What do you when the movie you’ve been waiting for for decades, decides to release a week later at the neighbourhood cinema? Well, you hop on a plane... and jump countries... just for that special screening. That’s exactly what Hyderabadi super fan Rajat Ojha has done ahead of Star Wars: The force Awakens — which has released in certain parts of the globe, well ahead of India’s December 25 date — thanks for homegrown giants such as Dilwale and Bajirao Mastani. Ojha couldn’t take the week-long wait and decided to pack his bags for Dubai.
How much did he spend? “It was a family thing so, flight tickets totalled to Rs 85,000, it was Rs 10,000 for hotel stay and overall... a lakh plus,” says Ojha, CEO of The Awesome Game Studio, located near Lanco Hills. Super dad took along his young child and wife.
“We’re set for two shows of Star Wars. One in IMAX (150 AED) and one in 4DX (90 AED) because my kid wanted to see in 4DX also. I’m now one show down and I could hear loud cheers even before the first word of dialogue. It’s Star wars all around and it’s hard to even believe that we are on the same planet because... I see all Star Wars’ characters around me.”
Ojha has joined a worldwide trend, which is seeing hundreds of thousands of fans buying what may turn out to be the “most expensive cinema tickets in history” to see the new Star Wars film.
Fans have crossed into Europe — with Italy and France releasing the movie on Wednesday itself. AFP claims over 200 fans have crossed the Atlantic to see the film two days before its official release in the United States. “Either you think we’re crazy or you think it’s brilliant. I’m not sure myself,” Trey Delap, who by his own admission spent “several thousands dollars” to fly to Paris (a 12-hour flight from Los Angeles), was quoted as saying by AFP.
Meanwhile, the unfortunate Chinese will have to wait until January of next year to catch the movie which is attempting to set records across IMAX theatres world over. Appa-rently, Paris’ high-tech EuropaCorp theatre is one of the only few cinemas on the planet which can screen The Force Awakens in its full cinematic glory. The venue has seen thousands of fans — even from Chile, Argentina and Egypt to see the film.
