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Film Premieres


JackAubrey
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Hey,

 

Me and my brother are wanting to go to a film premiere in London sometime,

 

I was wondering who on here has been to one and how they 'work'

 

I found a couple of websites telling me when they are on but which one do you guys use

 

Thanks in advance,

 

JA

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  • 3 weeks later...
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Twilight Premier:

 

7am - Get there and wait in -1oC temps

4pm - Stand at barrier.

4:01pm - Start getting abuse hurdled at you because apparently you are TOO OLD!

5pm - Still thinking the abuse will stop but it doesn't, I'm still too old, too tall and apparently too stupid :YAHOO: to be at the front!

6pm - The gits that run the prem decide they want to get the crowd going so "pretend" people are arriving,

6:01pm - Get seriously squashed by the 30+ VERY annoying teenage girls behind us trying to see NOTHING!!!

6:05pm - Get told by the person pushing behind me that I am squashing THEM!

6:55pm - The kicking starts. After being kicked in the back of the legs 8 times I talk to one of the "security" people. To get told, they're 14 year old girls, deal with it yourself. Which obviously I can't OR I'm the one getting arrested.

7pm - Guests start to arrive and the squashing gets worse.

7:05pm - The 4'10" girl who came from Canada stood next to me, but slightly behind is being crushed so badly she can't breath.

7:06pm - I make sure my wife and my friend are OK, I give my space to the crushed girl and leave!!!!!

8pm - Go back to find my wife and get our bags.

 

NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I still have the faces of all of those girls that abused and squashed me and my friends scared into my memory. Just wait if one turns up to a Twilight con :firedevil:

 

Now a none tainted version.

 

It will always depend on the film as to what time you have to get there to get a front row place. If you are in the second or third row, you MAY get something signed but it's a lot less likely than if you are at the front.

 

2pm-4pm - The barriers go up and you stand at them.

7pm - The guests arrive and you find out if you have stood in the right place. If so some actors MAY come and sign for you, if not you'll see a lot of very cool actors walking past you or maybe even from 50 feet away.

 

My wife stood at the War of the World prem for 7 hours and got nothing as they just didn't sign in the area she was stood. But people that arrived at the same time but were 40 feet to her left got about 5 autographs.

 

So it's a real lottery. Getting there early and getting in front of the main doors to the cinema is always going to give you better odds but guarantees nothing.

Edited by Too Tall
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Twilight Premier:

 

7am - Get there and wait in -1oC temps

4pm - Stand at barrier.

4:01pm - Start getting abuse hurdled at you because apparently you are TOO OLD!

5pm - Still thinking the abuse will stop but it doesn't, I'm still too old, too tall and apparently too stupid :o to be at the front!

6pm - The gits that run the prem decide they want to get the crowd going so "pretend" people are arriving,

6:01pm - Get seriously squashed by the 30+ VERY annoying teenage girls behind us trying to see NOTHING!!!

6:05pm - Get told by the person pushing behind me that I am squashing THEM!

6:55pm - The kicking starts. After being kicked in the back of the legs 8 times I talk to one of the "security" people. To get told, they're 14 year old girls, deal with it yourself. Which obviously I can't OR I'm the one getting arrested.

7pm - Guests start to arrive and the squashing gets worse.

7:05pm - The 4'10" girl who came from Canada stood next to me, but slightly behind is being crushed so badly she can't breath.

7:06pm - I make sure my wife and my friend are OK, I give my space to the crushed girl and leave!!!!!

8pm - Go back to find my wife and get our bags.

 

NEVER AGAIN!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I still have the faces of all of those girls that abused and squashed me and my friends scared into my memory. Just wait if one turns up to a Twilight con :firedevil:

 

Now a none tainted version.

 

It will always depend on the film as to what time you have to get there to get a front row place. If you are in the second or third row, you MAY get something signed but it's a lot less likely than if you are at the front.

 

2pm-4pm - The barriers go up and you stand at them.

7pm - The guests arrive and you find out if you have stood in the right place. If so some actors MAY come and sign for you, if not you'll see a lot of very cool actors walking past you or maybe even from 50 feet away.

 

My wife stood at the War of the World prem for 7 hours and got nothing as they just didn't sign in the area she was stood. But people that arrived at the same time but were 40 feet to her left got about 5 autographs.

 

So it's a real lottery. Getting there early and getting in front of the main doors to the cinema is always going to give you better odds but guarantees nothing.

 

 

Too Tall does speak the truth. It's complete chance really though if it's something that's going to be insanely busy get there early and find out if they're going to use the garden in Leicester Square as well.

