Hopefully, I've re-ignited your passion for Star Wars. Did you know that Star Wars is the third-highest grossing film series? With overall box office revenues of approximately $4.3 billion, it trails James Bond (21 films) and the leader Harry Potter.
If you're now itching to experience some new Star Wars thrills, the best you're going to be able to find is happening next Monday in the San Patricio Mall. Organized by Néstro Pérez, President of the Puerto Rico Star Wars Fan Club, this Sunday at 5:30 p.m. in the Food Court of San Patricio Mall Pérez will present the "Star Wars Fans Saga Explosion."
The event will feature a screening of "Episode i: The Phantom Menace" on a large screen (12' by 9', to be exact). The screening celebrates WAPA TV transmitting the entire Star Wars film series. Starting on July 14th, and continuing on the next five Mondays, WAPA will broadcast all six films. HBO is the only other television channel to have also transmitted the six movies consecutively.
In addition to watching the move, Pérez invites everyone who likes to do that sort of thing, to come dressed as your favorite Star Wars character. So whether the movie is enjoyable or not, it should be a real blast to see all of the Star Wars geeks parade into San Patricio Plaza. Admission to the event is free, and Pérez encourages everyone to bring their cameras so they can take pictures with their favorite characters. I'll see you there and I'm bringing my camera. I'm hoping some gorgeous Puerto Rican beauty comes as Princess Leia Organa in that hot bikini getup from "Episode 6: The Return of the Jedi." Hey an old pervert can dream, can't he?
The next short film in the 2008 Star Wars Fan Movie Competition at Atom.com is "Nerf & Herder in Using the Force" by Reynaldo León. This funny little short film finds our protagonists Nerf and Herder kicking back and watching Episode 5, "The Empire Strikes Back" (of course masterfully rendered in cartoon form) when they realize the remote control is out of reach. They try to use "the force" to pull the remote to them, but they end up with an surprise instead.
This is the second time that León has participated in the Star Wars Fan Movie Competition. In 2003 he received an honorable mention in the comedy category for his short film "Spoiler Wars." Those of you who are fans of the Club Sunshine on Wapa might already be familiar with León's work because he is responsible for the "Sunshine Toons" feature on the show. I think León is an extremely talented animator. Both of his short films are funny and very well drawn. I think you'll enjoy them both! May the schwartz be with you!
Stay with me here, because it's about to get crazy. No, for real. I'm really sorry that I didn't get to this earlier but two short films made in Puerto Rico were among the finalists in the 2008 Star Wars Fan Movie Competition at Atom.com. No, Atom.com isn't a rip-off of YouTube, it's actually one of the sites YouTube ripped off and then got bought for $1.7 billion. Sucks to be the creators of Atom.com and iFilm.com (now spike.com). Weird right?
Anyway, in this first film, by Javier Bonet, entitled "Trails of a Sith" we find a fantasy battle between Darth Maul and Darth Vader. Filmed in the jungles of Arecibo, the film also features Jorge R. Valenzula and Gabriel Cruz.
I mention that I'm late to blog about this, that's because the voting for the competition ended yesterday. So I hope the film does well in the voting. According to the 72% "thumbs up" rating, it looks like fans liked it. I thought it was very original and between the make-up, the special effects, and the great storyline, I'd say it has a pretty good chance. Congratulations to everyone involved. Enjoy!