The force is strong as Kings welcomes Jedis

The Kings Theatre in Southsea opened its doors for a special screening of Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens tonight.

Fans of all ages dressed up in characters from the popular franchise on May 4, otherwise known as Star Wars Day – a pun on the phrase ‘May the Force be with you’.

The screening comes after the theatre bought a new projector, a new screen and a 5.1 Dolby surround sound.

Shaun Searle, 32, was at the screening with pal Kevin Martin, and youngsters Harvey, 13, and Finley, 11.

Shaun said: ‘It’s an amazing chance to see it in the theatre. We are massive Star Wars fans. We wanted to see it on the big screen again.’

Natasha Guy, 39, travelled from Bognor Regis to watch it with her seven-year-old son Harley Guy Sinclair.

She said: ‘We love the Kings Theatre. It’s such a unique setting. I’ve never been here for the screening of a movie before and this is my first time seeing this film.’

Harley added: ‘It’s my favourite film. I wanted to dress up because I love Star Wars.’

Stevie Colwell, 50, from Copnor, was in a group of six who wanted to see the film, including her five-year-old nephew Jenson Milligan.

Stevie said: ‘It’s a different atmosphere instead of just going to the pictures. We come here quite regularly to watch different shows.’

Alan Bound, marketing supervisor at the theatre, said: ‘We’ve just had a new cinema system installed so films that have special effects will look 10 times better now.

‘We wanted to start off with a bang.

‘Star Wars is popular and it has a big following. We thought it would be a great film to start off with.

‘We wanted to make it more of an event rather than just a film screening and we are looking to do this sort of thing for films in the future.

‘With films like this, people will happily dress up and come down.’