Midnight Screenings Set for Eager ‘Star Wars’ Fans

Gentle Jedi--start your sleeping bags.

“Star Wars” fans will have more than a dozen places in Orange County to camp out for “Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace” before it opens May 19.

All will hold midnight screenings to draw the earliest of the early birds trying to be among the first to see the latest installment of George Lucas’ mythological westerns in space. One fan in Los Angeles began camping out last month--six weeks ahead of time.

Most Orange County theaters showing “The Phantom Menace” are in the Newport Beach-based Edwards Theatres Circuit chain, which dominates the business in the county. The only non-Edwards exhibitor to confirm as of Wednesday that it will be showing “Star Wars” is SoCal Cinemas’ Cinemapolis complex in Anaheim Hills.

The most popular location among “Star Wars” die-hards figures to be Edwards Newport Cinemas at Fashion Island, which has the largest screen in the Western United States, at 80-by-30 feet.

“We’re expecting everything from people bringing lawn chairs to those who may come in themed costumes,” said James Edwards III, the chain’s president and CEO, in a statement issued Wednesday. “The entire atmosphere will be like a pre-show before the movie.”

Lucas’ film will open in about 2,800 theaters nationwide, less than the 3,400 for the premiere of “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” which holds the opening-weekend box office record of $92.73 million. Movie industry observers expect “Phantom Menace” to top “Jurassic Park’s” opening-weekend performance.

The remaining Edwards locations that will have “Phantom Menace,” alphabetically by city, are:

Aliso Viejo 20, Anaheim Hills 14, Brea Stadium 22, Cinema Costa Mesa, Triangle Square 8 and Metro Pointe Stadium 12 in Costa Mesa, Irvine Spectrum 21, Park Place 10 and Westpark 10 in Irvine, Ocean Ranch 7 in Laguna Niguel, Kaleidoscope 10 in Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita 6, Village Center in Stanton, Tustin Market Place 10 and Westminster 10.