By Scott Bowles, USA Today, May 19, 2005
With Episode III: Revenge of the Sith finally beamed onto the big screen Wednesday night, Star Wars fans were on top of
the galaxy – until reality set in.
Tim Knapp, international president of the fan club 501st Legion of Imperial Stormtroopers, walked out of a Sith
screening feeling elated, then deflated.
“I loved it,” said Knapp, 45, of Orange County, Calif. “Suddenly, when I walked out of the theater, I felt sad.
“I grew up seeing these movies. I raised my two sons on these movies. I came out of the theater and thought, ‘Oh my
gosh, it’s over.”
Ona Brazwell, 34, of King George, Va., saw Sith Wednesday night in Washington, D.C.
“I was 6 years old and we lived in London and I saw Star Wars,” said Brazwell, who says she saw the first film 22 times
in the theater.
“It makes me feel old, and I’ll probably cry. It’s just a movie, but you have milestones in your life. Some people
remember when Kennedy was shot. I remember Star Wars.”
Many fans had similar sentiments as theater sold out nationwide for the midnight screening. The final installment of
the saga is expected to enjoy one of the largest debuts in history, though few expect it to match Spider-Man, which opened
at $114.8 million in 2002.
Adrienne Maul-Sari, 40 of Jopatowne, Md., says she legally changed her name to Maul because of the sense of power and
confidence she drived from the series’ Darth Maul character. She came to the Washington showing dressed in Darth Maul’s
signature red and black costume.
“I was crying most of the movie,” she said. “The fact that this was the last one, this is the last time I’ll be camping
out.”
Since the original film opened 28 years ago, fans have enjoyed the ritual of Star Wars: counting down the days until the
next installment and, in some cases, camping out for weeks to see the movie on opening night. That ritual dies with Sith,
which George Lucas says will be his last film about that galaxy far, far away.
Devin Jacobsen, 19, of Sacramento joined more than 300 fans who began lining up six weeks ago to catch the opening at
the Arclight Cinemas in Los Angeles.
“It’s hard to accept it’s coming to an end,” he said.
But it will, and probably on a lucrative not. Box-office analysts predict that Sith will outperform the debut of 2002’s
Attack of the Clones, which opened at $80 million.
“This one has better buzz than Clones and is getting better reviews,” says Gitesh Pandya of BoxOfficeGuru.com. “But most
important, it’s the last. Everyone wants to say goodbye.”