HUNDREDS of Star Wars fans put sleep on a back burner when they flocked to catch the midnight screening of the epic saga in Swindon

Old timers who remember staring in goggle-eyed wonder at the original Star Wars film mingled with teenagers who were not born when the series first rocked cinema audiences in 1977.

They were waiting for the first screening of Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.

And such was the appetite for a first glimpse of the George Lucas movie that Cineworld managers decided to open a second screen to accommodate upwards of 500 movie buffs who queued in a colossal snake that stretched from outside, into the cinema foyer and up the stairs to screen one.

The first dedicated viewers were camped outside the Greenbridge cinema from 10.30pm in their determination to get a good seat.

Duty manager Andy Hudson said he couldn't say yet if the audience numbers would match the phenomenal success of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which has topped the cinema's charts for seven weeks.

"It is too early to tell how well this is going to go, but judging from the initial reaction it is almost certain to be very popular whether it can beat the success of the Harry Potter film is anyone's guess at the moment."

As expected, the film was a visual feast of special effects and booming noise which was enough to keep even the most sleep deprived viewer from nodding off into a pillow of popcorn.

Following the movie's the convoluted plot may have been somewhat taxing at that time of night, but this was more than a mere screening for devotees of the series it was a pilgrimage.