ST What was your audience like?

This is a discussion/social thread hybrid (mods can lock this if there's another one, but I didn't see anything) for what your theater audience was like at your showing. How attentive where they? Anything funny happen with reactions and whatnot? Best costumes?

As I mentioned in another thread, my audience was terrible to the point where it kind of detracted from the experience because I was so irritated. No cheering or clapping of any kind and hardly any laughing. When the opening crawl appeared, my friends and I started to clap, but literally nobody else did. In fact, the guy sitting next to me glared at me.

It's sad because the Cineplex itself was packed full of people eager to see this, and there was a Leia cosplayer playing SW themes on a violin. I just got stuck with the worst audience imaginable. Oh well, there's other Star Wars movies coming. Hopefully, a bunch of you have some fun stories to share.

 

My audience was really into it, laughing at all the funny parts and clapping when Han and Chewie appeared and when the film finished. I must say, having an audience that's enjoying themselves does make the experience better.

 

Kind of quiet. Clapping when Han came on and laughing at the right parts. That was it.

 

There wasn't any clapping, but there was a ton of laughing. Just about every joke in this film landed.

 

Ton of clapping at mine. First with the star wars intro, then with the appearance of han, and also at the very end of the movie. Maybe one other time as well. My wife was pretty annoyed by this as it's not really common to have that happen at movies.

 

I'm in Norway, so everyone is naturally reserved, to a degree.
There was some laughing, but that was it. No applause or anything. I haven't experienced an applause in the cinema since the rerelease of ANH.

 

I had an awesome audience(Thursday night). They cheered during the opening and gave huge ovations for all the OT characters. Rey even got a lot of clapping when she ignited the lightsaber. The audience helped make it a more enjoyable experience.

 

Audience was into it. Pretty cool experience. I have to admit, the ending everyone didn't know what to do. Cheer? Clap? I was with them. They were all thinking what I was, say something!!!! Haha

 

Packed cinema and some laughing at the jokes. Everyone stunned when Han died and audience really quiet after that. No one clapped at the end. Was the first day of viewing and I don't think anyone thought he would die.

 

First screening audience was awesome. Cheering at the outset, lots of laughter, audible gasp when Han died, and cheering again when The Saber went to Rey.

 

Here in rural Japan it was very small at the 9:10 screening. And Japanese apparently to embarrassed to laugh in a movie theater, though I hear a few snickers.

 

Great audience.

Cheering, enthusiastic and loud cheering as soon as STAR WARS appeared. More cheering when Han and Chewie arrived. Tons of laughter throughout. And a grand applause as soon as the credit rolled. Great audience.

 

Some muted applause, some laughter at the really funny bits. Some people voiced their reactions to key scenes, but not very loud. I actually want a quiet audience, so this one was okay.

 

When Han, Chewie, Leia and Luke made their first appearance everyone cheered. Lot of laughs when everyone found out what Rey called garbage

 

Amazing audience, huge Clapping to the Lucasarts logo, the Opening Crawl, the Millenium Falcon, Hand and Chewie, and it did go insane when the Lightsaber went to Rey, and clapping to in the final credits

 

The loudest woos and applause I've ever heard when the opening crawl started, Rey and Finn running towards the Falcon, Han entering the Falcon, and the credits. Quieter woos and applause for Rey's first shot holding the lightsaber and Luke removing his hood. Leia's entrance was received with awkward laughter. Uproarious laughter every time Finn spoke and BB-8 reacted to something. Han's death was silent at both my showings.

 

Pretty subdued. People wanted to clap, especially at the introduction of the Falcon and Han and Chewie and Luke. They clapped at the end.

It was 7am, and it was a theater with reclining seats, people must've been too tired/relaxed.

There was an audible gasp when Han died. The air completely went out of the room, so I know people were fans. I know I was in shock.

I hope my next viewing is with a more enthusiastic audience. Otherwise, I really wish they'd release a "reaction track" from the premiere or some super enthusiastic crowd. I love those.

