Star Wars: Episode One - The Camp Out
By Joe Nguyen, Tony Nguyen, & Boun Banchongchith
May 12, 1999

The night before ticket sales began at the Continental, asiaXpress (Joe, Tony and Boun) decided to go out to Continental Theaters to check out the folks at the ticket line. When we got there at 9 PM, the line was already stretched from the front of the building to almost the stoplight leading to Monaco street. Easily, there was 500 people waiting in line with an expected 200 more to show up before the tickets are sold. Tony got caught up in the excitement and decided that he would camp out as well, he'll keep us posted on the ticket situation.

The first people who camped out there were two brothers, Scott and Mike. They started camping out since Sunday night and have been organizing the camps.

"This was really spontaneous and it just kind have happened. We talked to a security guard inside the theater (who) said that the big screen could hold 875 people. (The security guard) didn't expect any problems handling the crowds." Scott stated.

Scott is an employee at the Continental Theatre and said he received some negative comments from older fans. He added "I've talked to a few people on the phone who've said that they were upset that the younger crowd is taking this in as their (own)... and the older generation feels that they are getting pushed out of the way."

#? Oh well... we'll keep on camping..

Already thinking ahead to the Episode II, Scott said, "I'm certainly going to camp out here (again)…we're probably going to see the same faces."

.# 6 in line

We briefly talked to another Star Wars fan, Jesse, who got to see a preview of Episode 1. He said that he enjoyed it and he was going to go watch it again, but he'll have to wait in line just like everybody else camping out here.

Scenes from the campout

Some big screen that will be showing Star Wars