Kristy Glasgow in costume as a Twi'lek Jedi knight. Photo: Supplied / Kristy Glasgow
Whether they are baking Wookie cookies, dressing up as their favourite character or attending a movie marathon, Star Wars fans are in for a big weekend with events celebrating May the 4th - also known as Star Wars Day - planned across the country.
The nationwide celebration - a pun on the film's most famous line "May the force be with you" - sees cinemas like Hollywood Avondale in Auckland screening marathons of the films, space observatories holding Star Wars-themed evenings, pubs running quizzes, and one Wellington bar hosting a themed drag performance.
Matt and Kristy Glasgow (wearing a Princess Leia costume) meeting Carrie Fisher in 2011. Photo: Supplied / Kristy Glasgow
Kristy Glasgow, who runs the Star Wars New Zealand (SWNZ) website with her husband Matt, said Star Wars Day had become a "juggernaut" of a celebration.
"For years and years, it was just an informal fan thing but as the internet has progressed... it's turned into a much bigger phenomenon.
"It's only in recent years that Lucasfilm and now Disney have picked up on it, and turned it into this big juggernaut of 'Star Wars the Celebration'. In terms of marketing campaigns, and toy releases, every year it gets bigger and bigger."
It was great that Star Wars Day fell on a Saturday this year, she said.
"Not everybody can live and breathe Star Wars every day, but on this day it feels like the whole world gets on board. It's a fun day to really let that shine in full force."
Kiwi fans would also be celebrating May the 5th - also known as Revenge of the Fifth (a pun on the 2005 film Revenge of the Sith) - when Star Wars Day news and events emerged the United States, when it is May the 4th there.
Glasgow, 41, got into Star Wars as a high school student in the early 2000s, watching the prequel movies and buying collectibles. Her husband Matt, 53, had been running the SWNZ website for more than 20 years.
The couple met through their love of the movie series. Kirsty met Matt at a Star Wars swap-meet one Valentine's Day and bought his Attack of the Clones poster.
"We just got to know each other and it went from there."
Kristy in costume as Padmé Amidala at a Star Wars filming location in Lake Como, Italy. Photo: Supplied / Kristy Glasgow
The Attack of the Clones movie had "special significance" for the couple, she said. A filming location in Lake Como, Italy, was where Padmé Amidala (played by Natalie Portman) secretly marries Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen). Matt proposed to Kristy in the same spot.
"It's a strong part of our story. He grew up in the original trilogy era and I'm a prequel girl so we have different focuses when it comes to collecting. But that's a film we always come back to as being very, very special for us."
Matt and Kristy Glasgow with C3PO and R2D2 at Star Wars celebration. Photo: Supplied / Kristy Glasgow
The prequel films were seeing a resurgence, Glasgow said, because the kids who watched them in the late Nineties/early 2000s were now in their thirties, perhaps with their own children. The first of the prequels - The Phantom Menace - celebrates its 25th anniversary this year.
This meant the once-controversial character Jar Jar Binks, played by Ahmed Best, had been rehabilitated, she said.
"At a recent convention in the United States, they brought out Ahmed Best on stage and the entire crowd was chanting his name, showering him with love and showing him just how much we appreciate him.
"Jar Jar has kind of come back as a super-popular character - there are people collecting him, Ahmed Best is attending signings where he's in demand, he's coming out as Lego Jar Jar models and action characters."
The Glasgows' daughter Juliet, 22, was also a fan. "She collects, she cos-plays, she plays the video games - so we are very much a Star Wars family."
The Glasgow family with Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill, front. Photo: Supplied / Kristy Glasgow
In 2015, the family got their photo taken with actors Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill.
"We call it our family photo because we had the Skywalker twins and the three of us."
How will the Glasgows celebrate Star Wars Day?
"We'll be going to the movie marathons - we never miss an opportunity to see the films on the big screen and it's been some years since they put all the films on.
"You get to see it with all the fans, it's something not to be missed."
