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Star Wars Prequels Media Movies

More Star Wars Hype 284

Posted by CmdrTaco from the stuff-to-read dept.
We break the week barrier, and tons of people email to gloat that they've seen screenings. The rest of us will have to settle for massive media hype including mantid's note from harper's that proclaims that Reagan's Star Wars project costed $4.166 billion, but Star Wars merchandise costed $4.5 billion. mattdm noted that Moviefone blew up under the ticket demand yesterday. ZD-Net has a report. DH1 sent us a really top notch interview at Salon with Empire Director Irvin Kershner- kinda nice to read something cool about the original movies after all this gas over the new one. Lastly Jethro73 sent us a George Lucas's take on piracy of Star Wars. Basically, he will be very angry and fight very hard (big surprise) against pirates. Update: 05/14 01:59 by CT : My ticket plans haven't happened, so if anyone has bright ideas on getting tickets for the Slashdot crew while we're at LinuxExpo, lemme know...
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More Star Wars Hype More

More Star Wars Hype

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  • costed? (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    costed is not a word, bucko. and all this SW:TPM hype was uncalled for. i was somewhat impressed with the screening i saw the other night, but not the "best movie of the century" hype that everyone, including lucas himself, made the movie out to be. austin powers 2 will probably be better.

  • zero day (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Mark my words... SW:TPM will hit the wirez on May 19th before midnight.

  • Reagan's Star Wars Project (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The exact quote:
    "Amount the Pentagon will spend this year on its Ballistic Missile Defense or "star wars" program : $4,166,000,000"

    Key words: "this year"

    Last time I checked, Reagan had not been in office since Bush's inauguration in January, 1989.

    Also, last time I checked, the President has veto power. Our CURRENT president approved this expenditure.

    So is it ok now?

  • Re:MovieFone (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    (from the Netcraft engine)

    www.moviefone.com is running Apache/1.3.6 (Unix) on Solaris

  • Telco Load (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    They do what is referred to as "call gaping" which means they drop calls. I've seen a DMS-250
    brought to its knees by a massive influx of 800 calls. Dropping the calls was the only way to keep the switch from crashing.

  • No copies? Yeah, right (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    So let me get this straight.

    Lucas expects a few lawyers with big talk and the FBI computer crime lab (I'm sure they have nothing better to do, they'll probably be watching the movie at the time...) to prevent hacking on the most hyped Geek Movie in human history by potentially hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of rabid fans.

    If you think Star Wars is _not_ going to be pirated, there is a bridge I would like to sell you. There are going to be dozens, if not hundreds, of copies of the pirate available. I bet if you look hard enough, you can find a pirate copy _now._

    *whistles innocently, smiling* O:)

    This getting the FBI involved before the fact is just further proof that Lucas's Ego must be stopped before it destroys Tokyo.

    The best Lucas can hope to do is to just deal with the fact that his movie is going to copied. He's going to make, quite possibly, billions on this movie, before it even goes to videotapes. Pirated movies _might_ take 0.001% profits off the movie, since only the most die-hard wired fans are going to bother with a two-day download of a small movie. The real pirates are the ones that sell tapes on the street corner, not the ones who watch a movie they have already seen in the theater on their computer and advertise the movie for him.

    If Lucas didn't want piracy, he shouldn't have hyped it so. Hype has a way of drawing that kind of element to itself. If you say, 'This is the greatest movie of all time,' don't be surprised when _other_ people come out of the woodwork to cash in.

    He should also be working on the next film... considering the kind of cash cow he's got, he should be milking it more.

  • Re:But It's a TRAILER (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    It's not so much the trailer that Lucas is concerned about. It's the distribution of the full movie. No sites which contain the trailer have been contacted, or are expected to be, according to the article (did you read that part? or are you just responding to the headline?).
    I think Lucas has a point, especially as someone here has noted regarding quality concerns. But I don't see unauthorised sharing (the more correct term for "piracy" as suggested by RMS) as a bad thing for anyone involved.
    Lucas will still get mega $$$s from all the people who want to see it in the theatres, from merchandising, and from "legit" home copies (and gives him more incentive to put out the DVD's BEFORE all of the prequels are released).
    Just my $0.02

  • Re:Dinosaurs (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    It's not about the quality of the media copy; it's about the quality of the viewer. Today's home viewing technology is simply not sufficient to adequately enjoy a fullscreen cinema event. It may be in future. However, for now it is woefully inadequate.

    Even most movie theatre auditoriums are woefully inadequate or at best 'barely adequate'.

    This is simply not something that can be replicated with a TV or projector and a surround sound system no matter how good the dupe is.

    Lucas's own adds for the Special Editions bragged upon this fact.

    When you can get the real thing, an incomplete copy is nothing more but a very effective teaser.

    Pirating is only an issue for those for which the theatrical release is a form of restriction to access to information. Draconian attempts to stop bootlegging during a theatrical run do serve to make Lucas appear Gates-esque. If all a certain part of the market are interested is early access to information then $8+ per nose per viewing is infact highway robbery for that tasteless segment of the population.

  • $4.15Billion vs. $4.5Billion (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    A lot of that 4.5 Billion went overseas to toy
    manufacturers. OTOH, There wasn't much hardware,
    but lots of jobs and research from the $4.15
    billion to Reagan's Star Wars.

    I wonder which was the better investment?

  • Fanatics won't admit it sucks (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Even if the movie completely blows, no one that is so fanatical and that partakes in the hype so much is going to turn around and say "Yes, I admit, this movie sucked." I sure wouldn't.. that'd make me look like a fool for getting caught hook, line, and sinker. So I expect even if it does suck (which it will from everything I've heard so far) people will simply swoon over this movie and throw their money at it based on hype and brand recognition alone. If this movie had come out 25 years ago it would have flopped.

  • s/Lucas/Hollywood/ (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward
    ...and then you're right.

  • Re:KFC/Pizza Hut/Taco Bell (Score:2)

    by Anonymous Coward
    ...it's more likely to make me puke than it is to make me eat in those places.

