Hollywood celebrates closing 'Star Wars' chapter at world premiere

LOS ANGELES: Colorful droids and armor-clad stormtroopers rubbed shoulders with Hollywood VIPs on Monday at the world premiere of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the ninth and final movie episode in the sci-fi fable of a celebrated Jedi master.

Walt Disney Co closed off an entire city block in the center of Hollywood to host the celebrity-studded debut screening of the highly anticipated film, which opens for the general public in theaters around the world on Thursday.

Staff waving glowing light sabers guided premiere attendees, among them Star Wars royalty Daisy Ridley and Mark Hamill, to the event’s ceremonial blue carpet under a large tent, outfitted to resemble a spaceship hangar beneath a star-lit sky. Replicas of three X-wing Starfighters dangled overhead.

Actor Harrison Ford, whose Hans Solo character died in the 2015 installment The Force Awakens, joined the celebration. Adam Driver, returning in Rise of Skywalker as Solo’s progeny turned knight of the Dark Side, Kylo Ren, was also on the guest list.

Other invited A-listers not involved in making Rise of Skywalker included directors Steven Spielberg and Spike Lee and actress Frances McDormand.

Rise of Skywalker caps a blockbuster film series that ranks as the second-highest-grossing movie franchise of all time, with more than $9.2 billion in ticket sales.

It concludes a story that began 42 years ago, in 1977, when filmmaker George Lucas introduced a young hero named Luke Skywalker and delighted audiences with a galaxy of metallic robots called droids, a race of tall, furry warriors known as Wookiees and a host of other eclectic characters.

Princess Leia returns in the new movie – despite the 2016 death of Carrie Fisher, the actress who played her – by way of a storyline crafted by filmmakers from unused footage of the performer from The Force Awakens.

While the latest film brings the saga of the Skywalker family to an end, Disney plans future Star Wars movies with new characters starting in December 2022. The company also is running a Star Wars television series on its streaming service, Disney+, and is developing at least two more.