmas dinner when my brother (the biggest Star Wars fan around!) and his fiance are at our house. D2 and her bf saw it last night in 3D so I will have to hear today how that was. As others said I appreciate that Abrams kept not only the old stars, but the old ships and that the movie wasn’t all about special effects.
I remember standing in line as a teenager to see the first movie. It was only the second time I had ever stood in line for a film. The first time was for Jaws.
I saw it Sunday morning and loved it. Here’s a link about the marketing strategy I thought was interesting. Some of the tie-in products are ridiculous, but I’m guessing that would have happened regardless of what studio produced a new addition to this franchise!