So here we are: 24 hours before the UK premiere! On this page we will keep you up to date over the next 72 hours about our exploits regarding Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens.

<Frank> 16/12/15 @ 20h20m

Still we are more than three hours away from the The Force Awakens midnight screenings, but the official EU premiere has kicked off well over an hour ago at London’s Leicester Square. Of course The Force Awakens had already opened up on the continent to much acclaim as we heard from friends in France and the Netherlands.

Julie & me spent most of our afternoon on Leicester Square having fun exchanging stories and memories with other fans, making fun of the ridiculous DJ hired to fire us up (did we need any?) and eagerly awaiting a glimpse of the cast. After seeing Mark Hamil, BB-8, JJ Abrams, Gwendolyn Christie, Anthony Daniels, Warwick Davies, Simon Pegg (…),  a very cute rescue dog, Harisson Ford and of course Daisy Ridley. Of course the others were there too but we somehow lost them in the crowds. Now, with a latte at Nero’s we are getting ready for the show at midnight.

The Leicester square event was fun, but the level of organisation was a little dissappointing and the use made of the large outside screens was at best shambolic and chaotic meaning that the chats going on on the main stage were mainly visible only to those who were directly in front of it while the screens showed the trailer on endless repeat. It were the Star Wars fans present that made it memorable, Disney & Lucasfilm surprised us with cute presents in the form of lightsabers and a phone-gadget but should spend a little more thought on making better use of the multi-media tech build-up they had available.

<Juli> 16/12/15 @ 11h30:

The cast for The Force Awakens has officially landed in the UK. Or at least, Gary, Carrie and Oscar have 😉

<Juli> 16/12/15 @ 09h16:

So far The Force Awakens has a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes despite no critic consensus having been reached yet. If it stays there that would be a first for any Star Wars film ever.

<Juli> 16/12/15 @ 09h00:

BBC Breakfast just reported on the building of the backdrop for tonight’s European premiere and had film critic Kate Muir give a brief glimpse at her thoughts on The Force Awakens. Full of both nostalgia and new footage, Kate praised the film. She argued that JJ Abrams might be ‘better than George Lucas’ in a certain way, praising his sleek cinematography, skills at filming action scenes and access to great CGI. She went on to praise John Boyega for his ‘great comic timing’ while Daisy Ridley is ‘great’ and ‘the centre of the film’, which makes me very happy.

This is another positive review following in the slew of positive feedback coming from the major news outlets.

<Frank> 16/12/15@01h47:

In the Netherlands, where The Force Awakens will start its run in less than 8 hours from now, the first newspaper reviews are appearing! The Volkskrant reports 4/5 for what they call a succesful kick-off of a new trilogy with an awesome Rey! A slightly more spoilerific review of the Telegraaf (hence no link) awards 4.5 out of 5.

<Frank> 16/12/15@00h40:

A few minutes ago The Guardian posted a piece about The Force Awakens and the first reactions. Anticipation is high, pre-sales have broken all records here in the UK including the numbers of ‘Spectre’ less than 2 months ago. In the US pre-sales are reportedly ‘staggering‘ as also Variety reports.