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Where/How will you see TFA?

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I’m trying to figure out where to go honestly. Never mind getting tickets, but really the best presentation possible in a land of truly bad theaters all around.
Thinking of trying the old Regal where I saw TPM opening week, one where they built it as a flagship and still have the old big auditoriums, and paying the higher price or maybe going for the “premium” RPX screen since the closest Dolby Atmos theater I can find is hours away.
And the 7 movie marathons apparently run $30, start at 4am and only present TFA in 3D. Gross.

Thoughts? How will you guys be seeing TFA?

VADER!? WHERE THE HELL IS MY MOCHA LATTE? -Palpy on a very bad day.
“George didn’t think there was any future in dead Han toys.”-Harrison Ford
YT channel:
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I first saw the first film in the Odeon, Brighton, England.
I saw the Special Editions there in 1997 with my then very young eldest niece.
We saw all the prequels there and I will see TFA there with my niece (now thirty years old).
I will hopefully see it on a bigger screen if it’s any good when I come home after the Christmas break.

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Most probably on my computer, after the movie’s finished its run in theatres and been released on DVD.

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I’ll be at the Showcase in Worcester, MA on opening night, for the simple reason that it was the closest theater with online ticketing when it went on sale. If it’s good, I’m going to try to get to the IMAX in Reading to check out that new Laser projection thing. If any of the 70mm prints make it to New England I’ll seek that out as well.

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I’ll be seeing it at 7:20pm on the 17th at Century Stadium 25 in Orange, CA. Closest theater to me and also a pretty big, nice theater. I’ve seen just about every movie there since I moved to Orange County a few years ago.

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joefavs said:

If it’s good, I’m going to try to get to the IMAX in Reading to check out that new Laser projection thing. If any of the 70mm prints make it to New England I’ll seek that out as well.

No way, I’m considering going there too. I’ll be seeing it in 2D first but second time around will likely be IMAX 3D, so either Reading to check out the laser or Providence because the screen is bigger (and I’m secretly hoping it’ll be 70mm there and they just haven’t told anyone yet).

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Haven’t made up my mind yet.

Thursday night 70mm screenings at Air & Space DC sold out before I even knew they were showing it there. As of now the only available opening weekend showtimes are 2:30 in the afternoon on Friday and Sunday. I might have a new job soon, which would likely rule out Friday (damn). Interview is tomorrow, so I’ll know soon.

One of my friends here was saying he wants to see it opening weekend but not opening night.

Meanwhile, the group Mrebo and I became acquainted with at a recent screening of Harmy’s ROTJ said they’ll be getting together to go see TFA as well, so I’ll have to look into that.

If no one I know wants to see it Thursday night I might just cave and go see it with my sister or something. All the opinion pieces and reviews are gonna start showing up and I hate having to avoid those things. I spoiled Interstellar for myself by not excercising self-control and simply waiting until I saw it several days after it opened. If I couldn’t do it for Interstellar, I’m not so sure I’ll be able to for Episode VII.

There are still plenty of 2D, non-reserved seating Thursday night showtimes near me that aren’t sold out. Well, not yet.

I’m also waiting to see if The Avalon, which is technically the closest movie theater to where I live, will be showing the movie at all. They haven’t posted their daily schedule past this coming week, so I might just stop by and ask.

Ah, decisions decisions.

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Thursday Night Screening @ 10.15PM: This will be at the only ‘IMAX’ nearby, which is unfortunately one of the so-called LieMax theaters. With that being said, it’s still the biggest screen around, so it is what it is. It will be in 3-D, which… I have actually warmed up to recently. I’m at the point where I don’t mind having to see it in 3-D. With spoilers, the internet, etc., there was no way I wasn’t going on Thursday. Unfortunately, this theater doesn’t do reserved seating, so I’ll probably have to wait in line for a while.

Friday Night Screening: I’ll go to this one with a big group of friends. This theater has reserved seating, so I F5’d the page as soon as they went up for sale, and got us in the dead center of the theater behind an aisle, so no one will be directly in front of us to potentially block our view. This is in 2-D, and is the 2nd biggest screen around.

Tuesday Night Screening: With the family. It’s a cheap Tuesday night, so I bought us all tickets to go as long as we are all in town

May the Force be with you.

