Photos from the 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Premiere in Times Square

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Photos from the 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Premiere in Times Square

It was just as crowded and nerdy as you would expect.

Times Square on the opening night of Star Wars: The Force Awakens was a chaotic, crowded, geeky scene. This wasn't just the next chapter in a long-running, insanely profitable franchise, it was millions of voices suddenly crying out in glee.

At AMC Empire 25 on 42nd Street in New York, 45 showings of the movie were scheduled between 7 PM and 5:55 AM, with half of these showings sold out by 7 PM. The theater expects to be so busy that it will remain open through 6 AM on Monday. Similar to how fans stood in line for the original Star Wars movies, yesterday's moviegoers came alone, in large swarms, with children, with significant others, and on first dates. I was initially surprised at how empty the theater was, but then I discovered the queue of people kept outside the ticketing area before having to wait in another maze of lines to enter the theater. Due to security concerns, the romanticized "line out the door" became several hot hallways filled with stale air. People were mostly excited, although some were distressed that that the mislabeling of the lines prevented them from getting prime real estate once inside.

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Camera crews interviewed the nerdiest-looking men they could find. When one fan was asked what he was most excited about, he responded, "That the main characters are a woman and a man of color." This isn't your dad's Star Wars, but he'll probably like it, too.

All photographs by Jackson Krule