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  • 4 years later...

The Film Premiere experience is certainly an interesting one !

 

I think the best thing you can do is don't set your expectations too high as to what you will be able to achieve. I tend to go with I'll be pleased to see x,y,z guest , anything else is a bonus, so if I get some good photos or autos then that's a plus !

 

It still can be frustrating though when one of your favourite actors doesn't even sign in the area you are in, or just signs a couple near you and moves on, but that's the chance you take !

 

I don't go to many Premiere's nowadays but did go to Noah this week and had mixed success. I think generally did pretty well, as got autos from Russell Crowe, Emma Watson, Logan Lerman and Douglas Booth, plus Director, Darren Aronofsky, but if there was one thing I would have really wanted to get signed it was a Labyrinth picture by Jennifer Connelly and whilst it was great to see Jennifer on the Red Carpet, she didn't come and sign any autos at all in the pen I was in. Ray Winstone also literally got within a couple of people down from me and then was pulled away to do an interview with Russell Crowe and he didn't come back ! :no:

 

I think the main thing though is to get there fairly early and be at the front, so if the star does sign in your area, you'll have a decent chance of getting them.

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@ GoldenGreen or anyone: Do you know the names of any of the event organizers that organize or create the prems? I know of Nibbs Events and Premier only. Nibbs are pretty useless in terms of trying to contact them. I rang up The Odean, L Sq. and was told they use mostly Premier and one possibley called Red Productions but after some Googling I think I must have been told the wrong name.,

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I've been to a few and had mixed results to say the least. I went to the Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince premier. Got there at about 8 or 9am and we were all herded into what felt like cattle pens for the day and told we couldn't leave until the end (so take food and drink if it's a big prem you want to go to). Than came the thunder and lightening and torrential rain on and off through the day. Luckily it eased off around the time it all started and I managed to get about 6 autographs. There have been other ones where I've not got any autographs and been there at a good time. I would say don't get there later than 1 or 2pm if it's normal sort of film (something that's not Twilight or Harry Potter with a HUGE fan base).

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The vast majority of the premieres I've been to they let you come and go until at least 3-4pm (although once you're into the pens if you're near the front you'll need to have someone to look after your spot). I don't think I've ever arrived after about 7.30am so I've always managed to be at the front on the barrier, although not always in a very good place. (Never come home completely empty handed but have often missed people I wanted.)

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@ GoldenGreen or anyone: Do you know the names of any of the event organizers that organize or create the prems? I know of Nibbs Events and Premier only. Nibbs are pretty useless in terms of trying to contact them. I rang up The Odean, L Sq. and was told they use mostly Premier and one possibley called Red Productions but after some Googling I think I must have been told the wrong name.,

 

I'm afraid I don't , sorry. I'll see what I can find out.

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As everyone has already mentioned, it's a bit of a gamble as to whether you'll get any autographs or not. Some actors enjoy spending time signing stuff for the fans, others don't sign anything at all. I was at the Monuments Men premier and George Clooney didn't go in until he was sure he had walked the entire length of the barrier to sign things. On the other hand, at the Saving Mr Banks premier, Tom Hanks didn't even go near the fans to sign anything.

Be prepared to wait a very long time and dress warm - it's surprising how cold it gets when you're standing still for hours on end. And as Too Tall states, overcrowding and pushing can be an annoying issue depending on the star - I was lucky enough to get Leonardo DiCaprio to sign a Blood Diamond poster for me but whenever he came near the barriers the crowd were going beserk!

If you intend to be at the very big premiers (like Spiderman or Avengers), then be warned the lots of people camp out overnight so the liklelhood of getting at the front is very very slim unless you camp out too of course!

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And be aware that some people - those who are just looking to sell the autos they get especially, although some fans can be pretty bad at times - DO NOT CARE about anyone else. At the Empire Awards last week I had dealers literally put their photos in front of my face (I was at the barrier) to get an autograph from Arnie. Sadly this leads to them getting autos and the decent people like me at the front getting squat (except for majorly squashed). VERY occasionally you find a pro-active member of the security staff who tosses people out for shoving too much, but most of the time not so much.

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For premieres I usually get 8x10 photos printed - mostly promo images for that film.

For award show red carpets I just take my autograph book (which I also take to premieres for the 'random' celebs that show up). I filled all but about 6 pages of a book in 2013 so I started a new one for this year!

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First big Prem I did was Star Wars Episode 2. That was big in so many ways, second one was Star Wars Episode 3- good times because only Fans were there (which in my opinion is what it should be about).