    If you really want to puke; eat in one of those places.
  • The crappy Telesync version (that you're talking about) and the very high-quality screener version. I've seen them both, and the screener really does look nice. Definitely worth the download if you're on a T3 or better.

    - A.P.
    --


    "One World, One Web, One Program" - Microsoft Promotional Ad

  • But It's a TRAILER (Score:3)

    by jandrese ( 485 ) <kensama@vt.edu> on Thursday May 13, 1999 @11:16AM (#1893391) Homepage Journal
    I'm confused why people are so worried about distribution of the trailers. I thought the whole point of the trailers was to advertise the movie, so the more copies of the trailers you have floating around, the more advertising the movie gets. (Like Star Wars needs more advertising). Why would you want to restrict your advertising by prosecuting all of the people who mirror your trailer for free?

    I also don't understand the comment in the article about "forstalling" the piracy of the second trailer by having it available only on their website (http://www.starwars.com). I don't see how that forstalls anything (except that their server was completely overloaded and slower than molassass).

    With that said, I do agree with him about people who pirate the entire movie. Not only do they steal from Mr. Lucas, but they also tie up a lot of bandwidth that people could otherwise use to read Slashdot. :)
  • Here in Chicago Cineplex Odeon runs their own ticket line (312) 553-CINE. I was able to get through to that and buy tickets for the second showing of the day! I tried MovieFone by phone and web and was completely screwed every time. I wonder how the phone network held up under the load?

  • South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut

    (ok, five words & an ampersand)



  • I thought the licensing deal was with PFS(?)(the fast-food chains formerly owned by Pepsi...KFC, Taco BEll, Pizza Hut)

    Unless the overseas rights are different or something.

  • PepsiCo gave LucasFilm (or whoever) $2 billion for marketing rights in the food and drink category. They will figure something out. Hell, the Episode 1 Mountain Dew bottles are "collectible", whatever the hell that means these days.


    ...phil
  • Posted by Chimichanga:

    I know one place that has lots of piracy, the Philippines. I went there to do something for Intel, and I went to one of their video game stores and they were selling copied video games and copied dvd's. The copied dvd's were turned into vcd's which can be played by windows media player or put a modchip in your playstation. if he really wants to stop piracy, he should first start in the Philippines, the land of piracy.
  • Posted by AlexBanach:

    I'm as excited as the next guy, but long lines and crowded theaters make this a "wait for the video" situation. Plus, I've heard Lucas has made some hefty requirements for theaters to show this movie, ($$$). I'd rather not contribute to this type pressure when it basically says "even if this movies dissapoints, George will be richer".
  • Posted by stodge:

    But it's going to suck anyway. There is no way that it can live up to the expectations. I know this is probably a load of bollocks, but the media are saying that previews aren't too positive, and that the kid is crap.

    I'm going to see it for the entertainment factor alone, not because I'm a Star Wars nut. But I can't (unfortunately) see it living up to the hype (which Im sick of). But I hope it blows Titanic out of the water!
  • Posted by heaven is falling:

    To the people who voted "deserved":

    If I could strangle you I would.

  • I saw Episode I this morning at 4 a.m. The title sums it up.

    I don't see how Obi Wan and Yoda could have such depth of character in the previous films, and yet the Jedi with whom we spent so much time in this movie can be so flat and lifeless.

    Good grief, if the emperor's lackey hadn't finished Liam Neilson, I would have done it myself. Lucas should try not to hire corpses for his leading roles in the future.

  • Here Here! I second that motion! Even though i voted "it's pissing me off" you have an extremely valid point, one which made me change my mind about the whole thing (not easily done, mind you)

    david
  • No, Lucas is no Gates; I'm no Star Wars fan, but I liked his earlier, smaller films a lot.

    We bitch and moan about a glitzy, heavily-marketed OS, and its associated products and FUD and such; some of us do the same about the "dumbing-down" implied by putting KDE or GNOME on top of Linux, but we don't do the same thing with popular culture. If we are excited over Lucas and Phish and EBM and Alcoholica and South Park (to name just a few examples over the past year or so), it shows me that many of us "haven't tried Linux", so to speak; it shows me that we grok the user-friendly, the glitzy, the hyped, the popular (either mass-culturally or subculturally so), and the shockful -- rather than take the time and "RTFM" concerning music and the visual/televisual arts. My pop-culture examples are not buggy like Win*, but they do come from a dominant platform (shared by a small set of large corporations, rather than a single one), and they have their various deficiencies (and I say that as someone who has enjoyed -- in small doses -- all of the aforementioned examples). I dunno. I have come to associate showbiz marks with WinDOS users, perhaps wrongfully so.

    A missive from the 2 department.

    --

  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • That's strange, because I have tickets to see it the 23rd at an AMC theater.

  • Hell, even on Gate's own turf Lucas bested him: Pixar.

    Sorry to disapoint you, but Lucas doesn't own or run Pixar, and hasn't since 1986, right about the time when Steve Jobs founded the company. (Yes, that Steve.) What Pixar was before the sale to Jobs was a computer animation dept. of ILM.
  • I don't really understand how changing the file format the trailer is in is "bastardizing" it.
    Have you compared the quality? The conversions aren't as good and he's obviously very concerned about keeping quality up.

    Besides, it's his movie and his choice. You're more than welcome to film your own movies but you have no rights over someone else's work.

  • I am a computer science student, and I frequently have to spend time in computer rooms with other people whom I don't know. Some people frequently piss me off by playing the trailers over and over again. I am getting sick and tired of having to close my eyes and cover my ears every time I hear "Lukes theme".
    The worst part is that I live in Europe, and the movie will not be released here until August. Already, there is too much hype and merchandise everywhere, from McDonalds to every other toy store. (well, isn't that what McDonalds is to kids anyway...) There is no valid reason to release it late in my country (Sweden), it just has to be copied and subtitled. That process does not need three months. But, what scares me is that this could be only the beginning. When it escalates, I am going to turn my TV off and buy earplugs.
    My friends tell me that resistance is futile, but I still struggle.

