By Ailsa Wu, Boston.com Staff, 05/12/99
Fans languish in a long line outside the Sony Cheri Theatre on Dalton Street. Tickets went on sale there at 2 p.m.
(Globe Photo / John Tlumacki)
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Tickets for 'Star Wars I: The Phantom Menace' have begun to go on sale.
Moviefone is selling advanced tickets. Call 333-FILM (333-3456)
The Moviefone Web site at
has slowed considerably, and it is difficult to log on.
Theaters are restricted from selling more than 12 advance tickets for each person, but there are now no formal ways to stop scalpers from snagging tickets.
Below is a list of theaters in the Boston area offering advance tickets, but be be prepared, the lines are already well formed:
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BOSTON - Oriah Chamarro and Andrew Peralta were taking no chances.
The MIT students wanted to make sure they would get first crack at seeing the Star Wars prequel "The Phantom Menace" when it opens May 19. So, in a scene repeated at box offices around the nation and in other parts of the world, they pitched camp outside Boston's Cheri Theatre -- a full 24 hours before tickets were scheduled to go on sale.
"I think it's worth it," said Chamarro, 21. He and Peralta, also 21, were the first in line outside the Cheri, located on Dalton Street.
Soon, they weren't alone. By 11 p.m. Tuesday night more than 40 people were already in line.
"The Phantom Menace," the latest installment in George Lucas's sci-fi series, is bound to become this year's box office blockbuster. The movie, the first episode of Lucas' prequel trilogy, covers the early years of the young Anakin Skywalker, who eventually becomes the dreaded Darth Vader.
When 30-year-old John Monserrat and a fellow MIT student joined the line Tuesday night, it was already starting to snake around the block. Like many fans, they arrived well-prepared for the wait -- with umbrellas, chairs, food and the "Star Wars" edition of Trivial Pursuit.
"I haven't slept," said Monsarrat, who stayed awake until dawn Wednesday morning.
Their dedication paid off. Twelve hours later, the line had swelled to more than 120 fans, stretching from the Cheri box office all the way to the Berklee Performance Center on Massachusetts Avenue. Over the course of the afternoon, another 40 to 50 people joined the line.
STEPHAN, waited outside Cheri Theatre for tickets.
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Stephan, a 28-year-old convenience store manager, got in line just after 11 Wednesday morning. He said he thought about going home to get a book first, but decided against the 15 minutes it would have taken.
He said he was glad that Lucasfilm Ltd. decided to allow advance ticket sales. If theaters had been forced to wait to sell tickets until the movie opened, the lines would have been huge, he said.
"Three days on the sidewalk, that's a long time," he said.
Sun in Boston, rain, 'Net traffic elsewhere
Although fans in Greater Boston enjoyed ideal camping-out weather, others weren't so lucky. Elsewhere in the U.S., Star Wars diehards faced driving rain, long lines, busy signals, clogged Web sites and grumpy movie critics.
"I've been waiting 16 years for this," said Lee Dahlhauser in Ames, Iowa, after spending a rainy night in line at a theater under blankets and sheets of plastic.
Early reviews of the movie are mixed, but that didn't seem to quiet the demand for tickets. Opening day shows sold out within minutes, forcing fans to scramble to get tickets for later dates.
"I wasn't even close," said Tom Peters, a 29-year-old video producer who waited in line for 90 minutes at a mall in Fox Chapel, Pa. "They were selling them 12 at a time, and they were just going 12 by 12 by 12 by 12.''
There were no early reports of scalping problems -- just thousands of /fans eager to get tickets.
At Mann's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, where the original "Star Wars" premiered in 1977 and where the most devoted fans have been camping out for weeks, the line stretched down one side of Hollywood Boulevard and to the next block over.
"It's important we see it on opening day at Mann's Chinese Theatre," said Susanna Modjallal, 30. "If Lucas thought it was good enough to premiere here, it's good enough for me."
Those who thought buying tickets by phone or over the Internet would be saner were in for a surprise.
So many people called MovieFone that circuits were jammed even though the ticket service added lines. Its Web site was also swamped.
"The demand has been even greater than we expected. Thousands of transactions are being conducted every minute," said Christine Fakundiny, director of marketing for MovieFone. "But people are getting through and we are processing them. The advice to the war weary is keep trying."
- Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.