 

I came out of Premiere retirement in 2010 for Alice in Wonderland (just for Annie Hathaway) spending all day in a drenched Leicester Square, enthralling to say the least. A Team Premiere of that year was quite mental.

 

2011 I met Harrison Ford at Morning Glory later that year I went to the last Harry Potter Prem (got there a few days early) in Trafalgar Square, nearly got squashed to death but it was worth it just to get Alan Rickman (who's notorious for not signing Harry Potter) to sign Harry Potter.

 

2012 Spielberg, he was very good with Signing/Taking pics. And that was me done with Prems (although I did do Prometheus because a Friend of mine whom had never done a Prem before wanted to do this one) Ridley Scott signed both Blade Runner & Alien and even posed for a pic BUT it was all about Charlize Theron who signed and posed for a pic.

 

After two years I came out of Premiere retirement for the Muppets a few weeks back. BEST PREM BY FAR (For me)

 

I don't mind the waiting around, but its the weather that pees me off, then of course you've got dealer scum that couldn't care less about the people they get Autos from and more than likely it'll end up on ebay where TRUE Fans will miss out, dealers/those that work for them more often than not hurl such obscenities at the Stars that that ruins it for others too.

 

Premieres aren't what they used to be, it should be about the Fans- unfortunately its not.

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I have never been to one, would love to but have never gotten round to it. My friend however goes all the time. She has had some mixed results. The best was when she went to the Hunger Games prem. She got autos and pictures with all the stars including Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam & Chris Hemsworth AND she got in to see the movie with all the big names.

 

Apparently that is happening a lot more now. If you are in the fist 100 or so to turn up you get an arm band and then you get to go in. Depending on the movie it might be worth waiting all day for!

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Giveaways to actually go in and see the film vary wildly between premieres - some have no tickets at all to give away or only a tiny number, and some seem to have loads. (It's only happened to me once, and that was in Berlin...)

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I haven't been to many but, as like others have already said, it's based on luck.

 

Prometheus was my first and probably my favourite experience. The weather wasn't too bad, I got there late around 1pm and still got an excellent spot in the pen area. I managed to get autographs from Ridley Scott who literally spent a long time signing everyone's merch. I got to meet my favourite artist H.R. Giger (a very rare appearance), could have got Charlize Theron but had nothing on me for her to sign. I also got Michael Fassbender and Noomi Rapace. Really good atmosphere for one of my absolute favourite franchises. :)

 

My worst experience was the The Dark Knight Rises, which has put me off any massive film like that. I got there around 10am and the queue to the pens was ridiculous - there were people who had queued for a couple days! When they started letting people in they stopped it right before it was my turn to go in, so I was left to go in the public area. It rained and rained and rained - absolutely horrible weather. Only managed to get Tom Hardy to sign my Bronson dvd. Christian Bale made special efforts to sign everyone's merch (although you must give him your name), but totally blanked me and went to the next person. I think it might be due to the fact that my Dark Knight USA Bluray had a picture of Heath Ledger as the Joker on it? :(

 

An excellent example of luck was the Expendables 2 premiere. I got there at the earliest time possible at around 6am and it was glorious weather! There was about 30 of us already there and were first in the pens when they started to set up the barriers. The only difference this time that there were no security supervising the barriers so you didnt have to get your hand stamped or obtain a wrist band. As the premiere was at the Empire, I thought the layout would be the same as the Prometheus one which got me very excited. Unfortunately, the red carpet was extended all the way down to the Odeon West End and that's where the stars pulled up in their cars which means people who just joined the barriers near the start of the event had first pickings in trying to get autographs. All was not lost as I managed to get autographs from Van Damme, Dolph Lundgren, and Jason Statham. I shook hands with Sylvester Stallone (he wasn't signing much, probably because it was close to his son's recent death) and Arnold Schwarzenegger went the opposite side to me (I eventually met him at a book signings anyway). Although I was right at the front, there were so many people behind me and I really had to try hard to stop people pushing. the security should have managed that area better and not let so many people in. A mate of mine arrived around 9am and couldn't get to the front like I had and only managed to get Scott Adkins.

 

I'm not a big fan on going to these red carpet premieres but if there is someone in particular that I must simply have then I will make the effort. The weather is a strong factor in my decision. Unfortunately the scumbags (a.k.a the dealers) really ruin your experience because they're filthy bloodhounds and will be the reasons that give actors a bad experience when meeting their fans. The dealers should be controlled so that they don't take the ****.

