Tonight, Star Wars fans across the nation will be tuning into Monday Night Football to watch the final The Force Awakens trailer, which is scheduled to premiere during halftime. More importantly, at some point today (likely shortly after the trailer airs), advance tickets for screenings of the The Force Awakens will go on sale, allowing you to secure your seat in one of Chicago's best movies theaters on opening day.
The J.J. Abrams-directed entry in the Star Wars saga officially opens on December 18, but according to a report from /Film, some theaters will screen the film beginning at 7pm on December 17. That's good news for working stiffs like us who might not be able to stay up past midnight watching lightsaber duels without skipping work the next day.
While the sale of advance tickets means there won't be as much of a reason to camp out in front of movie theaters for weeks on end (as fans did prior to the release of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace), we expect that some dedicated Jedi Knights and Imperial Stormtroopers will want to be first in line. If you must queue up for Episode VII, we recommend Regal Webster Place 11, which is directly across the street from Pequod's—if you're going to spend all that time sitting around, you might as well wait for a deep-dish pizza (try not get sauce on your robes).
Also going on sale today: tickets for the Star Wars Marathon, a back-to-back screening of Episodes I–VI that will lead up to the premiere of The Force Awakens. For those willing to suffer through Jar Jar Binks while spending more than 15 hours in a movie theater, it's the perfect way to demonstrate your unshakable fandom. The following Chicagoland theaters will be participating in the marathon: AMC River East 21, Regal City North 14, Century 12 Evanston/CineArts 6, AMC Showplace Naperville 16 and Rosemont 18.
While you wait for your Fandango on-sale alert, just watch this video of BB-8 on a loop.