    I am still standing by my thesis - I refuse to see the movie, until I go to see the movie!

  • While it is a nice diversion (the MPEG version of The Matrix) if you have nothing better to do, all it really does by my estimation is give you a better appreciation for the theatrical original. This is most apparent NOW as this movie is still in it's theatrical run. This lead me to the conclusion that perhaps studios should actually do their video releases as they are showing these movies in the theatres.

    You see the dinky VHS/DVD/MPEG1 version after having recently seen the original and realize just how those ntsc videos are just no replacement for the real thing.
  • Hell, even on Gate's own turf Lucas bested him: Pixar.

    George pushes the tech for the benefit of his art, Bill sandbags the tech for the benefit of his pocketbook. While Billy was still fuzting with DOS 1.x, George was giving us (indirectly of course) the Genesis Effect and starting a list of CGI credits longer than Bill's porfolio.
  • This rather inflamatory flamebait subject is nearly completely off the mark. George has no delusions about being original or innovative (production tech excepted) and quite freely admits to recycling 3000 years worth of ideas and concepts from drama and mythology.

    There is also none of the 'if I buy this today will I be able to use foo tommorow' or 'everyone is buying foo so I will need to buy foo or be stuck with an unusable movie' sort of network effects that plague software.
  • What do you mean, you don't think Hamill has talent? He's great as the Joker on Batman:TAS...
    Phil Fraering "Humans. Go Fig." - Rita

  • Star Wars (Score:1)

    by jd ( 1658 )
    The original trilogy was good, but IMHO slid off with each story. With the "updated" versions still missing the important dialogue (which made the dialogue that WAS there make sense), it's very clear that the next three are going to go the same way. They CAN'T recapture that magic, because I don't think George Lucas knows what the magic WAS.
  • Well...

    After seeing the matrix 3 times in the cinemas I hope you understand why I would watch it instead of going again to the cinemas... I mean... They are expensive,

    Yes I will buy the DVD the moment it comes out, in fact I'll get a DVD drive for it. But until then the VCD will just do :(
  • I know this post will probably get demoted, but it really is just cost, not costed.

  • Re:Digital Millenium Copyright Act (Score:4)

    by Jeff Licquia ( 2167 ) on Thursday May 13, 1999 @02:59PM (#1893416) Homepage
    Quote, from the letter linked to on the page:

    "The Digital Millenium Copyright Act ("DCMA") requires copyright owners to notify internet service providers about infringing activities and about facts and circumstnaces from which infringing activity is apparent, and imposes the obligation on ISPs to remove or disable access to infringing materials. The information set out below provides you with the notice required under the DCMA with regard to unauthorized electronic files relating to the upcoming film _Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace_ ("Episode I"). It also includes information refarding infringment of trademarks relating to _Episode I_ resulting from the posting of illegal video recordings on the internet. We trust that you will act promptly to prevent this infringement."

    And later:

    "The information provided in this letter is accurate to the best of my knowledge and is provided under penalty of perjury."

    IANAL, but this sounds like the language for giving legal notice. (Not to mention that he says he's giving legal notice.) Exactly what is he "legally notifying" them of? That copyright violations are illegal? I think they already know that.

    Rather, this is an attempt to reinterpret the guidelines in the DCMA that address whether an ISP is guilty of contributory copyright infringement. This way, the rules that were set up to punish rogue ISPs that flaunt the law can be applied to any ISP that LucasFilm decides was not "diligent enough" in preventing violations.

    ISPs didn't want that language written into the law for good reason; this is it.

  • Digital Millenium Copyright Act (Score:5)

    by Jeff Licquia ( 2167 ) on Thursday May 13, 1999 @11:16AM (#1893417) Homepage
    Is LucasFilm's legal eagle team providing such a nice public service, educating the ISPs on copyright law? Don't bet on it.

    You know, I remember the copyright police saying that the DMCA would only kick in for ISPs after official notification for *specific* violations. In other words, you still can't be held responsible for copyrighted material on your site unless you're notified and refuse to take it down.

    Now LucasFilm is playing fast and loose with the rules and "informing" all ISPs of the "specific" violation that copying Episode 1 is illegal. This so that the hyperactive legal department at LucasFilm can kick in and sue under the DCMA the moment a file is found, without having to bother with the messy notification clause. After all, they've all been notified of the potential violation, so if a file is found, that must constitute refusal to remove it.

    This is the most blatant lawyer-screw I think I've ever seen. LucasFilm stands to make millions on the film, but that isn't enough; they have to twist the law to screw the poor hapless ISPs who happen to harbor a bad apple or two, or who are unlucky enough to get hacked by the wrong hacker.

    I hope they sue some ISP and lose, so that the language of the law gets some clarity in case history. And I hope the ISP they sue countersues, and gets a big chunk of those Star Wars revenues.

  • You know, I _like_ watching must-anticipated movies on opening night. It's great-- the audience is enthusiastic, it's fun to see all those people waiting with me, and yes, I get to say, "I was there when IT came out." The cost? About an hour and a half of my time standing in line (the theatre I went to was a bit off the beaten track). Sounds like a decent tradeoff to me. Surely it will be more worthwhile and lining up outside CompUSA at midnight to buy Windows 95.

    -Dean
  • In 1977 I was in grade five. I don't recall an inordinant amount of hype leading up to Star Wars. I remember rave reviews and almost an instant cult like following. Cult like in that just as people would go and see Rocky Horror Picture Show umpteen times they would also go and see Star Wars umpteen times. Obviously Star Wars was very main stream, but the following could best be described as a cult like following.

    I went to see it, I think I've seen it in the theater two times. It was a good movie. For the time the special effects were amazing. I've been in a variety of places in a variety of drunken states as its been played, but I really haven't watched it again. A few years later when it appeared on HBO and my parents had purchased a VCR I did record it, but mostly because it was hiliarious in fast forward or reverse.

