Star Wars fans enraged after screening of 'Last Jedi' in Burbank goes bad

BURBANK, Calif. (KABC) -- Star Wars fans were fuming after a screening of "The Last Jedi" at a theater in Burbank had audio issues.

Although there's a lot of excitement over the release of the latest Star Wars film, not everybody had a positive experience watching it at the AMC Burbank 16 theater late Thursday.

There were technical problems with at least two showings of the movie: the first at about 10 p.m. Thursday and the second at about 1:30 a.m. Friday.

Burbank police had to be called after the upset crowd from the 10 p.m. showing gathered in the lobby and began screaming at the staff. Video shows several people standing with their arms crossed, yelling "restart it!"

Police said no injuries were reported and nobody was arrested.

One Twitter user said there was music but no dialogue for about six minutes when the film began. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the theater chose not to or was unable to restart the movie.

"You have the music, and you had picture, but the dialogue sounded like shellshock," said Lynly Ehrlich, who recorded cellphone video of the angry fans.

Ehrlich believes the situation wasn't handled well by the fans - and it wasn't handled well by the theater either.

Hours later, there was a similar glitch.

"I was kind of worried. I wasn't sure if they were actually going to get their act together, which I guess they didn't," described Rick Johnson.

Fans said their showing at 1:30 a.m. was marred right from the start.

"The opening refrain, the Star Wars theme happened. We got to see a little bit of the scroll, and the movie just cut out and got dark," Johnson said.

The issue with the 1:30 a.m. showing never escalated. Viewers said the screening was restarted for them.

In both cases, moviegoers told Eyewitness News that AMC made it right by offering a refund and free passes.

Also, fans on social media said they were given options to watch another screening at the same theater or watch the film at a different AMC location.

AMC has not commented on what went wrong.

Star Wars super fan Debbie Delmar said she purchased tickets in advance to watch a screening at 9:30 a.m. Friday at the same theater. She told Eyewitness News the screening went off without a hitch.