'Star Wars 7' Trailer: 'The Force Awakens' Theaters-Only Plan Infuriates Diehards

As the old Hollywood adage goes, “always leave them wanting more.” It’s possible that the Walt Disney Co. marketing team pushing the newest “Star Wars” movie took that advice a little too far when it made it clear that fans can see the first 88-second trailer for “Episode VII: The Force Awakens” Friday only with a paid movie ticket.

The short sneak peek will premiere in a select 30 theaters across the U.S. and Canada on Black Friday, with Disney forgoing the traditional route of releasing a trailer online or on television for all to see. Fans may be too anxious to wait for the trailer online, so much so that they may open their wallets for tickets to a movie they may have no interest in seeing.

Disney is requiring cinemas that get the trailer to make its “Big Hero 6” the first show of the day.

For the “Star Wars” faithful, widely regarded as some of the movie industry’s most diehard fans, the excitement also revived the longstanding criticism that the studio wouldn’t hesitate to betray them for its bottom line. Disney gained the rights to the “Star Wars” franchise when it acquired Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion in 2012.

The trailer will play before every movie shown at each of the 28 theaters in the U.S. and 2 in Canada. It will be available only from Friday through Sunday. Reaction on social media was overwhelmingly negative.

"How do we get just a little extra attention paid to Star Wars?" "Make the first commercial super hard to see?" "Genius."

- Scott Weinberg (@scottEweinberg) November 24, 2014

I don't feel like driving to Warrington, PA, to pay to see a 90-second advertisement. I'll wait for the bootleg.

- Scott Weinberg (@scottEweinberg) November 24, 2014

Some on social media admitted, however, that while they might already have been planning to see “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1,” “Foxcatcher” or other movies that will follow the trailer, the “Force Awakens” preview has sold them on going to the cinema. Others said they will stream the illegally posted trailers that will inevitably be recorded via cell phone and leaked online.

“It’s like Disney WANTS the first thing people to see about ‘The Force Awakens’ to be a grainy, shaky footage someone at the back of the screen took with their iPhone,” wrote one Reddit user.

“Everybody wants to see this and they limit it to nine theaters across the country,” wrote another commenter before it was announced that 30 cinemas would have the trailer. “I’m not about to drive three hours to Warrenton [sic] to see thirty seconds of something. There has to be more to this. I’ve supported Disney through everything that they’ve done so far, but this move is baffling.”

This news comes barely more than a month after Marvel Studios released an official trailer for “Avengers: Age of Ultron” online, days after leaked versions of the preview went viral.