Revenge of the Sith Gets Largest Cinema Opening

MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
20 May 2005
STAR WARS FINAL EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH RECIEVES LARGEST CINEMA OPENING

The highly anticipated blockbuster, STAR WARS EPISODE III: Revenge of the Sith, has broken the record for the largest ticket sales for an opening day (out of a holiday period) at a Village SKYCITY Cinema.

The movie, which opened to the public at one minute past midnight yesterday morning (Thursday 19 May 2005) had die hard fans lining up outside the cinema, with some coming to see the movie dressed up as their favourite character.

Online bookings have also broken records. More people have booked online through www.villageskycity.co.nz for STAR WARS EPISODE III: Revenge of the Sith than for all other movies combined - ever. Website opening day bookings represented over 40 percent of total ticket sales for opening day – another new benchmark.

Village SKYCITY Cinemas Queen Street has reported total sell out sessions in four cinemas, including the Megascreen, for the first public session at 12.01 am on Thursday. In addition, the central city multiplex also had a packed cinema for the next session, which began at 1am the same morning.

Village SKYCITY Cinemas is thrilled with initial results from the highly anticipated third instalment in the Star Wars prequel trilogy and look forward to the results from this, the opening weekend.

Cinema-goers are urged to book in advance to avoid disappointment. Allocated seating is being offered at Village SKYCITY Cinemas Queen Street and St Lukes and ticket sales are available at the cinema, by phone (09 302 0002) or online ( www.villageskycity.co.nz).

Unique to Village SKYCITY Cinemas is an online booking service whereby customers can purchase their seats in advance and collect them at the cinema using the exclusive Seat Smart pick up counter. Available on the Village SKYCITY Cinemas website, this service is free to customers. By booking online for this movie at a Village SKYCITY Cinema, fans also go into the draw to win Star Wars Episode III merchandise.

At St Lukes and Queen St Village SKYCITY locations customers can not only secure their seat in advance but also choose their own seat from a special seating map.

According to Village SKYCITY Cinemas Chief Executive, Joe Moodabe, the final instalment in the epic series is tipped to be even more popular than its predecessors.

“Star Wars Episode III is the final chapter. This is what the fans have been waiting for - it promises to answer a lot of questions,” says Mr Moodabe.

Mr Moodabe tips Mr & Mrs Smith starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie (opening 9 June 2005), Batman Begins starring Christain Bale (opening 16 June 2005), the highly anticipated animation Madagascar (opening 16 June 2005) and Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds (opening 29 June 2005) as likely to be big over the next two months.

Ends

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