    By then the quality of the special effects weren't as spectacular compared to other movies of the time. It was still a good movie though.

    This prequel is a bit different though, there is an amazing amount of hype being dished out in advance. I happen to be pretty hard for the media to get to since I don't watch a lot of main stream TV and find playing CD's in my jeep more interesting than listening to the latest Howard Stern impersonator during my drives to and from work. I still can't avoid the hype though. The front page story on the local fish wrap was a review of the movie. I didn't read it but I might later. I'd like to see if its a totally favourable review and if not how many letters to the editor are going to be published lambasting the reviewer.

    I will go and see the prequel. I'd like to say that I'll wait till the hype dies down, but I doubt if it ever will.
  • The interview said Kerschner "prodded" Ford to adlib,
    not that Kershner made it up himself.
  • By the way, that is one of my all-time favorite movie lines! ;)
  • it must be great!
    He wouldn't know talent if it bit him on his "private Parts".
  • No, I think that Kirshner said that he liked it, and wanted to keep it, rather than follow the script.

    Ford is evidently a bit of a method actor - he ad libbed the bit in Star Wars where he talks over the intercom in the detention block, because it would then sound more like he really was making it up on the fly. Which he was....

    I think that's stuff that matters. ;)
  • That is the Geek Code. Which is really due for an update...

    Anyhow the Geek Code can be found at http://www.geekcode.com/ [geekcode.com]

    His code means:
    He's a Geek of Computer Science
    Dresses casually
    A bit fat, but not too much
    In his late 20's
    Heavily into computers
    A wicked Unix guru
    Not so big on Perl
    Thinks Linux is okay but not amazing
    Uses emacs
    Uses the web a fair bit
    Reads some newsgroups
    Loathes the usenet oracle
    Is not enlightened about Kibo
    Uses Windows but doesn't like it
    Didn't care about OS/2 either
    Hates the Mac (Between this and his Linux score we can tell he's a no-goodnik ;)
    Likes Unix better than VMS
    Apolitical
    Financially conservative (pro taxes, pro welfare, anti military spending)
    Interested in cypherpunk issues but no active
    Doesn't use PGP
    Likes Star Trek
    Indifferent to Babylon 5 (now we really know about the no-goodnik issue ;)
    Likes X-Files a lot
    Plays some RPGs
    Watches TV daily
    Likes to read but doesn't frequently do so
    Likes Dilbert
    Likes DOOM a good bit
    No longer so interested in the Geek Code
    Has an MA
    Married
    Gender undisclosed, but gets a lot of it

    My code can be decoded here [ebb.org]

  • I wonder if people will go to the theatre for SW1 and, forgetting where they are, leave in disgust when they don't show the SW1 trailer before the film. :)
    ---
    "'Is not a quine' is not a quine" is a quine.
  • I sense a fellow Discordian...
  • Only 26 times each? I've watched the entire trilogy every weekend for as long as I can remember. It's no waste of time in my book.

    And no, I'm not seeing it opening night. I'm going to see it a week and a half later, so I can watch it with all my out-of-town friends. SW:TPM might be good and it might be bad, but one thing's for sure: It'll be *fun*.

    Cheers.
    -- SG
    "I'm not suffering from insanity. I'm enjoying every minute of it."
  • ... to put the SW character on their product. PepsiCo also own Frito-Lays, KFC, Pizza-Hut, etc... so expect to see those familiar SW face on your bag of chips, your pizza box, your fried-chicken barrel, etc.

    This is not urban legend; this morning I catched an analysis of SW marketing on radio (CBC, serious stuff) where they were talking about the revenue model of the production. I just can't believe how much money they are gonna make with this one ...
  • Yes! Those shoulders, that insouciant posture, those ears...I would commit rithsharsha (sp?) with this being....
  • If Lucas is so concerned about keeping the quality up he shouldn't put it on the net in a format that everyone on the net can't view.

    I really don't understand this remark. If you are are using MacOS or Windows you can use official Apple tools to watch Quicktime movies. If you are using a form of UNIX you can use xanim to watch Quicktime movies. Who is it, exactly, who can't watch Quicktime? VT100 terminal users?
  • MPEG TV is only $10 to register. If you'll use it, buy it. Support good software for Linux!
  • I've been looking for a mirror for the music video for about a week now and can't find one. Apple's site is lame to the point where I can't get the video to download, even with a cable modem.

    Anyone have a mirror? I've found the trailers mirrored, and even the TV commercials mirrored, but not the video.

    A little help?

  • Lucas' stated concern is that the pirates have no quality control. So when you see an MPEG of a trailer that's obviously shot with a smuggled video camera, you'll be fooled into thinking the movie's going to look the same way? I loved the first pirate trailer, as it had that community feel to it.

    The real issue is control over the trademarks and copyrights. If they don't show due diligence, they'll lose control over the merchandising rights, which is where the real money lies.

    -W-
  • I don't think that people enjoying a fun piece of fiction is going to hurt such causes. If we want to hype it a bit, it's because it happens to have little bearing on reality, which you mentioned isn't necessarily always good. So what if many people relish a break from that?

    No matter what I do with my life, it is almost certain that I will not be able to change the nature of humanity. We don't really learn all that much from history. So, the point of life is obviously not to train future generations by example, since that's best done by bad example anyhow.

    Thus, it's really not all that important to care much about these things. Some people have been killing each other for a long time, when we recognise those people, we try to prevent them. We can't predict them all, but we can't do much better. Not that we shouldn't try, but we shouldn't stop enjoying life because more serious problems exist. Why worry about something you cannot affect?
  • I was there in '77...I saw the FIRST showing of A NEW HOPE on its first day in Toronto. Everybody knew it was going to be big, but basically that was all we knew. Not the stars, not the effects, not the sights or sounds or concepts. Nada. At least part of the movie's impact was that it all came as a wonderful surprise...and I am TRYING to recreate that feeling. It's damned difficult.

    I have not seen ANY of the trailers. I avert my eyes when a promo comes on at the theatres or on TV. I haven't read any of the articles about the move (tho' I have read a few about McGregor and Neeson in connection with the movie). I've glimpsed a few things, but not much.