 

Also, since no one mentioned, you also get random star guests turning up at these events. Ok, a lot of them are Z-list actors from such crap tv as Made In Chelsea (or whatever the name is), but you do get some surprises - such as Tom Hardy, Salma Hayak, and Terry Gilliam who turned up for the Prometheus premiere.

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Only one I've really been to was for Thor: The Dark World. I wasn't there for autos though or to see the stars, it was more just to see the actual event and what goes on as its an area I'd like to work in ultimately.

 

I wasn't at the barriers but did pay £5 to watch it all from the balcony of Ruby Blue. Its a great view if all you wanna do it watch. I especially liked the cosplay comp but felt it was a bit of a cop-out when Tom Hiddleston decided they should all win. I really ought to make an effort to attend more of them though and speak to the event organisers at the end about work...they'll be loads to choose from as the summer movie season kicks in.

Edited by nicky
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Do you guys go with photos to sign or do you have an album/auto book you bring along?

 

I used to go armed with a whole stack of photos, but this proved fairly costly, particularly if I didn't get much and I was left with a lot of unsigned photos !

 

So for the last few I have been a bit more limited in my aspirations ! At Noah the other week I took DVD covers with me and a couple of photos and a fairly large autograph book and got Russel Crowe on my Gladiator DVD, Director Darren Aronofsky on my Requiem For a Dream DVD cover and Emma Watson on a 10x8, with Logan Lerman and Douglas Booth in my auto book. I've got about four autograph books now full up with guests from the Red Carpet.

 

An autograph book is always handy to get guests that you are not expecting , a whole load turned up at the Revolver Premiere a few years back that I certainly wasn't expecting so had to go with the auto book, Mickey Rourke, Jean Reno, Luc Besson and Michelle Yeoh. I think that was probably one of my best Premieres in terms of autos, because also was able to get Ray Liotta on some Goodfellas pics, Jason Statham , Vincent Pastore and Andre Benjamin. Jason, Vincent and Andre all signed a mini poster from the film, although quite bizarelly Andre insisted on signing it on the back !

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Also, since no one mentioned, you also get random star guests turning up at these events. Ok, a lot of them are Z-list actors from such crap tv as Made In Chelsea (or whatever the name is), but you do get some surprises - such as Tom Hardy, Salma Hayak, and Terry Gilliam who turned up for the Prometheus premiere.

 

I tend not to bother with the Z-List actors that turn up and to be honest I had no idea who most of them were at the recent Noah event as I don't watch shows like Made in Chelsea or The Only Way is Essex. I do have some Big Brother guests from years ago, who I got because they came over to the area I was in, but as they tend to disappear without trace shortly after no really worth the bother.

 

However, there can be some other guests that turn up at the events who are suprises , I've mentioned Mickey Rourke, Jean Reno, Luc Besson and Michelle Yeoh showing up at the Revolver Premiere in my other post and at Basic Instinct 2, I was able to get Christian Slater, John Simm, Alex Kingston and Marc Warren which was a great bonus as well. You never know though whether these guys will sign or not, some have just come to see the film, others perhaps to support a friend , which was I think the case when Hugh Jackman turned up at Noah, but I didn't actually see him sign, he certainly didn't come over to the pen I was in.

 

I'm trying to think of some of other good guests that have turned up over the years unexpectedly, there was a lot of footballers at Rocky Balboa, Ashley Cole for example if my memory serves me right. Casino Royale also had quite a few other celebs turn up but I don't think they signed much it at all such as Elton John. Or you might get a celebrity other half such as Madonna was with Guy Ritchie at Revolver or Katie Holmes with Tom Cruise at War of the Worlds.

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Sometimes the random stars are (in MY opinion) better than those who are supposed to be there. In fact at Prometheus two years ago it was nice to meet Peaches Geldof, she was really nice.

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Sometimes the random stars are (in MY opinion) better than those who are supposed to be there. In fact at Prometheus two years ago it was nice to meet Peaches Geldof, she was really nice.

 

I'd quite agree, many of them have been very friendly and happy to sign. I just don't know who many of them are nowadays as don't watch much reality TV or soap operas.

 

I remember Nell McAndrew had a spell of being at quite a few and she was was very friendly and happy to sign. Jill Halfpenny was lovely as well, others off the top of my head that signed for me, Lacey Turner (she was so cold she couldn't stop her hand shaking !), James Alexandrou, Adele Silva, Michelle Heaton, Trinny and Susannah , Jimmy Carr, Alexei Sayle, Anthony Costa, Andy Scott-Lee etc

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