Delaware’s $10,000 ‘Star Wars’ tickets

The force – and audaciousness – is strong with this one.

After a Newark “Star Wars” fan accidentally bought two sets of tickets to see the new “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” in December, some think he’s gone to the dark side.

That’s because he decided to put a $32 pair of opening-night Dec. 17 tickets at Regal Brandywine Town Center in Brandywine Hundred on eBay for a "buy it now" price of $10,000 – a 31,150 percent boost in price. He has since changed the listing to an opening-bid price of $10,000.

The reaction online was a mixture of shock and humor with one person tweeting, “No @starwars movie ticket is worth $10,000 unless you're sitting right between Jesus and Beyonce.”

Publications from The Wall Street Journal to the United Kingdom’s Daily Mail have written about Delaware's daring ticket-seller. The seller, contacted by The News Journal, declined to identify himself, writing that “the Internet seems to hate me at the moment.”

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“We thought there is no way we’ll ever get that much for the tickets. Our plan was to give them away once the auction ends,” says the seller, who adds that he saw the 1977 original in theaters. “But now that the Internet has exploded with stories about the $10,000 Star Wars tickets, I’m not so sure."

He says what started as a joke with his 14-year-old son has now turned into a possible windfall if the publicity around the tickets causes just one super-fan with deep pockets to scoop them up.

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“Might someone now just have to have the infamous $10,000 Star Wars tickets? If so, we’re ready to sell our newfound one-of-a-kind ‘Star Wars’ collector’s item, but we’re not holding our breath.”

If they don’t sell, he’ll either use the tickets or give them away, he adds.

With ticketing systems crashing across the country tied to the opening-night sales, and a few other sellers offering opening-day “Star Wars” tickets for thousands of dollars, there’s no denying the powerful draw of that galaxy far, far away.

At Penn Cinema Riverfront & IMAX, the “Star Wars” sale was seven times larger than the theater’s next biggest opening-day sale, which was “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1.”

And that was after the theater's ticketing system, Fandango, crashed and was down for a couple of hours right as tickets went on sale.

“The words that come to my mind are historic and unprecedented,” says theater owner Penn Ketchum. “It’s going to blow right by ‘Titanic’ and ‘Avatar’ and take over the top of box office history, I’m sure.”

The theater will have it playing on all 15 screens opening night.

“It’s totally taking over,” he adds.

The same is true for Westown Movies in Middletown, which will have seven opening-night screenings in four theaters. By the next day, Dec. 18, it will be shown 21 times in five theaters.

“In its first two days of sales, which is two full months before it opens, it has surpassed just about every other advance sale we’ve had,” reports Rick Roman of Roman Theatre Management, Westown’s Ohio-based theater manager.

Among Delaware's “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” opening-night fans is Wilmington’s James Fuerst, who has tickets at Regal Brandywine Town Center – the same theater as Delaware’s anonymous eBay seller.

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The 38-year-old was born in 1977, the same year the original film was released.

“As soon as my eyes were open, I was ready to start watching ‘Star Wars.’ I’ve followed it the whole way,” he says. “When you go opening night, there's a brotherhood. You know you’ll be in the crowd with like-minded people, and there’s a good possibility there will be some cheering and people crying on shoulders.”

Fuerst played Darth Vader in Bootless Stageworks’ recent satirical musical, “Star Wars: A New Musical Hope,” and he has the realistic costume to prove it. Costumes are also common on opening night, and if Fuerst wanted to, he could sure turn heads.

Real-world problems might get in the way of Darth making an appearance, however.

“I really can’t see anything through the mask, and I’d have to rig the 3-D glasses to be part of the helmet,” he says, "but I’m sure a lightsaber might show up.”

Contact Ryan Cormier of The News Journal at rcormier@delawareonline.com or (302) 324-2863. Follow him on Facebook (@ryancormier), Twitter (@ryancormier) and Instagram (@ryancormier).