    What is everybody thinking about this hype??? Does anybody seriously think that there is a single person in the world who won't see the damned movie if they don't get a preview of the highlights beforehand? I HATE spoilers...I haven't logged onto Ain't It Cool News for months to avoid any taint.

    I'm not gonna buy the books (print or colouring). I'm not going to buy the toys and souveneirs. I'm not going to buy a T-shirt or poster or any of the zillion and one bits of flotsam surrounding this movie.

    All I want is to be surprised and thrilled...just like I was the first time. But keeping my Phantom Menace virginity is an uphill battle, let me tell you.
  • "I am your father" wasn't kept secret at all. The novelization came out over a month before the movie and I had already read it. Heck, the Menance novelization (by Terry Brooks... shudder!) has been out for almost 2 weeks, right?
  • In Bonita Springs FL, it cost me 21 bucks for 3 tickets at $7 a pop, showing at 12:30 am on May the 19th. I guess the theatre has THX sound, but they sure don't advertise it.

    Why you ask did I buy the tickets so early? Because it adds to the excitement of the movie when you are half a sleep when it starts (That is if it is a good movie, if it isn't I can sleep through the entire thing justifiably :)).
  • I waited over seven hours yesterday only to see a mob of High School kids rush the front of the line causing utter chaos. By the time I finally got to the front (after waiting two hours in what can only be described as a weak mosh-pit) almost all of the shows were sold out. I know for a fact that some of the people behind me had camped out, and were going to end up seeing it on the 20th.

    Other theatres in town were just fine, this one, however, seemed to have no cap on the number of tickets one could purchase. One lady who was wearing a cap from a scalping agency walked off with a pile of about 80 tickets... About half an hour after tickets went on sale 12:01 seats were going for $25 (they're originally $7.50).

    The chaos caused by everyone rushing the box office two hours before it opened didn't help much either.

  • The hype is really, really annoying me at the moment. Lucas decided to do a simultaneous worldwide merchandising launch, so over here in Ireland, the novel, screenplay and art/vehicles books are already out, but the film doesn't open until July 16th. Arrrrrggghhh!!!!!

    --
  • This whining about "theft" of copyrighted material really gets out of of hand. Calling the FBI to prevent some hardcore fans (those kind of people besieging cinemas for hours to get a ticket) from "stealing" a giga of thumbnailed mpegs with their 56k modems is just pathetic.

    If the launch of the movie would be somewhat syncronized over the world (here in Austria TPM will start in September(!)) nobody would bother for hours or days with downloading of what could at best be considerd a low quality preview. But I think Georg Lucas' marketriods can't stage the media and merchandising hype in more than one country a time.
  • Saw it this morning at 10am, EST. Went with my boss and coworker (gotta love small shops). We ordered tickets last night by phone, so no line-waiting.

    Did it live up to the hype? I dunno, I don't pay attention to such things. It was a cool movie. Was it high cinema? Blah... It never aspired to be.

    The F/X knocked my socks off. The story was pithy, but then all of the Star Wars movies were kinda corny. That's OK. If you go to Ringling Brothers expecting Cirque de Soleil, you're going to be disappointed. Otherwise, you'll have a good time.

    The pod race was incredible, and I got chills as the battle tanks crested the hill on their way down to the battlefield. Wow. Do not see this film in a theatre that's not equipped with digital sound.

    Ok, that's my vent for the day. I'll probably see it at least three or four more times. There's so much to see. It's a visual feast!

  • "A New Hope" wasn't "intelligent".

    It was exciting, it had swordfights, chase-scenes, and romance. It had Good and Evil, without shades of grey. It had borderline abysmal acting. It had whiz-bang special effects that made you think you were watching a real space battle. But it didn't exactly exercise those brain-cells.

    It was, as Lucas has said so many times, a Saturday morning movie for the kids. The fact that it was a damn good example of the genre, made squillions of dollars, and is still enjoyed by millions of people doesn't change that fact.

    Carlfish
  • Though it doesn't quite mean what Rob intended.

    Main Entry: 2cost
    Function: verb
    Inflected Form(s): cost; costing
    Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French coster, from Latin constare to stand firm, cost -- more at CONSTANT [m-w.com]
    Date: 14th century
    intransitive senses
    1 : to require expenditure or payment cost more>
    2 : to require effort, suffering, or loss
    transitive senses
    1 : to have a price of
    2 : to cause to pay, suffer, or lose something cost him his job>
    3 past costed : to estimate or set the cost of -- often used with out

    Merriam-Webster [m-w.com]

  • I love all the hype Star Wars is getting, but that's because I am a huge fan, and would be psyched if Lucas showed 2 hours of static on May 19'th. It basically breaks down to whether or not you're a fan. People either like Star Wars or hate it, and I can certainly understand how annoying all the hype can get if you don't give a damn. The simple fact of the matter is if you're a true fan, you'll love The Phantom Menace regardless of whether it sucks or not. And if you hate Star Wars...well, what can I say? You'll hate it. Either way, the hype will eventually end, and then everyone will be happy.
  • "I'm confused why people are so worried about distribution of the trailers. "

    You can print a hella good bootleg poster
    from a 35mm trailer frame.
  • Complain all you want, but I'll watch it just to see the Pizza Hut Chiq.


    -- Give him Head? Be a Beacon?

  • Ok, so people are already saying that this movie is going to be the best ever. Even I say (and truly believe) that it will be the most successful movie of all time. No other movie in history has ever completely sold out within hours in my city. Two theatres, 450 seats each, brand spanking new (opening Friday), eleven showings a day. That's 9900 tickets, SOLD OUT IN JUST THREE HOURS. Regardless of whether the movie actually blows (which I don't think it will), it will likely be amongst the highest grossing movies of all time.

