We've recieved another report from the Toronto screening yesterday. David Pedro tells us:

I wanted to now pass on to you some of the fun that I had yesterday at the Toronto Charity screening. Although I consider myself lucky to have been able to be part of the event, things were not completely perfect.

I arrived at the Paramount theatre without ticket in hand. There was a problem with the delivery of my ticket and several others and so I was told that I would have to pick it up at the theatre before the movie. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get a good seat because of that. The $250 seats were first-come, first serve. Expecting only a few others at the "will call" line, I was surprised to see easily 20 or so more people waiting to get their tickets the same way. It also appeared that tickets didn't sell as well as expected because Child Find Ontario were also selling tickets at the door for the same $250. Stormtroopers and several Fetts were walking around trying to keep order. The theatre was divided into Star Wars screening and people seeing any other movies playing at the theatre.

I finally got my pass. The pass was on photographic paper and needed to be stamped in order to get a ticket for admission. We also received a free regular popcorn and drink coupon. The $500 seats were given a private reception and the $250 seats had a "Jedi gathering". Disappointingly so, the Jedi gathering turned out to be a few costumed people walking around while a silent auction was being conducted to further benefit Child Find Ontario. The silent auction had items ranging from gift packs to autographed items. In the excitement of it I bid on one of the gift packs.

My friend and I were able to get quite good seats to the movie. Centre row and centre theatre. Seveal blocks of seats were reserved for corporate seating. The private $500 screening took place in a completely different theatre. Wondering which theatre was the digital theatre, we were told that the Paramount Theatre no longer has the digital camera that they once had. It was sent off to another theatre never to return (what a disappointment!). No extra digital scene for us.

We entered the theatre again and took our seats to wait a couple of hours for the movie to begin. 5 minutes before 2:00p, and the lights went down. The stage lights went on and we could see Hayden Christensen standing between the exit and the stage. After a few words from the sponsers of the events; Talk radio 740AM and Roger Communications, Hayden was introduced. Unfortunately, the rep for Rogers who introduced Hayden, couldn't get his last name right and got quite a laugh from the crowd. Hayden walked over and said something like (don't quote me on this), 'I don't have much to say except thank you all for coming and enjoy the movie'.

Surprisingly, the theatre wasn't packed. There was an empty seat beside me and empty seats scattered around the theatre. The Lucasfilm logo, 20th century Fox fanfare, and opening crawl all got cheers. Some people were even taking flash photographs up until the crawl ended.

I'll leave the movie review for those who do that stuff except to say that I enjoyed Attack emensely. This is most definately a movie made for the fans. It ties up loose ends and sets up Episode III beautifully. It does a wonderful job of expanding the depth of The Phantom Menace and the characters in it and blends in the elements of our original trilogy so well, especially A New Hope. Thanks George!!!

After the movie finished, credits and all, we exited and received our gift bag filled with many promotional items from the sponsers, Roger Communications, Child Find Ontario, and Talk Radio 740. It also had a Star Wars puzzle (mine was Princess Leia/Padm?), a Hallmark Christmas ornament (mine was R2-D2), a magazine (Today's Parent), Del Rey bookmark, among other things.

I went to check the silent auction to see if I won and indeed I did. It was a delight to find out that every item that was won received a bonus. They each included a box of Kellogg's specially marked Star Wars ceral autographed by Hayden Christensen. What a treat. My gift pack included 2 boxes of Kellogg's Episode II cereal (exclusive to Canada), a rare complete set of the 6 Episode II Star Wars Rubik's cube puzzles also from Kelloggs. Some mini boxes of cereals, Rice Krispies squares, Frosted Flakes snackbars. And of course the autographed box of Frosted Flakes. It was cool.

Even the ride home was great. Trying to carry the huge winning bid gift pack home with our passes hanging around our necks flashing everywhere and holding our gift bags.

All in all I would say it was a great day. I would say that the Episode I Charity screening was much better organized and more fun. That one felt like it was about the movie and the cause while this one seemed very promotional (at least for the $250 tickets). I will say though that I look forward to seeing Attack many more times in the near future and I will again be gearing up for the Episode III Charity Screening.