Thursday, August 14, 2008

Clone Wars Opening Night

Okay, for all those that were jealous of my recent Hollywood Egyptian Theater Event, I got my comeuppance tonight!

I volunteered, along with a few members of the local 501st, for an appearance at the general opening of The Clone Wars at the Fashion Island Regal theater in Newport Beach, CA.



Virtually no one showed up. We not only outnumbered the audience, we outnumbered the staff at the theater.



One guy showed up, but he made me very nervous for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was his fond memory of how he had gotten out of jail just in time to see Star Wars back in 1977.

I could have left, but I figured I might as well stay and see if maybe some folks would show up around midnight. To stave off boredom, I pretended R2 was WALL-E and had him push cardboard recycle bins around the lobby.



The 501st guys were getting punchy too.



The most action we had was when "Mama Mia" let out, and confused patrons came across our gathering.



In the end, I think about 15-20 paying customers did show up by midnight to see the show, but as I had to work the next day, I headed home.

Well, we're going to try this again Saturday, but this time I actually expect some people to be around, since it will be 5:00pm on a weekend, in a busy outdoor mall environment. Chris Romines will be there with R2-A1, and Vince Sanchez will be there with R5-D4.

Wish us luck...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Something very similar happened to me on Thursday night for the midnight showing. They sold about 80 tickets total for a 500 seat theater. I got to see the movie again for free but I was a little disappointed more people didn't show up.

I'm heading out on Saturday to a bigger theater in San Jose with the 501st, but I suspect it's going to be a bust as well.

At least it's motivated me to get some things fixed and added :)

Chris