    My second point is that anybody who trusts movie critics on ANYTHING is a fool. If I had seen every movie ever made for the past 25 years, I'd probably get kind of grouchy and picky about movies. I also have made it a point NOT to read ANY of the hype in magazines and such, simply because I knew that it might well ruin the experience if I already had every detail in my head. I have seen both trailers, the four commercials, have the official movie poster, have the soundtrack, and will probably be buying the new toys. I've read almost every single Star Wars novel published. I know what the general plotline is, but that does not make me any less excited to see it. If I had the money, I would have paid for those charity tickets to get to see it early. Above all else, I want to see for myself if Lucas is still the greatest mind in the movie industry. But don't render judgement on the movie until you've actually seen it.

  • Lucas is to movies as Gates is to software (Score:4)

    by Superdave ( 8390 ) on Thursday May 13, 1999 @11:35AM (#1893451) Homepage
    It seems to me that a community as intelligent and perceptive as the /. folks would see that Lucas has us all by the short and curlies, same as Gates has most of the non-technical lusers in the world. We are being manipulated and milked for our time and money, and we're letting it happen. How could the movie ever possibly live up to all the expectations that've been built up by all the hype? It can't. Why are we going to spend 5 and 6 dollars at a time for plastic toys worth less than a dollar? Why are we going to rush to the theatres, wait days and days in line, and spend 8 or 12 dollars a ticket, when in 3 months we can get in without waiting at all? To say "We were there when IT first showed"?? Big fuckin' deal. Theatres will probably run the damned thing until November, so what's the rush? And screw the whole merchandising monstrosity. Who thought I'd want to see lame-ass Darth Maul on my Mountain Dew bottle? He looks more like an ugly, angry circus clown with that ridiculous make up than he does a "ph33rs0m3 \/1ll41n". Vader was 10 times the villain this painted joke could ever be.

    /rant

  • KFC/Pizza Hut/Taco Bell (Score:3)

    by eponymous cohort ( 8637 ) on Thursday May 13, 1999 @11:12AM (#1893452)
    The worst is the ad with Col. Sanders, the Taco Bell Chihuaua, and the Pizza Hut girl driving down the freeway to save the Queen from Star Wars, that's the most shameless Star Wars tie-in I've seen, and it's more likely to make me puke than it is to make me eat in those places.

  • Only quicktime? That is like giving away furniture for free but specifying that it _must_ be taken home in a chevy. Screw it. If he wants to give away content for free why should he care about the mode of delivery. Pirating something _not_ intended for mass distribution is wrong though - But this trailer is intended to be available for everyone.

  • I'll only live about 700,000 hours, and although a new StarWars movie may be worth two or three of those, I feel like I've already come close to that even before it's been released.

    (Just my opinion, of course; someone who sees it two dozen times and has a lot of fun each time gets my respect for their intensity. But that's not me.)

  • "Failed to connect to server". Oh yeah, that's cryptic. Once again, fine writing by ZDNet.
    --Ivan, weenie NT4 user, Jon Katz hater: bite me!
  • Heck, Star Wars invented the concept of mass-marketing film merchandise. It's to be expected we'll find Star Wars characters on the back of cereal boxes, on the sides of soda cups and on everything else conceivable. Hype alone will push the film to record-breaking profits on opening day. It's going to be the movie to see for some time to come, and rest assured we'll be seeing it everywhere.

    Will it be intelligent and interesting like the original ("A New Hope" is it called now?) and Empire - or will it be a mess like Jedi? Only time will tell.

  • It was sooo bad that I just looked at is a sort of poking fun of all of the other hype we are likely to see. I'm probably (definitely?) wrong, but I find the world is much more interesting when viewed as one big self-deprecating joke. :)
  • Sizzler has a REALLY bad commercial. There are Luke and Han type-characters eating at sizzler. During the chatter about Sizzler, they are using all kinds of bad star wars puns. "Q:How do you eat it? A:Use the fork" is one of the worst. The acting sucks too
  • Not all theaters. Only the ones that signed limit deals and such were allowed pre-release sales. In California I know Edwards Cinemas was allowed to and so was another one...but I forgot. Anyways I know AMC wasnt allowed to. I got my tickets at Edwards 22 in Ontario, the AMC across the parking lot was practically empty. But they got to presale for Titanic so it works out doesnt it?
  • Well, I just saw the new videoclip from Toy Box: Best Friend and in one scene they start figthing with sabers... How far can and will this Hoopla go? :)
  • Yeah, but ask yourself who's doing the marketing in this case - Lucasfilm or PepsiCo? Hint, I'll bet PepsiCo is paying Lucas for the rights to crank out a set of SW:TPM "collector cans", and not Lucasfilm paying Pepsico to advertise SW:TPM on their cans.

    Last I heard, Lucasfilm had hardly spent any money advertising the film - they don't need to. Ditto with all the product tie-ins. Who do you suppose was beating down whose doors for the rights to manufacture SW toys and action figures? Lucas probably had to beat them off with a stick.

  • Can Do's and Can't Do's? (Score:3)

    by Jessamy ( 19219 ) on Thursday May 13, 1999 @11:13AM (#1893496)
    C'mon people.. I now that most of you Linux people beleive in no copyright notices but you have to respsect the creative talents and wishes of the creator. If Lucas wants only QuickTime format then keep it in QuickTime format. If he doesn't want you post the movie anyplace then don't. It's HIS production. He wrote it. It's his dream.

    I certainly wouldn't like anyone taking any of my artwork without permission and potentially bastardizing it.
  • You're right!

    In order to see Star Wars, I have to find a theater that has an SMP.. i mean, THX system. It has to have a certain amount of client seats. It probably will get used so much that the projector will crash. And speaking of projectors, to see Star Wars 2000 (to be released in 2001?) I'll have to find someplace that has upgraded beyond what is currently available on the market (read: digital projectors).

    Why, my open source (16mm) movies will play on damn near any projector, but Lucasfilms need to be in a classy establishment. Plus, his movies cost a lot more.

    Darth Maul should be the next Office Assistant. "Spell check your documents. ALL of them." "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

    -Chris
  • And it was amazing. The special effects are unlike anything I've seen before, they totally blend in. The story isn't half bad either, kind of a bittersweet ending but I thought it was completely enjoyable.

