Star Wars: The Force Awakens Trailer to Play Exclusively in Select Theatres This Friday

Posted by on November 24th, 2014   Filed under: Action, Industry News, Sci-fi

forceawakens

Update: The full list of theatres has been expanded to include 30 theatres, including two in Canada. Also the trailer will start playing in theatres worldwide in December.

In addition to the impending release of the first trailer for Jurassic World, there is another big trailer expected to be unveiled later this week. According to reports, the first trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens will premiere this Friday, however, it looks as though the trailer will not debut online… at least not initially. Instead, Disney and Lucasfilm are trying to recreate the pandemonium surrounding the release of the first trailer for Star Wars: Episode I. Back in 1998, moviegoers packed into screenings of Meet Joe Black just to watch two minutes of footage from the first of the prequels. This time around, there will be even fewer screenings available, as the trailer will be playing in just nine thirty theatres across the U.S. North America. The participating theatres are as follows:

  • AZ PHOENIX HARKINS TEMPE MARKETPLACE
  • CA LOS ANGELES AMC CENTURY CITY
  • CA LOS ANGELES Indep EL CAPITAN
  • CA IRVINE REGAL SPECTRUM IRVINE 21
  • CA SAN FRANCISCO AMC METERON 16
  • CA SAN JOSE CINEMARK OAKRIDGE 20
  • CA SAN DIEGO REGAL MIRA MESA 18
  • CAN TORONTO CPX YOUNGE & DUNDAS
  • CAN VANCOUVER CPX RIVERPORT
  • CO DENVER AMC WESTMINSTER 24
  • DC WASH D.C AMC TYSONS CORNER 16
  • FL MIAMI CARMIKE PARISIAN 20
  • GA ATLANTA REGAL ATLANTIC STATION
  • IL CHICAGO REGAL CITY NORTH
  • MA BOSTON AMC BOSTON COMMONS 19
  • MI DETROIT CINEMARK SHOWCASE 20
  • MN MINNEAPOLIS AMC SOUTHDALE
  • MO KANSAS CITY AMC STUDIO 30
  • NY NEW YORK AMC LINCOLN SQUARE 12
  • NY NEW YORK REGAL UNION SQAURE
  • OH CLEVELAND CINEMARK CINEMARK 24
  • PA PHILADELPHIA REGAL WARRINGTON 22
  • TN NASHVILLE CARMIKE THOROUGHBRED 20
  • TN KNOXVILLE REGAL PINNACLE
  • TX DALLAS CINEMARK PLANO 20
  • TX HOSTON REGAL MARQ*E STADIUM 23
  • TX AUSTIN ALAMO ALAMO S LAMAR
  • UT SALT LAKE CITY CINEMARK CINEMARK 24 WJ
  • WA SEATTLE REGAL THORNTON PLACE 14
  • WI MILWAUKEE MARCUS BROOKFIELD 16

In case you didn’t notice, they are all not limited to Regal Cinemas, and the trailer will supposedly be attached to every movie playing at these locations between Nov. 28th and 30th. While I can understand the need to generate excitement and the desire to foster a cinematic experience for the trailer, this seems like something that will annoy fans more than anything. In this day and age, we expect all trailers to be online immediately, and if they hold it back it will probably just leak online in crappy quality anyway. Will you be attempting to see the new Star Wars trailer in theatres this weekend?



  • Matt the Kiwi

    Disney / Lucasfilm exec “Hi rest of the world! Fuck you.”

  • Flo Lieb

    Clearly Warrington is the town to go if you want to exclusively screen your Star Wars Teaser.

  • 1138sw

    learned my lesson from the first trailer for Phantom Menace…wasn’t worth it since all the prequels sucked and especially after having to sit through Meet Joe Black…sigh

  • PlanBFromOuterSpace

    I manage a theater where people already don’t understand the concept of a film being in limited release (“Yes, ma’am, I know that Foxcatcher was filmed here, but it’s only playing on like FOUR screens across the country right now”), so I can only imagine what a headache this will be to explain to people that won’t accept no as an answer.

  • Lisa

    From a marketing perspective, I find it very strange that they want to avoid people buying tickets for films just to see the trailer. Why not wait with the trailer, and adding it to a disney film? That way you can have the movie making tons of extra money from people buying tickets just/partly because they want to see the SW trailer?

  • JJ Binks

    It’ll leak within 12 hours of screening. Frank you wanna make a bet on when the impending leak will happen?

  • Mike Reilly

    The new title has gotten all jumbled in my tiny little mind and now I eagerly await the trailer to introduce us to the new hero of the final trilogy – Luke’s son Foreskin Skywanker.

  • Mike Reilly

    Now it’s available on iTunes trailers Friday anyway so I guess it’s “Fuck rest of the world Tue” + “Fuck the eager ticket buyers Wed” = “Fuck everyone on Friday and you’ll get over it by Sat.” Genius!