ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: STAR WARS QUEUES
TAPE_NUMBER: EN9926
IN_TIME: 11:27:56
LENGTH: 01:53
SOURCES: LNN/20TH CENTURY FOX
RESTRICTIONS: LNN = No access UK, No re-use/re-sale film/video clips without clearance
FEED: VARIOUS (THE ABOVE TIME-CODE IS TIME-OF-DAY)
SCRIPT: xfa LONDON'S STAR WARS FREAKS AWAIT THE PHANTOM
STORY: STAR WARS QUEUES
LOCATION: LONDON
DATE: 30TH JUNE
Thousands of Star Wars fans swamped phone lines and queued around cinemas as they clamoured to be the first in the UK to see the latest part of the saga.
More than 100,000 seats were booked as movie buffs stayed up throughout the night to phone for tickets, which went on sale just after midnight, with many more buying in person.
Cinemas were reporting "unprecedented" demand from fans to see Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace when it opens in the early hours of July 15.
Screens around the country are aiming to run round-the-clock, back-to-back showings to cope with interest for filmmaker George Lucas's latest blockbuster.
The UCI chain, which will screen the film at 35 sites around Britain, said
that 11,500 tickets were sold within 30 minutes of going on sale. The total was up to 32,450 this morning.
Some fans were reported to have bought blocks of 50 tickets at a time as seating for whole days of screenings were quickly snapped up.
Janet Smith, UCI's head of marketing, said: "Our booking line operators are exhausted from all the calls received since tickets went on sale last night.
"All our cinemas have been anticipating massive demand for this huge film but the response has been unprecedented."
Massive queues were reported at UCI cinema complexes in Dudley in West Midlands, Poole, Dorset, and Swansea in South Wales, with fans of the sci-fi trilogy lining up from midday yesterday. The chain has taken on 1,000 extra staff to cope with nationwide demand.
In London, 1,000 people queued for tickets last night outside the Odeon in Leicester Square - site of the British premiere of the first Star Wars film in 1977. It took #55,000 in three hours. "There has been a phenomenal demand, I'm sure it's going to break all the records," said a spokesman for Odeon Cinemas.
Dozens of Odeon cinemas around the country were coping with thousands of personal callers through the early hours and in excess of 50,000 sales had been made by this morning.
Virgin Cinemas had also dished out more than 30,000 tickets by this morning.
However, there was disappointment for many fans and cinemas when Fox decided to put a ban on the planned 24 hour screenings of the film on July 15th in Virgin, Odeon and Warner Village, because they feared they might not sell out totally.
The special effects-laden film, starring EWAN MCGREGOR and LIAM NEESON, looks at the early years of characters who went on to become household names in the Star Wars trilogy.
SHOTLIST: PULL DOWN STAR WARS POSTER TO CINEMA ; CU WAITING FANS ; GVS FANS ; VOX POP FAN ; VOX POP FAN ; VOX POP FAN ; CLIP FROM TRAILER FOR 'PHANTOM MENACE' ; FAN HOLDS UP STAR WARS TOY ; GVS FANS WAITING ; PULL UP TO POSTER
VOX POP FAN: BASICALLY WHAT WE ARE DOING IS LINING UP IN ALL THE CITIES AROUND THE WORLD FOR WHEN STAR WARS OPENS. SO WE ARE HERE AND WE HAVE JUST COME UP FROM L.A. WHICH IS WHERE WE LINED UP FOR LIKE SIX WEEKS OUTSIDE MANNS CHINEESE THEATRE.
VOX POP FAN: WELL ITS NOT JUST LIKE ONE MOVIE ITS AN EXPERIENCE. I MEAN THIS IS GOING BACK TO CHILDHOOD AND WHAT WAS GOOD ABOUT YOUR CHILDHOOD AND WHAT YOU REMEMBER IT BEING A REALLY GOOD EXPERIENCE WAS SEEING STAR WARS. ITS THE MAGIC OF A FAIRY TALE FOR ME WHICH HAS KEPT GOING FOR TWENTY-TWO YEARS OF MY LIFE.
VOX POP FAN: IT HOLDS AN EXTRA SOMETHING FOR ME BECAUSE THE FILM WAS ACTUALLY FILMED JUST RIGHT NEXT TO WHERE I LIVE WHICH IS LEAFTON STUDIOS IN HEARTFORDSHIRE. SO EVERYTIME YOU DRIVE PAST AT NIGHTS WITH THE LIGHTS ON WONDERING WHATS GOING ON. WHATS ACTUALLY BEING DONE THERE. SO IT HOLDS AN EXTRA INTEREST FOR ME.?