    Of course it could have been 45 minutes of black screen and I probably would have enjoyed it if they called it starwars..

    I think the hype is deserved, initially I didn't think the movie would live up to the hype but I think it does for the most part. There are a few things I'm not so sure about, how they are going to make the connection from III to IV, for example and they kind of lose some of that cool 1970's style "sci-fi look" that the original new hope had. They also intentionally leave you hanging and wanting more but it was a good movie overall.

  • Lucas v. Gates (Score:3)

    by for(;;); ( 21766 ) on Thursday May 13, 1999 @01:06PM (#1893513)
    Actually, this is not unlike the Neal Stephenson "Cryptonomicon" essay posted to /. a while back. The essence of the essay was that folks these days prefer mediated experiences to "real" ones. People want easy-to-digest movies, people want idiot-proof GUIs.

    However, "Star Wars", as entertainment, works.

    Windows, as an operating system, does not work.

    If watching Star Wars sucked as much ass as using Windows -- and if they make a "Jar-Jar Binks Meet the Ewoks" saturday morning cartoon, it just might -- I would have to agree with you. Certainly Gates and Lucas are both fanatical about guarding intellectual property, and both have sunk their claws into other industries. Lucas, however, makes good stuff.
  • Has me by the short and curlies? Are you MAD? He has a movie. I wish to see it. I'm willing to pay a couple bucks (the ticket I currently have in my wallet cost a friend of mine a four hours in line and cost me $4 and some undying gratitude) to watch his movie. He elects to only show this movie in theatres of sufficient quality to do justice to the hard work he and his company put into the film. That's fine...it's showing at all the good theaters (that is, the ones I'm accustomed to going to) here in town. He's licensed some manufacturers to make toys based on his IP. That's fine too, I've bought some of the toys and I feel that the pleasure they bring me is worth more than the money I paid for them.

    Lucas isn't coercing ANYBODY. The comparisons that some people insist on making ( X is like Bill Gates/Microsoft because they want to make money on their products and services), where X is Red Hat, George Lucas, or the fucking Easter Bunny are tired and pointless. Believe it or not, it is indeed possible in today's economic client to make money using good products, rather than shady business tactics. I've never seen CONCLUSIVE evidence that Lucas is anything more nefarious than a good storyteller, a savvy marketeer, and a zealous defender of his intellectual property. Hell, I wish I could be remembered that way!
  • I just got back from the movie and i have to say it absolutely rocked. The effects were good, the twists were, well... unexpected, and overall i'd give it an A

    but, alot of critics say the movie stinks, it has no dialogue, no more magic. A movie can only do so much. It is but pictures and voice put together. It is what you perceave it as. What i find the magic of starwars is the communal bonding of everyone who sees it. I started lining up for my 12:30 show at 12:00 and had a blast with the other people in line. How many strangers can you walk up to and say food is god in 4 different languages before they give up without you getting hit? When we got in, we hassled the poor kid with focus until it was absolutely perfect, and when the lucasfilms logo appeared some guy in the back screamed out "starwars rules!" followed by another enthuiastic round of cheering. There was the standard laugh and cheering and booing with the movie as there was 16 years ago. For the people that say that it doesn't touch them anymore, you've grown up. i'm sorry but there's nothing a movie can do about that. JarJar is one awesome charactor (i love his walk^_^) and whereas he can get annoying, he's there to bring in the kids, what do you think C3P0 and R2D2 were for besides comic relief? sure, you may say i'm brainwashed like all the rest, but if you let it overcome you, its quite fun. The magic is still there because the community will always be here and always have each other to look for wierdness. The magic hasn't disapeared in the films, the magic has disapeared in you...


    "reality is but an constant illusion" - Einstien
    #include "i_know_my_spelling_sucks_so_nyah!.h"

  • Huh? (Score:2)

    by jalfano ( 25311 )
    What's Star Wars?
  • I agree. We do have to create our own myths; I think it's very important that we learn to do this instead of accepting the ones other people try to feed us. I voted Deserved because I think the Star Wars hype is different from most movie hype in the sense that it's a myth that we really *did* create. I don't like movie advertisers telling me what I should be excited about, and it does make me a little sick to go to the store and see Phantom Menace characters plastered over every product. That kind of hype does piss me off, just as did the hype for Godzilla, Stargate, Independence Day, et cetera, ad nausem. Star Wars is different, though, because, unlike those movies, there's real, grassroots excitement for the movie as well as the corporate-produced hubbub. Years after the original Star Wars trilogy was released, and years before anyone thought that a second trilogy was a possibility for the near future, lots of people still loved Star Wars, not because a marketing campaign suggested that we should, but because we wanted to. The excitement that flowed through the people standing with me in the hour-long line for tickets last Wednesday was something that we had created in ourselves and in each other, something we could really enjoy as our own, regardless or even in spite of the corporate-imposed hype for the movie.

    Like you say, there are so few things that can draw our society together today with any sincerity of emotion. Star Wars itself isn't, and shouldn't be seen as anything more than something fun and lighthearted, but that's a really important role for it to fill. I think it's wonderful that people around the country and around the world can get together for a couple of hours and enjoy themselves, sincerely and communally. With all the problems nationalist and religious fanaticism create today, it's good to know we still have the capability to get excited about something that is harmless.
  • He changed the policy a while ago. All theaters were allowed to sell on 5/12 at 3pm.
  • Yes, Star Wars has a cult following to rival most any other movie. George Lucas did not HAVE to hype the movie. He would have packed the theaters with the rabid fans for weeks and made millions anyway. But, that is not the point. You can never have enough fans. That is a cardinal rule of Hollywood and neither Lucas nor Spielberg are above it. The goal of all this is the same as when ID4, MIB, and the future WWW came or will come out. (WWW= Wild Wild West - funny how all the big-hype movies have acronymed titles)- to get kids interested in it. To get more and more fans. Guess what folks, how many people on this site stood in line and got tix? How many people plan on skipping work to see it? How many people plan on seeing it more than once in the theaters? How many people scoffed at Lliam Nieson's comment, "It's just a movie."? How many people would download a pirated copy at the first inklng of a chance? The hype worked.

