LOS ANGELES — The reaction was strong to Star Wars: The Force Awakens at the film’s world premiere in Hollywood.
Inside the TCL Chinese Theatre, the audience began cheering Monday from the moments the movie’s first words appeared on screen and reacted excitedly to seeing the return of Han Solo and Chewbacca after a 32-year hiatus.
The audience also greeted newcomers, such as Gwendoline Christie’s Captain Phasma and Daisy Ridley’s Rey, with vocal enthusiasm and loudly gasped at the film’s various twists and turns.
For many of the celebrity guests in attendance, they wholeheartedly approved of director J.J. Abrams’ vision for the first new live-action Star Wars film in a decade.
“I loved it,” actor-director Zach Braff sais immediately after the premiere. “I thought J.J. did an amazing job. My favorite part was just seeing the camaraderie between the veteran and the new cast members.”
The Force Awakens mixes old-school characters, such as Harrison Ford’s Han Solo and Carrie Fisher’s Leia Organa, with a new cast that includes John Boyega, Adam Driver, and the spherical droid BB-8.
Patton Oswalt said The Force Awakens represented a return to what made him fall in love with Star Wars in the first place.
“It was a lot of fun,” the actor-comedian said after watching the film inside the TCL Chinese Theatre. “I had the same feeling as when I would watch these films as a kid.”
Disney screened The Force Awakens simultaneously at three Hollywood venues, with the cast and crew watching the film together inside the adjacent Dolby Theatre.
“It can’t be said enough — not nearly enough — that none of us would be here tonight without the miraculous creation of one man,” Abrams told the crowd before the film. “George Lucas, from the bottom of my heart, and behalf of everyone involved with Star Wars: The Force Awakens, thank you, sir.”
The Force Awakens will be released publicly Friday, with some box-office analysts expecting it to smash sales records. The Force Awakens has already broken presale ticket records, and many fans are eager to see the reunion of original trilogy characters last seen in 1983’s Return of the Jedi.
The premiere’s red carpet kicked off Monday with Stormtroopers marching and droids rolling past cameras before the film’s stars arrived. John Williams’ soaring score played in a massive tent spanning four blocks in Hollywood.
While most stars opted for red carpet attire, Joseph Gordon-Levitt showed up dressed as Yoda and actor-comedian Rainn Wilson dressed as a Jedi.
First Published December 16, 2015, 5:00 a.m.
