“The Force Awakens” within south Calgary
Posted Dec 17, 2015 2:56 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Fans came early and were showing no signs of slowing down as they took in all seven Star Wars movies in one sitting.
They descended on the Scotiabank Theatre at Chinook for a marathon that can only be described as “out of this world.”
It started at 4:45 Thursday morning and it ends with a showing of “The Force Awakens” at 7 p.m. with only a brief intermission between each showing.
“It’s going pretty well so far, we’re three movies down and four to go. The prequels are out of the way and now we just have the classic ones to go and hopefully we can ignore what happened in the prequels as best we can,” laughed Jeremy Ballantine. “It’s really exciting just to be a part of something like this, this is the third generation of people that are going to have a chance to watch Star Wars.”
Ballantine worked a lot of days leading up to the event just so he could have the day off with his brother, he may have to take a conference call during “The Empire Strikes Back.”
“Considering I slept through Episode 2, I’m feeling pretty good,” laughed Brittany Pratt. “That’s about all the sleep I’ve had in the past 24-48 hours.”
Pratt tells 660 NEWS there is no way to prepare for something like this, you go hard or go home.
“I don’t even know what to expect,” she smiled. “I’m so excited!”
“It’s good, it’s long but it’s worth it. I’m young and I never got to seen any of the other ones in theatre,” said Mark Gates. “It’s nice to see them all in theatres.”
“It’s been a long time, I’m a big nerd and anytime I have to wait for something, it’s huge!! It’s a great time to be alive!”
Gates joked it may take a lot of Redbull, but he’s ready to see the film before the rest of the city.
“I’m pumped, I’m excited!” said Paul Pietrowski who coincidentally didn’t have a hard time getting the day off work. “Today is Star Wars day; everything else is on the back burner.”
Sean Dunphy said he had to be at the theatre for the love of the franchise.
“We’ve grown up with these and we constantly watch them, we know them like the back of our hands, it’s a normal day,” he said. “The four originals are coming up and they’re the ones that everyone knows and we love them. All I need is a drink and I’m good to go.”
“Comfort was the first thing so I was like Star Wars pajamas check, went to my boss and got the day off work check, so you just bring as much snack food as you can and just sit and relax and enjoy the movies,” said Joshua Pietrowski.
Dressed as his own Sith Lord, “Darth Newfius”, David Tarrant had a different way of preparing.
“A lot of butt clenches,” he laughed. “Really that’s the only thing I could think of, it’s just hard sitting on your bum.”
Star Wars “The Force Awakens” opens this weekend in theatres nationwide.
