Regal Stonecrest at Piper Glen 22

mfelsher on February 28, 2011 at 3:55 am

I will always treasure this theatre as the place where I spent nearly 8 hours waiting in line to buy advance tickets for STAR WARS EPISODE ONE: THE PHANTOM MENACE with a dedicated group of fans who were all beyond excited at the return of the franchise.

Then on the day of the first midnight screening, me, my best friend Del, and hundreds of others gathered at the theatre in the early afternoon, waiting in line to enter for the first showing. We played Star Wars Monopoly, ran back and forth to Target to pick up the latest action figures and the recent CD release of the Soundtrack, and regaled each other with our collective experiences seeing the original trilogy.

By the time the early evening rolled around, there were news cameras covering the event and radio stations covering the fan gatherings, and even Darth Vader and StormTrooper Skydiving teams landing in the parking lot.

To this day, I never enjoyed a movie “event” like this more than those wonderful hours in anticipation of the new STAR WARS film. It was geek bliss. And the Regal cinema was the pre-eminent theatre to see that film in…without question.

Then we saw the movie, and went home confused and appalled. But whatever…that’s not the important part of the story.