I bought tickets to the midnight showing of Spider-Man 3 in iMax three weeks in advance. I drove home from school that weekend because it was my window of opportunity between study-days and finals. My next chance wouldn't be until after finals, 2 weeks after the premiere.

I went with my best friends to the theater, got there 2-and-a-half hours before the start. Ben, Julia, Josh, maybe Kim?

They let us into the theater with 45 minutes to go, we had prime seats, middle row, center. Some ridiculous raffles and costume contests (the winning female Will recognized from school), and we were ready to go.

10 minutes prior to launch an announcement came over the PA, someone had called in a bomb threat and the theater needed to be evacuated. The search would take hours, so there was no way the movie would be shown. They distributed ticket vouchers at the door, and we left to wait in the parking lot.

Julia and Kim gave me and Ben a sympathetic laugh. "These are the saddest boys in the world." We were just looking off into space. We'd geared up for this night for at least a year, way before I'd even bought tickets. Like this.

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