FANS of Star Wars fans queued for the Cinema doors to open at 8.30am yesterday morning - some wearing costumes from the film.

Calvin Whitehead, general manager of the Warner Village Cinema at Pilsworth, said: "When I got to work there were at least 50 people waiting."

The multiplex had 15 shows yesterday, and will have 17 today, the first starting at 9am and then every hour until 2am tomorrow morning. Several have been sold out in advance of today's official opening.

It was a fairly quiet start for Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace, the film that is being tipped as the first to net $1 billion at the box office. But some 1,700 seats were sold in advance for shows this weekend at Pilsworth, and Mr Whitehead said he expected several thousand more to be sold over the opening weekend.

Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace, to give the film its full title, is planned to be the first of nine Star Wars movies. The Prince of Wales and many of the movie's stars attended the European premiere in London on Wednesday night.

Set around 30 years before the original it follows the story of the younger like of Obi-Wan Kenobi, played by Sir Alec Guinness in the original film, and by Scottish star Ewan McGregor in the new film. The story tells how Obi-Wan meets Anakin Skywalker, the father of Luke Skywalker who will eventually become Darth Vader.

The movie cost $115 million, but recouped those costs within days of opening in America. It is tipped to be the first movie to make $1 billion at the box office, to say nothing of the millions to be made from the spin-off merchandising.

This is Lancashire cinema critic RICHARD LEWIS saw The Phantom Menace even before Prince Charles did: find out what he thought in our cinema reviews!

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