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The force draws devoted Star Wars fans to movie screening

By Steve Ferris sferris@heraldstandard.Com 3 min read
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John F. Brothers | Herald-Standard

In the top photo, Anthony Kostelnik of Dunbar carries a light saber as he arrives at Carmikes 6 Cinema in the Uniontown Mall Thursday for the opening of “Star Wars The Force Awakens.” Directly above, Jeff and Mara O’Halloran of Charleroi hold tickets to the opening and wear “Star Wars” shirts to mark the occassion.

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With their tickets in hand, Star Wars fans, Jeff and Mara O'Halloran of Charleroi arrive at the Carmikes 6 Cinema in the Uniontown Mall Thursday night, to see the newest addition to the Star Wars franchise, The Force Awakens.

The force was strong at the Carmike 6 Cinema at the Uniontown Mall Thursday night.

Fans of the Star Wars film series converged on the theater for screenings of the 3D and 2D versions of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”

The Force Awakens is the seven film in the series that started with “Star Wars” in 1977. The story picks up in the decades following “Return of the Jedi,” which was released in 1983 as the last sequel in the original Star Wars trilogy. A prequel trilogy was later released between 1999 and 2005.

“I’ve seen all of them. The original and the prequels,” said 10-year-old Brett Delara of Uniontown.

“Return of the Jedi” is Anthony’s favorite of the six Star Wars movies he saw before Thursday’s screening.

He bough two tickets online Wednesday for him and his dad Anthony Delara for his 44th birthday.

“Seen everyone of them in the theater,” the elder Delara said.

He wasn’t the only one.

“I’ve seen all of them many times,” said Dan Carnack of Hopwood. His movie ticket also was a birthday present.

Wearing a Star Wars T-shirt under his jacket on a chilly, wet evening, Carnack was accompanied by hos brother Jared and father Dan Carnack.

One of the reasons he was eager to see the new film was to see director J.J. Abrams’ vision of Star wars. Abrams directed “Star Trek Into the Darkness” and many other films.

“I was glad to see J.J. Abrams directing. I’m also a fan of Star Trek. I like the reboot he did,” Carnack said.

His favorite film of the series is “The Empire Strikes Back.” He said the return of characters from the original trilogy is one of the reasons he has been eager to see the new film.

“It was definitely the old characters that made me extremely excited,” said Anthony Kostelnik of Dunbar.

Dressed as a Jedi master with a light saber tucked into his brown robe, Kostelnik came with his cousin and his wife, who saw the original trilogy together.

A devoted fan, Kostelnik said he has seen all the Star Wars movies and read “theory upon theory” about events in the series.

“I saw all the movies and then some,” he said.

Choosing a favorite is a toss up between “Return of the Jedi” and “Attack of the Clones,” which was released in 2002 as one of the prequel trilogies.

Mara and Jeff O’Halloran came from Charleroi wearing Star Wars T-shirts for the screening. 

Jeff said he wanted to see how Abrams’ view of the far, far away Star Wars galaxy differed from that of George Lucas, who created the original trilogy and prequel trilogy. He said he read interviews with Abrams in which he said tried to make the new film as close to the original as possible.

He said “The Empire Strikes Back” is his favorite film of the series.

Mara said she bought the tickets from the theater earlier in the week.

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