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Wednesday, May. 12, 1999

Lines grow for `Star Wars' premiere

From children to grandmothers, die-hard fans are camping out for tickets

By GUY H. LAWRENCE
Staff Writer

   Jacen Kubsch was the first fan to claim a spot outside the Tinseltown Movies 16 theater on Sunday for the chance to buy his ticket.
   By Tuesday, there were dozens lined up along the wall outside the theater with their lawn furniture, pillows, blankets, coolers and backpacks, applauding the arrival of portable toilets and relying on books, guitars and games to pass the time.
   Tickets for "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" go on sale at 2 p.m. today. And many of those in line say they'll be in line again next week, days before the film opens just after the stroke of midnight on May 19.
   "We might be fanatically crazy, but we really don't care. We are just having fun and we are happy," said Albert Hernandez, who arrived at Tinseltown around noon to relieve friends in line. Their group was camped out next to a man who was snoozing away on a cot.
   In addition to Tinseltown, tickets also will be on sale today at the UA Cine 6 on South Staples and the Five Points Cinema in Calallen. All three theaters will have 12:01 a.m. showings next Wednesday.
   The Calallen theater will follow the early show with viewings at 3:30 a.m. and 6:30 a.m. Cine 6's next show will be at 10 a.m. Tinseltown had not released its schedule Tuesday.
   Most of the people in line Tuesday are in their late teens or early 20s. One woman brought her child with her. Nearby, a grandmother had staked out her spot so she could be among the first to see the film next week.
   

Full circle

   Liz Moore, 53, of Port Aransas sat comfortably in her lawn chair, reading a book she received for Mother's Day -- "Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary." She arrived at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday. In 1977, she took her three children to see "Star Wars."
   Twenty-two years later, she has come full circle.
   "I thought we were just going to see a space movie, and we were just blown away," Moore remembered.
   Like Hernandez, Kubsch is working in shifts with his friends to reserve the tickets sold for the first show. Kubsch, who was the first to arrive on Sunday, said he already has spent almost 40 hours in line.
   "I have been sleeping in a chair with my head against the wall," said Kubsch, a music student at Del Mar College.
   Kubsch, 23, played Star Wars Monopoly on Tuesday with other line denizens like Joey Garcia, 25, Oscar Diaz, 21 and Chris Gutierrez, 19.
   Diaz and Garcia, both music students at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, said this may be the last chance they get to do something as crazy as spend several nights outside on a sidewalk, waiting to buy movie tickets. The pair, both seniors, regretted not bringing more comforts from home like a sofa or television.
   "We had to do it because it's `Star Wars,' " Diaz said.
   "Your life begins after graduation," Garcia said.
   

Second generation fan

   Hernandez brought his friend, LeAnn Simmons, 15, to wait with him this time.
   " `Star Wars' is part of our lives," Hernandez said. "It is like basically one of the things we grew up with. It is part of our history."
   Simmons' mother stood in line for the first release of "Star Wars" 22 years ago. Now, she said, it's her turn.
   "This is a whole family thing. My mom is coming out later," Simmons said.
   The "Star Wars" movies are just great stories of good vs. evil, Hernandez said. Despite the advancements in computer graphics, nothing compares to the original "Star Wars" film, he said.
   "This brought science fiction into a whole new level," Simmons said.
   Very few of the people in line seemed concerned about what other moviegoers may think of them. They are waiting in a line for days just to buy a ticket to a movie that will be showing for months after it opens, but next Wednesday, it will all be worth it, they said.
   Moore, wearing two "Star Wars" buttons, said this could the last goofy thing she ever does.
   But then again, she added, "Maybe not the last."
   Staff writer Guy H. Lawrence can be reached at 886-3792 or by e-mail at lawrenceg@caller.com
   Tickets for the "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" will go on sale at 2 p.m. today at:

Five Points Cinema (Calallen)

Tinseltown Movies 16

UA-Cine 6
   The first showing will be 12:01 a.m. next Wednesday at all three theaters.
   

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  © 1999 Corpus Christi Caller Times, a Scripps Howard newspaper. All rights reserved.