Word: midnight
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...While red-eye screenings, especially midnight showings, have been on the rise since the release of the first Star Wars prequel in 1999, lines around the block for hours beforehand - the tradition that gave birth to the idea of "blockbuster" films - have become something of an anachronism. What was a necessity in the days before you could buy tickets on the Web has now become a matter of choice: lightsaber-wielding guys and Harry Potter-bespectacled kids happily line up to commune before a film. "In the '80s, if you wanted to go see a movie on a Friday night...
...wide swath of Americans and largely eliminating the need to show up early at theaters, unless you were insistent on a prime seat. Between the two sites - which have begun to sell advance tickets 30 to 45 days in advance for big Hollywood blockbusters - nearly 4,000 midnight showings of The Dark Knight were scheduled. Thousands of weekend screenings have been sold out for days. "The midnight shows, especially, have really taken off in the last few years, and they've been surprisingly crowded," says Fandango spokesman Harry Medved. "Every major release now seems to have some. Hellboy...
...concept of the "midnight movie" began to change from a Rocky Horror Picture Show cult phenomenon into a routine promotional gimmick in May 1999, when the long-awaited Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace premiered one minute after midnight to hordes of fans who had waited days in line for the opportunity to get a first look. Those showings grossed $7 million. Episode II grossed $6.2 million during its opening midnight screenings and Episode III scored an astounding $16.5 million. The final Lord of the Rings movie, The Return of the King earned $8 million at midnight screenings. Each...
...Even without its midnight showings, The Dark Knight will play on more screens at more hours than almost any film to date, and box-office returns are projected to be among the biggest of the year. One reason is the Heath Ledger factor. "It's been a very long time since there's been a posthumous performance of an actor that died in an untimely way that promised to be so big and intense and good," says author Mark Harris. "It's a movie with fanboy appeal, but it's also, in an odd way, playing out as a memorial...
...dancing goes on past midnight, when Randy Wilson finally has to shoo people out. Many of the girls are still light-footed, merry; it's their dads who are fading, and you wonder who will be leaning on whom as they head out into the cool mountain night...