By Ben McCarthy
The most exclusive ticket in town this week wasn’t at a sporting or concert venue.
It was a closely guarded event held Monday night at AMC Town Center 20 in Leawood, and it took a few hundred local movie-goers back to a galaxy far, far away.
The IMAX theater at the AMC location hosted the special preview of the new Star Wars movie, “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” which is set for release on May 22. The crowd was shown about a half hour of footage of the first Star Wars movie to hit big screens since the 2019 of “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.”
Enza Ketcham, creator of the popular, long-time family entertainment blog Enza’s Bargains was on hand with her husband and daughter, to take in the footage. Ketcham was adamant both longtime Star Wars fans and newer younger fans of Grogu (aka Baby Yoda) would both enjoy the film. It is expected to run just over two hours and be released next month.
“It felt like family fun, but I think it will bring in all audiences,” Ketcham said.
The Mandalorian was the first live action Star Wars film to debut on Disney+ back in 2019. Since then, the show has had two more seasons, and the titular character has been featured in other Disney+ series. Jon Favreau, who created The Mandalorian for Disney+ and is now the director of the character’s first big screen project, had a brief opening message played for the audience, thanking them for their devoted fandom on May 4th, now designated informally as Star Wars Day (“May the Fourth be with you”).
Disney, which acquired Lucasfilm in 2012 for $4.05 billion, has been showcasing other Star Wars shows through its very successful streaming platform, but has high hopes of bringing the George Lucas-created universe back to the big screen in a big way with The Mandalorian and Grogu. In May 2027, fans will get another new film with: “Star Wars: Starfighter.” That film (which is unconnected to this one) stars Ryan Gosling, and its release will coincide with the 40 year anniversary of the original film.
Besides Ketcham, over two dozen other members of Monday’s select audience were contacted prior to the screening. Although they all agreed to share their non-spoiler reactions to the footage, at the conclusion of the event they all chose to remain anonymous in their praise of what they witnessed.
According to Ketcham, there was no mandatory NDA present for the screening, but she understood people’s hesitancy to speak about the experience. She herself was very unsure of how to comment on what she had just seen without compromising the film for moviegoers when it rolls out around the country in two weeks.
“It wasn’t a very talkative crowd, but everyone seemed to be fairly impressed and excited with what we got to see,” Ketcham said. “There was applause from the crowd when it was over.”
Discover more from Martin City Telegraph
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
You may also like
-
South Kansas City seat opens in Jackson County race, new candidates added
-
House fire off 75th and Holmes
-
Pearl Street Hill, the neighborhood Kansas City Erased
-
Apartment fire at 108th and State Line Road
-
Cornerstones of Care hosts early tour of Education Campus at former Archbishop O’Hara High School