‘Star Wars’ Fans Freak Out As Cinema Projector Malfunctions And Spoils The Movie For Them

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is not just breaking box-office records, it’s also raking in overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics and fans alike. That said, it’s safe to assume that a big majority of those who have seen the latest installment of the Star Wars saga have had a positive experience by the time they walked out of the theater.

Unfortunately, the same can’t be said for those who went to Hollywood’s Arclight Cinemas to attend the midnight screening of the highly-anticipated Star Wars film, the CBS reports. They went to the midnight screening expecting a movie experience for the ages. The experience, however, became a disaster when the cinema’s 3D projector started to malfunction, spoiling the movie’s key moments.

A video posted to Facebook early Friday shows footage of fans in the cinema just about losing their minds when the 3D projector malfunctioned, causing the film to stop, start again, and then skip towards the movie’s key moments. Star Wars: The Force Awakens main actors John Boyega and Daisy Ridley were both seen on screen at the time of the glitch.

“Projector at Star Wars midnight 3D show at the Arclight ruined, stopped, then started again towards the end of the movie. The movie was spoiled and everyone in the theater went crazy.” Erik Melendez wrote on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/erik.melendez.393/videos/1062473947126262/?permPage=1

The video shows some of the moviegoers standing up and yelling, “No!” as the projector malfunctioned and spoiled the film for them.

“The 3D stopped working, so they turned it off. Five minutes later, they put it towards the end. Spoiled the movie for us,” a moviegoer says in a two and a half minute YouTube video. “Put it back on again, put it back in the wrong spot again.”

Some who were present at the theater during the glitch voiced out their frustrations on Twitter.

When the projector breaks at the Star Wars premiere ? #nerdriot

— lightning girl (@cortney9861) December 18, 2015

“It kind of ruined our night, but it’s better to tell these fun stories than the sad ones you hear about,” Michael Melendez told CBS2‘s Jeff Nguyen.

No information has been released yet on what caused the projector to malfunction. As compensation for the ruined movie experience, the theater owner gave the moviegoers a refund for the tickets as well as a voucher for a free movie in the future.

A refund and a voucher simply won’t compensate for the ruined movie experience, or at least that’s the case with one moviegoer, Kristin Nepi, who said the following.

“They were apologetic, but you really can’t get that first time experience watching a Star Wars film. You can’t get that back.”

The unfortunate incident at Arclight Cinemas, however, didn’t stop the film’s momentum in terms of ticket sales as Star Wars: The Force Awakens broke box office records, raking in $57 million from Thursday previews alone and at least $100 million on opening day. The film’s total earnings over the entire weekend are estimated at $250 million, as reported by Huffington Post. The new Star Wars film also broke the $91.1 million opening day record previously set by Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows: Part 2 in 2011.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is currently making a killing on the review front. At the time of this writing, the film has an average rating of 95 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, with 270 critic reviews and counting.

[Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images]