Debbie Asby joked she brought five kids to the premiere of “Star Wars: Episode VII — The Force Awakens” Thursday night.
Her grandchildren, James, 9, Colton, 13, Ashlynn, 10, and Madelyn, 12.
“And then my biggest kid, who’s 41, who saw the first ‘Star Wars,’ is the one who started this whole thing,” she said, referring to the influence of her son, Biron Asby, on his nieces and nephews.
“We took him to the drive-in and he was a child, an infant, and he claims he remembers it,” she said. “He’s the one who’s got the next generation all excited about it.”
Ashlynn said it took about 20 minutes to get their hair in Carrie Fisher/Princess Leia-style side buns. Madelyn quickly said it was more like 30 minutes.
The younger kids’ favorite “Star Wars” film? “The Empire Strikes Back.” Madelyn leans more toward “Return of the Jedi.”
Asby and her family joined fans old and new crammed into the Mill Plain Boulevard Cinetopia’s lobby, awaiting a chance to see the seventh installment of the storied franchise.
Will Morgan and Kevin Naish were both born in 1973 and saw the first “Star Wars” when it premiered in theaters in 1977. They’ve both taken steps to limit exposure to possible plot spoilers.
“I’ve been following trailers and stuff, but there’s certain things you need to weed out on social media. Thankfully, most of social media has been pretty silent about details for the movie,” said Naish, who was wearing homemade armor in the style of “Star Wars” villain and bounty hunter Boba Fett. “We all have our own theories.”
Morgan, who dressed as an officer of the Galactic Empire (the bad guys), was at the theater as part of the social events the 501st Legion, a club where members make movie-quality “Star Wars” outfits and often help with charitable events. He won’t be seeing the new movie until Sunday, and he’s been avoiding the hype entirely.
“I saw one trailer for it by accident and said I want to be completely surprised. As a matter of fact, I won’t be on social media at all,” for the next few days, he said.
Every Thursday night showing at Cinetopia was long sold out, as were a few Friday. As of Thursday evening, several showings at other local theaters were also fully booked.
Even before its release, the film has already shattered a few records.
Online box office Fandango has said more people have bought tickets for the new “Star Wars” through the site than for any movie in its history.
Another ticket service, Movietickets.com, says more than 93 percent of the tickets it sold Wednesday were for “Star Wars.”
Box Office Mojo, a movie industry tracking website, estimates the first “Star Wars” film sold 143 million tickets in its original run and made about $1.49 billion in gross sales for its studio, in 2015 dollars, both in domestic and foreign sales, since its release.
Although advance ticket sales don’t always mean record grosses, The Associated Press reported “The Force Awakens” is on track to have the biggest December opening ever, unseating “The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey,” which made $85 million in the U.S. and Canada on its opening weekend in December 2012.
In the U.S., the first “Star Wars” is the second-highest domestic grossing film ever, according to Box Office Mojo, behind “Gone With Wind.” For reference, the highest-grossing movie of all time is “Avatar,” with $2.8 billion in gross sales worldwide.
Jamie Hevlin, who wore a dress patterned in the style of Darth Vader’s armor, was at Cinetopia on Thursday evening with her husband.
They’re from Beaverton. She said advance tickets sold out so quickly, they had to buy them in Vancouver to find a seat.
Their 3-year-old daughter, Sophie, couldn’t make it — too close to bedtime, Hevlin said — but she’s a huge fan in her own right.
Sophie specifically requested a Chewbacca-princess cake, which ended up garnering a bit of Internet fame, for her third birthday, and she’ll often run around the house playing pretend “Star Wars,” Hevlin said.
“The original trilogy is what she watches all the time,” she said. “She doesn’t even know about the other ones, actually. Hasn’t come up yet. We’re not going to talk about it. When she gets older, she can decide to watch them if she wants to.”
The pall of the less-celebrated sequel trilogy has been hard for many fans to ignore.
Naish said movie studio Disney’s choice to hire J.J. Abrams of “Lost” and new “Star Trek” fame to direct the movie gave him some hope, as did news that Lawrence Kasdan, one of the screenwriters for “The Empire Strikes Back” would be on board as well.
“I think this will be, and I hate to say it, a good reception for one, two, and three,” he said.
Hevlin was confident they were all in for a good show.
“The trailers gave me goosebumps,” she said. “I think it looks really, really good. I’m cautiously optimistic.”