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Probably on bootleg 😄, but consider it a preview: I’ll immediately buy its official blu-ray if I’ll find the movie objectively worth it, but I’m not throwing the little money I have at Disney just for the sake of it :\ These guys keep releasing movies like pizzas in a fast-food (actually, movie reels are jokingly called “pizzas” in my country 😄), and it shows it quality-wise. So I MUST “test” TFA’s quality before considering it worth my time and money, or s**t will just get “reels” :\

The Original Trilogy’s Timeline Reconstruction: http://originaltrilogy.com/forum/topic.cfm/Implied-starting-date-of-the-Empire-from-OT-dialogue/post/786201/#TopicPost786201

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I’ll be seeing the Star Wars Marathon (trying hard to talk my son into only seeing the OT) and then will see TFA directly after at 7:30 PM on Dec 17th.

So my itinerary that day is as follows:

Star Wars @ 10:15am
The Empire Strikes Back @ 12:45pm
Return of the Jedi @ 3:15pm

The Force Awakens @ 7:30 pm

“This will begin to make things right.” Lor San Tekka

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Blu-ray, when it finally emerges from “Very Long Wait” status on Netflix.

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Who here sees it first?

My screening is on Dec 16th 18.15 pm GMT+2. The first screening is like 10 am so I’ll go to see it after work. It is the largest screen in the nation and unfortunately (maybe) it will be in 3D.

And in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as the Son of the Suns.

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Fang Zei said:

Haven’t made up my mind yet.

Thursday night 70mm screenings at Air & Space DC sold out before I even knew they were showing it there. As of now the only available opening weekend showtimes are 2:30 in the afternoon on Friday and Sunday. I might have a new job soon, which would likely rule out Friday (damn). Interview is tomorrow, so I’ll know soon.

One of my friends here was saying he wants to see it opening weekend but not opening night.

Meanwhile, the group Mrebo and I became acquainted with at a recent screening of Harmy’s ROTJ said they’ll be getting together to go see TFA as well, so I’ll have to look into that.

If no one I know wants to see it Thursday night I might just cave and go see it with my sister or something. All the opinion pieces and reviews are gonna start showing up and I hate having to avoid those things. I spoiled Interstellar for myself by not excercising self-control and simply waiting until I saw it several days after it opened. If I couldn’t do it for Interstellar, I’m not so sure I’ll be able to for Episode VII.

There are still plenty of 2D, non-reserved seating Thursday night showtimes near me that aren’t sold out. Well, not yet.

I’m also waiting to see if The Avalon, which is technically the closest movie theater to where I live, will be showing the movie at all. They haven’t posted their daily schedule past this coming week, so I might just stop by and ask.

Ah, decisions decisions.

70mm imax ftw! I’ll be seeing it opening weekend at a historic theater in Maryland called the Senator. My friends and I are doing a harmy trilogy screening at my house the same day before we go. After that we’re going to DC the following weekend for the 70mm experience. After seeing the Dark Knight, DK rises & Interstellar in the same format, to me there’s nothing that can top it. If anybody wants a list of theaters showing the 70mm print, here you go: https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/3papjh/imax_70mm_2d_theatre_list/

There is no try.

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It’s too bad Disney cheaped out and didn’t strike more 15/70 prints.

Yeah sure I get that it’s expensive but come the f*** on, this movie is gonna make all the money in the world and they’d still turn a major profit off those theaters.

Dark Knight Rises was, I’m fairly certain, the only time a movie was playing at all three of the Smithsonian’s 15/70 locations simultaneously, and TFA will easily outgross it. I guess it’s apples and oranges since there won’t be nearly as much native IMAX footage in this film. That was probably Disney’s line of thinking.

I do find it odd, though, how there aren’t any full-sized IMAX locations in New York or Chicago that are playing this.

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I’ve had my reserved seat ticket for a few weeks.

As is usually the case, I’ll have their bottomless popcorn and an a nice unoaked chardonnay. I’ll raise a glass during the crawl. Going alone so I can have a more cerebral re-connection to 1977. This has been a very long wait. Fingers crossed it will have been worth it.

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Does anyone know of any 35mm showings like, anywhere? I haven’t heard anything.

Anyway, By brother and our wives are going to marathon the OUT on the 23rd and then going to a local Regal (blech) to see it in 2D. I also want to see it in IMAX in some form. Unfortunately there aren’t any 70mm showings super close to me, but I may work it out so I see it anyway. At the very least I will see it in lieMAX 3D at the same Regal.

