You d have to go back a long time ago (and a seeming galaxy far far away) to find a better time to be a Star Wars fan.
Saturday may be May 4 on most people s calendars but it s better known as May the Fourth Be With You to Star Wars fans. (Get it )
And for the first time in years there s extra reason for all of those aspiring Jedi to celebrate after last October s blockbuster announcement that Disney had purchased Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion in cash and stock and immediately put an Episode VII into production.
I read about it daily I stare at the phone with the orange dot waiting hoping for it to the ring actor Anthony Daniels better known to three generations of fans as C3PO told the News.
PHOTOS WATN 'STAR WARS'
But even before J.J. Abrams brings the franchise back in (ahem) full Force there are reasons to celebrate.
HO/REUTERS Members of New York Jedi pictured in 2008 will return to Times Square to celebrate May the Fourth properly.It was a total surprise to me says Daniels of the existence of an actual Star Wars Day. A friend of mine who owns a comic book store in Stratford Upon Avon you know the home of Shakespeare.
Finally I get to appear on Stratford Upon Avon adds the classically trained thespian whose career got hijacked by a young director named George Lucas way back when. Because he said May the Fourth. I said What do you mean May the Fourth And he said May the Fourth Be With You. Ahhh. I m going to go and join him for the day and meet fans. I had no idea.
Why not celebrate a franchise that has made a Wookiee s hair under $5 billion at the box office worldwide since the release of the first Star Wars in 1977 Even that total is eclipsed by toy sales which Forbes estimates have topped the $12 billion mark.
PHOTOS CELEBRITIES AS 'STAR WARS' CHARACTERS
Wouldn t it be cool if everyone dressed up for May the Fourth added Daniels on a roll. If it was not a dress down day at work everybody could come as their favorite Star Wars character. Imagine the streets of New York peopled with Vaders and Jedi and princesses and indeed robots of course.
Actually it won t be that hard to imagine on Saturday.
Andrew Theodorakis/New York Daily News Fans enjoy a Star Wars themed Mets game at Citi Field last year.The New York Jedi a 200 member strong band of light saber fighting enthusiasts will be performing at Times Square s Ripley s Believe It Or Not from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The group s founder a Brooklyn based AV installation designer named Flynn says there s never been a better time to be a fan of all things Star Wars.
PHOTOS 'STAR WARS' TO 'HARRY POTTER' SECRETS OF MOVIE SPECIAL EFFECTS
Our class has been a litmus test says New York Jedi founder Flynn 42. Things were dying down last year to the point where I was thinking of discontinuing the classes and then all of a sudden the announcement hit that Disney was making more Star Wars movies. And people started coming to the classes again.
Much less than 12 parsecs away Daniels is already brushing up his C3PO voice for Saturday.
You say Hello I am C3PO human cyborg relations and R2 R2 Where are you to a fan and then what is magical for me is that you see my sounds going into their ears and then it takes a little while to get into their central synapses and then it comes out again as a huge smile of recognition.
That just makes me smile so much.
0 comments:
Post a Comment