 

Audience at my showing was terrible. Laughing and clapping constantly, making me miss dialogue. I wish people would just be silent until the movie is over. The audience was far worse than any other movie I've ever been to. I've never even heard anyone clap in a movie theater before, yet this time dozens of people clapped about a dozen times and laughed loud enough to drown out dialogue.

 

Yep. Same. Laughs at funny moments, claps at those "**** YES!" moments

Considering I was in that crowd for 20 hours, I'm quite honestly astounded in the best way possible

 

the good - everybody was a good audience laughing and clapping.
the bad - people kept walking in and out and making noise.

 

They were calm but appreciative. People were in and out during the previews. They sat their butts down for most of the movie though. There was laughing through the previews and into the movie. Everyone clapped at the end. I was so focused when Han died, I didn't even notice what was happening in the theater then.

It was pretty good. I've been in very excitable audiences - one example is the TPM 3D release - that clapped when the movie started/characters arrived/something awesome happened. Sometimes, they'll even pipe up with loud, amusing commentary before the movie starts. It's a lot of fun, but the trade out is that it can be distracting. So, I was satisfied with what I've got.

 

Our audience was so much fun! We got in line about 4:00 pm. Lots of people dressed up. The girl behind was an an almost perfect Rey. One little girl had a great Leia costume. By 5:00, we were let into the IMax theatre. As we walked in to find our seats, the Imperial March came on. We all started chatting about SW, taking pictures of all the cool cosplayers,etc. It was a mini convention! Whenever someone came in with a great costume, we all cheered and applauded them. Great Darth Maul, an Emperor(complete w/ blue lightning), and some Jawas with perfect glowy eyes. People w/ great SW Xmas sweaters got attention too. Cheers, applause, laughter throughout the movie. A once in a lifetime experience!

 

I live in Adelaide, Australia. And down here it was huggee at the midnight release I was at. Literally shoulder to shoulder with ppl even while trying to get popcorn before it started Aha. But when it finally started with the opening crawl it was a packed sold out theatre & the noise from everyone cheering & screaming was almost defining, which was an awesome & emtional experience for me. There were plenty of laughs at scenes & It was actually quite hard for me not to have dry eyes throughout the entire movie. Without a doubt probably the best night of my life so far aha

 

Where did you watch it? At the theater I went to, me and my friend and two of his friends were the only people in costumes. We lightsaber dueled in the theater with everyone watching before the ads started, that was fun.

 

I've had 2 audiences, yesterday and today 7pm showings. The first one was a little more into it, but it makes sense because that crowd bought Thursday preview tickets ahead of time.
Both audiences laughed at most every joke, clapped at most of the same parts. For certain the biggest audience reaction in both showings was by far when Rey calls Luke's lightsaber to her. That moment is something special.

Funny enough both audiences were so busy/loud laughing over Chewie's shrug about Han being a hero that it was hard to hear the followup joke about 14 vs. 12 parsecs, both times I nearly missed the joke

My first showing the audience laughed as BB-8 rolled down the stairs behind Rey to Maz Kanata's basement, the 2nd audience didn't even seem to notice.
The 2nd audience was way more vocal when Han approached Kylo on that bridge. So many more people were vocally disturbed by Han's death/impending doom in my 2nd viewing.

For my 2nd viewing I met a lady outside of the auditorium right before we went in to take our seats for the film and she was standing waiting for the cleaning crew to finish before getting a seat. I started up a conversation with her and I mentioned I had already seen the film. She asked me, "It's not gonna be like where I had this pit in my stomach after waiting 20 years for The Phantom Menace and it ****ing sucked is it!?" I assured her that I personally felt it was a great film and WAY better than TPM. I got to meet her outside the auditorium again right after and she was awestruck and still processing everything. She just kept saying "wow" and was all giddy. She was in love with Star Wars again and I could see it written all over her face. Was awesome to witness.