From Oslopuls.no and Ringer Sharon:
Cold night – hot tickets
Last night LOTR fans got out their sleeping bags. Again. This morning they woke to the best tickets. Again.
And they woke with butterflies in their stomachs. They pack up the sleeping bags and the sleeping mats. The final battle for middle earth takes place first at Oslo Spektrum. There LOTR:ROTK will be shown in a charity viewing on the 15th of December, two days before the cinema premiere. It is 20 minutes until the ticket sales open at 8am.
“We haven’t slept that much,” says Kine Schulz (17).
“Doesn’t matter. We came here to have fun, because we’ll see the film one way or another anyway,” says Stephan Andreas Jensen (17).
“Hardly! It is awesome to see the film two days before everyone else!” replies Kine.
“Yes, it would have been a crisis of Homeric proportions to not have gotten tickets to the world’s biggest film showing,” says Jan Erik Haavet (17).
Third film best
Behind them snakes a 100 metre long queue of expectant and morning-tired faces. It is underway.
“I have very high expectations,” says Sara Smiseth(17).
“Actually I have such high expectations that it is actually fine. It is already determined that the film is good. It is actually a bit spooky,” says Stephan.
“Everyone says the third film is best,” says Ole Eivind Siggerud (17).
“It is practically impossible for Peter Jackson to make anything bad,” says Jan Erik. They have been here since 11pm. They have places 5 to 9 in the queue.
It is 7:50, now. Right at the front, nearly stuck to the glass door, stands Number One in the queue and counts her money. Number one is an elf. In fact, the only one who has dressed up in this queue. Carita B.
Løsnes came here 7pm yesterday.
“I thought there would be lots of people, so I thought I’d be way back in the queue. But there was no one here!” she says. No one has slept here more than one night. It isn’t such a wild situation as has been before in the ticket queues when LOTR has been shown in ordinary cinemas. Some fans are boycotting the showing in Spektrum, because they think it is too expensive and exploiting Tolkien fans.
515 shiny kroner
“515 kroner for a ticket is terribly expensive; I’ve saved for a week. But I’m looking forward to it insanely much,” says Aron B. Løsnes, number two.
“Yes, it’s a bit hysterical. To sleep out to pay a heap of money the next day to see a film,” says Carita.
“I have heard rumours that Peter Jackson and Viggo Mortenson will come when the film is shown. Then it is worth it!” says Aron. The clock ticks over to 07.58.
“I have butterflies in my stomach. They have to open soon!” bursts out Rebekka B. Løsnes.
An orc in jeans runs around snarling in the ears of the people in the queue. So after a night of waiting, the door finally glides open. Now.
Great moment
They jump up and down, hug each other, outside the ticket office. They dance, they yell. A strip of tickets is clutched. They are distributed.
“This is a great moment,” says Sara with a smile.
“This is going to be framed,” says Ole Eivind.
“The tickets are irreplaceable. Worse than losing anything else,” says Kine.
“This is going straight in my underpants,” says Stephan.
“It is a strange feeling, really crazy. I’m going to hold this ticket the whole time until the showing,” claims Jan Erik. Then he will have to hold it all the way until the 15th of December, 7:30pm. For those with tickets hot off the press, it will be an awful lot of
minutes to wait.
