‘Star’ Buzz Is in a Galaxy All Its Own

How do you drum up interest in what is probably one of the most anticipated films ever released--”Star Wars: Episode I--The Phantom Menace”?

That was the challenge that faced officials at 20th Century Fox Wednesday night as they went before the world’s theater owners at the NATO/ShoWest convention here to whet their appetite for what is quickly becoming a movie so eagerly awaited that it’s like being an engineer on a runaway train.

First, composer John Williams walked to the podium at Bally’s Events Center to personally conduct a stirring rendition of his original “Star Wars” overture with a live symphony orchestra.

Then director George Lucas walked to the microphone and told the huge crowd of exhibitors that the movie’s release is being moved up two days to Wednesday, May 19, “in hopes of giving the fans a little head start.” Fox plans to open the film on between 3,800 and 4,000 screens nationwide.

But if there were any doubts about how exhibitors might respond to the latest episode in the “Star Wars” saga, they were immediately dispelled when theater owners were given the first look at the new two-minute trailer that will reach theaters today.

In an action-packed trailer filled with dazzling special effects--and some old familiar faces like R2D2, C3PO and Jabba the Hutt--theater owners finally got a glimpse of the movie’s story line and left the hall raving about what they saw and what it will mean for box office this summer.

“This is going to be people sleeping on the curbs at night [waiting for the movie to open],” said one Southern California exhibitor.

A theater manager from Kansas City, Mo., who admitted he only casually followed the previous “Star Wars” films, added: “Those two minutes weren’t enough. I wanted more. It was just so cool.”

And, a husband and his wife who run theaters in Bethesda, Md., said the film is going to be “mammoth” and “cross-generational.”

Fox studio chief Bill Mechanic said the first trailer that was shown in theaters in recent weeks was merely a teaser, but that the new one will convey more of the story line. Several theater owners said that Fox and Lucasfilms demanded that exhibitors destroy all their previous posters of the movie and return the first trailers or they would not receive the new trailers.

At Wednesday night’s event, Fox officials pleaded with the audience not to use cameras or video cameras to record the trailer and security searched handbags before anyone was allowed into the hall.

Minutes after the new trailer was shown, exhibitors began buzzing among themselves about what they had just seen.

Two exhibitors from Southern California, who described themselves as fans of “Star Wars” but not fanatics, said they were able to glean many new insights into the story line that weren’t available in the original trailer.

First, it now seems clear, they said, that neither the evil Empire or the Rebel Alliance yet exist. Instead, there is a battle fought between the forces of a massive Trade Federation and Queen Amidala who rules a peaceful planet.

“They appear to be almost on the same level in their powers,” one exhibitor said of the Federation and the queen’s forces. “But she is being warned by a Jedi Knight [played by Liam Neeson] and Obi-Wan Kenobi that she can’t win and must flee the palace immediately. But she is stubborn and wants to beat the Emperor.”

At one point in the new trailer it appears that Obi-Wan tries to recruit members of a frog-like race to live underwater.

With robot warriors waging an all-out assault on the queen, they said, she appears to be whisked to safety at the last minute.

Seen throughout the trailer are state-of-the-art special effects, hand-to-hand combat with light sabers, and fierce battles both on land and in space.

“Star Wars” fanatics, of course, know better than many exhibitors all the characters and plot lines of the film, so once it hits the theaters, the Internet will be buzzing. Worldwide all three “Star Wars” films--including the re-releases--have earned $1,766,453,695, according to Fox.

Lucas noted that the film itself is “100% digital--it went into the computer and it came out of the computer,” and he added that the next “Star Wars” film, which is scheduled to be released in the summer of 2002, will be entirely shot digitally.

Lucas said that he recently showed the nearly finished film to his friend and fellow director Steven Spielberg, who when the lights came up told him, “I can’t wait to see it again.”

It was the best comment a director could hear, Lucas said.

And, from the comments of exhibitors, Spielberg won’t be alone.