    Another thing, all this talk about pirated copies of the movie... wasn't this already discussed? I got the general impression that folks who replied to that thgouht the same thing, people will pirate stuff. There is nothing any law enforcement agency can do to stamp it out for the simple reason that the majority of people don't care if it gets stamped out or not. Why is there so much discussion about it again on this poll? Get over it folks, the money-makers will always bitch about people pirating their stuff, and the money-givers will always look for cheaper ways of getting the stuff.

    Last thing. Someone said people either love or hate Star Wars. Is anyone else out there as tired as I am of this lame explaination of absolutely nothing? It's like saying, "people either breathe and live or don't and die." No s**t sherlock. True fans will not blindly love anything Lucas puts out. A true fan is Lucas' biggest fear. This is the person who will be, in fact, should be the most critical person of TPM. This is a person who has waited longer, and wanted this movie more than the average person. If it sucks, the true fan should feel the most let down of anyone.

    to steal a saying, "Of course, that's just my opinion. I could be wrong."
  • What's wrong with getting a little, or a lot, excited about something pointless and childish?
    the bombs are falling, everyone is making enough that they can take a week out to stand in line, or hours to wardial a ticket line. we all just want to have fun. there is not much left in the world that people care about, no charismatic leaders to follow, no religions to throw mad festivals, we have to create our own myths. and heck this one is better than most, like the marshmallow man, let's concentrate on something simple and innocent, and hope the crap goes away.

    pease
  • Exactly. I've been trying not to get sucked in, because I know that it'll just dissapoint me in the end if I do. How can you match the dreams and expectations of Star Wars fans? The first movie was a milestone, and one hopes that this one will be as well. If only there wasnt this devoted cult of SW fans making headlines around the wold about wating in lines for months and selling their testicles to get good seats, we wouldn't have this problems.
    And then there was the mistake of having the advanced screenings for the press. If Lucas didn't care about the press' opinion, why allow them in? He knew that it wouldn't get glowing reviews. Of course this would just create bad publicity, but still.
    But to see Lucas complain that the hype has gotten out of hand, without his wanting, is laughable. There's 101 toys available at stores everywhere, Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell have joined forces under the banner of Pepsi to fight the dark side in TV commercials everywhere (and recently started promothing their own line of 30 or so toys). Jeez George, if you didn't want this problem, why license out 8000 crappy promo tie-ins?
  • Everything the detractors and critics have been saying about SW is true. Jar Jar Binks has his moments, but mostly, he's just annoying. Jake Lloyd acts as well as any 10-year old can- he gets a little better towards the end of the film, but mostly, he's a proud graduate of the Keanu Reeves School of Acting. Senator Palpatine looks like a warped Bill Murray, and the special effects sometimes overwhelm the story.

    I loved every minute of it.

    There were parts that were good; the pod race may not have had much to do with the story, but it WAS cool. There were parts that were great; the Naboo/droid battle was spectacular, the battle scenes inside the palace were a lot like the stormtrooper/Alliance battle inside the corvette at the beginning of A New Hope, and the T-Wing vs. the giant ship thing was a lot better than you would think in the trailers. Darth Maul was also much better than the trailers would make you believe; when he stared through the force field, you could FEEL the aura.

    And then there was The Duel.

    The .mp3 was OK, but not that great. The battle by itself was magnificently choreographed, but wouldn't go well with the old Empire theme. With that music as a backdrop, it was 10 minutes of the best lightsaber fight anyone could possibly have hoped for.

    If and when the movie's out on the 'Net, what I want most of all is that someone strips the rest of the movie and just releases the duel as a standalone.

    I think I'll go see it again on Friday...



  • Moviefone is still hosed (Score:3)

    by Rocket Boy ( 34136 ) on Thursday May 13, 1999 @11:08AM (#1893555)
    Locally, the moviefone number was hosed all day, the entire automated system crashed. It still just shunts all calls to a full mailbox.
    Funny. I didn't know a phone system could be slashdotted.

    RB

  • Star Wars Project Vs. Merch. (Score:3)

    by Slycee ( 35025 ) <rick@ v r o o p . c om> on Thursday May 13, 1999 @11:06AM (#1893562) Homepage
    I think Rob's message about the cost of SDI vs. the merchandising of Star Wars is a bit misleading (at least the way I read it). Here is what Harper's actually states:
    "Amount the Pentagon will spend this year on its Ballistic Missile Defense or "star wars" program : $4,166,000,000

    Amount the world has spent since 1977 on licensed Star Wars merchandise : $4,500,000,000"

  • Does his stance against piracy include those of us who turn the Quicktime trailers into MPEGs and distribute them for free?
  • hey,
    star wars is f* excellent. Back in those days the fx were awesome....the story however...to this day is one of the greatest....i'm going to watch it for the story.....not the bullshit fx that people have been talking about....if i wanted to see fx i would have seen ID4 Starship troopers and all the other clones around.....this will be the greatest event....the sequel (in reverse order) .. of probably the greatest set of movies ever made....
    Lucas is a legend...however he should shut up about copyright.....that dude that wrote in about people going to watch it in the theatre is right.
    People aren't going to watch a f* great movie in mpeg format when the awesomeness is fully experienced in a theatre...Lucas should realise this cos he isn't the stupidest f* in the world.
    cya
  • ...absolutely rocked! Just came back from seeing the 12:01 am showing (Eastern) - it was excellent.

    It was everything I expected, which was a good, fantasy story. Nothing more, nothing less.

    My only gripe was how it seemed to parallel the original released trilogy (episodes 4, 5, and 6) a bit too much - you'll see what I mean when you see the movie. Other than that, it was well worth it, and I, for one, will be seeing it again in the theaters.

    PinkFreud

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