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Wazzles said:

Does anyone know of any 35mm showings like, anywhere? I haven’t heard anything.

It’s a moot point since TFA was finished as a DI just like 99% of all movies made these days, so you’re not really gaining anything from 35mm projection although some would argue there’s still “a certain something” to seeing it that way. Christopher Nolan is an ultra-rare holdout/exception, hence the “see it on film two days early” release for Interstellar.

If your theater has 4K projection (all of the Regals and AMCs do now), you’re seeing TFA at its full level of detail.

To answer your question, I’m not aware of Disney striking 35mm prints for TFA. Someone mentioned they might’ve stopped distributing on 35mm except for overseas. The film-only dollar theater in my college town just closed within the last several months because they couldn’t pay the rent. They were one of the couple hundred in the U.S. to show Interstellar on film. Meanwhile, I’m pretty sure the two (count 'em) theaters here in the DC area that were showing it on film can also do 4K, so Disney wouldn’t bother spending more money for less qc.

For the theaters out there still limping on without digital projection, this might serve as a harsh lesson.

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I don’t really see why directors proudly exclaim that they’re shooting on film and then make a DI and project exclusively digitally. Really all there is to gain is natural grain (I could be a rapper…), but a good chunk of that is scrubbed away anyway. I just recently saw Spectre and it was almost devoid of grain. I mean, the trailer for TFA look like they were shot digitally.
So what is the actual reason for shooting on film if you’re not going to finish it on film or project it on film? What is there to gain?

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At the end of the day it makes a difference what format you shoot in.

As digital as the movie looks, it would look even more like that if they’d gone with Alexa.

When JJ made his first two movies, the best alternative to film was RED. It’s a much different story now just a few years later, but the best digital camera is obviously still not good enough for him and numerous other filmmakers.

We should be thankful that they’re at least finishing it at 4K. I think they might even be rendering the vfx at that res but I might be jumping the gun there.

I’ll be curious to see what percentage of the finished movie is comprised of entirely cgi-free in-camera shots.

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I would think you can still make an archival print, even if that goes straight into the vault. Hard drives don’t last forever.

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Where were you in '77?

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I might have an opportunity to see it in 70mm in January, (I presume it will stick around longer than that) but a lot has to fall into place the next few weeks.

Would love for it to be my first viewing, but I think spoilers will be impossible to avoid by then. 😉

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Where were you in '77?

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SilverWook said:

I might have an opportunity to see it in 70mm in January, (I presume it will stick around longer than that) but a lot has to fall into place the next few weeks.

Would love for it to be my first viewing, but I think spoilers will be impossible to avoid by then. 😉

They will probably keep playing the 70mm version until late March when Batman v Superman is released. Some of that was also shot in actual 65mm IMAX.

Oh, and I feel the exact same way re: first screening.

I just found out I won’t be able to see it 70mm opening weekend unless I feel like getting five hours of sleep on Sunday night.

Okay, that’s not so bad, but even just having to wait that entire weekend to avoid spoilers will feel like an eternity.

At this point it’s looking like I’ll be seeing the earliest 2D Thursday night screening at the closest place showing it to where we live (an AMC). It’s not until 10, since this isn’t one of the theaters that’s showing it on half a dozen screens and they’re only showing 3D at 7.

It works out perfectly though since my sister and I have an event to attend earlier that night and we can go from there. I’ll probably leave early and get to the theater in time to grab good seats since they’re not doing reserved seating. I’m wondering how much of a window I should give myself. I almost want to get there two hours early just to be sure.

So, I’ll be seeing this at the same time as you west coast 7pm people.

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talentedmrripley said:

Is anybody here lucky enough to watch it in 70mm iMax print?

http://www.imax.com/community/blog/star-wars-the-force-awakens-imax-tickets-on-sale-now/

The guy in the comments said there is supposedly 20 prints being released but only 15 listed so far. I hope it comes here to Denver since it’s 12 hour drive in any direction for me 😦.

It would be neat be able to compare digital versus the 70mm version.

They’re showing it here but it’s Imax3D, I hate anything 3D so will stick to the 2D poverty spec version. update I’ve booked my seats and I’ve managed to get the only seat without anyone directly in front of me 😃