Some fans queued for as long as 24 hours to snag tickets to the first Singapore screening of the highly anticipated movie Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
The film, which is the seventh instalment in the iconic sci-fi film series that began in 1977, is set to open in cinemas on Dec 17 - with the first show playing at 12.01am at Imax theatres in Lido and JCube.
Ticket sales for that screening began on Monday at 9pm at Shaw Lido, but at least eight fans started queuing the night before.
Mr Nicholas Ho, who was the first in the line, started queuing at 9pm on Sunday as he "wanted to make sure" he would be able to buy a set of tickets.
The 33-year-old drummer says: "I didn't want to risk not getting these tickets, so I decided to stay here overnight. As I am a huge Star Wars fan, it's worth it."
Other fans started trickling in in the wee hours of the morning.
By late Monday afternoon, the queue had snaked around the ground floor of Shaw Lido.
On sale at the venue was a special package that cost $180, which includes two Imax 3-D tickets to the midnight screening on Dec 17, as well as two more Imax tickets to the film on another day, plus limited-edition collectibles including Star Wars T-shirts and mugs.
All 190 packages were sold. In fact, as each person could buy only one package, fans after the 190th person in the queue were told to leave.
Tickets to all other screenings of the movie across the country began online yesterday morning at 12.01am.
Holding onto his coveted tickets to the first screening, Mr Ho walked away from the ticket booth gleefully before several fans who were dressed up as Star Wars villains Stormtroopers swarmed in and playfully tried to snatch them from him.
The Stormtroopers were among a group of fans from local Star Wars costuming organisation 501st Legion Singapore Garrison.
They were invited by Shaw and the film distributor, Disney, to show up at the event in character.
Other characters spotted included Starfighter pilots as well as new character Kylo Ren, the main villain in The Force Awakens.
Law student Ravin Ramakrishnan, 26, who was also in the ticket queue on Monday night, says that there is something "special" about getting tickets to the first show.
"The atmosphere in the hall at the first screening will be unlike any other. Fans will likely be dressed up in costume and everyone will just be very excited. So I had to make sure I got tickets to the first show," he says.
•Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens in cinemas on Dec 17.
