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The force is strong at Bellwood-Antis, with many students and faculty members being Star Wars fanatics.

The newest release for the Star Wars franchise, the seventh film of the series, is being released December 17.  Titled Star Wars: the Force Awakens, it features new characters and some from the original trilogy.

Excitement for this movie is greater than we have seen in a long time. The force awakens has established a new record for tickets sold on the first day available, destroying the previous record by almost 800 percent.

Erin Lee Wyandt the managing director of the Carmike 12 in Altoona, plans to have a record breaking turnout for the new film.

“We have been having staff meetings among managers and weekly conference calls to accommodate the high volume of patrons and their needs,” explained Mrs. Wyandt, who said the film will be showing on as many as five screens.

She also anticipates that many fans will dress up to show support to their favorite characters.

“People will be allowed to wear costumes opening night, which as I’m sure you can imagine makes for added security concerns that we will address on an as needed basis,” she said. “We are confident in our staff and looking forward to a safe and exciting opening week!”

Junior Brenden Kowalski cannot wait for the release of the new movie.

“I am very excited. It’s Star Wars man, that says it all,” said Brenden “I grew up watching the older ones.”

Kowalski also liked that fact that Star Wars choose to bring back characters that were featured in previous films, like Han Solo and Chewbacca.

“I like that fact that it keeps the old Star Wars touch and doesn’t make it completely new,” he said.

Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise centered on a film series created by George Lucas.

It began with Stars Wars Episode IV: a New Hope, which was released on May 25, 1977. Since then there have been five more Star Wars movies made.

All six movies have found great success, being nominated for or winning Academy Awards.

The six films have also found great commercial success, with a combined box office revenue of $4.38 billion, which makes Star Wars the fifth-highest grossing film series ever.

However the first trilogy has received much greater critical acclaim when being compared to the second trilogy. Many fanatics are hoping that the third trilogy can bring back the greatness they were accustom to in the earlier flicks, including science teacher Ms. Flarend.

“For the next three movies I want to have a really good story with some good politics,” Ms. Flarend said. “I believe episodes 1, 2, 3 didn’t get into enough good politics as were used to seeing in Star Wars.”

Due to its success, Star Wars has generated an extensive media franchise, including books, televisions series, and computer and video games.