Star Wars fans across south Essex will be able to watch the new blockbuster non-stop for nearly 24 hours when the film hits the big screen in July.

Bosses at the Odeon cinema in Victoria Plaza, Southend, believe the force of demand for Star Wars - the Phantom Menace will be out of this world and have got a licence to open until 6am on the two weekends following its release on July 16.

Meanwhile, managers at the UCI cinema in Basildon - which boasts the biggest screen outside the West End - hope to be showing the film in nine of their 12 auditoria.

Odeon cinema manager Emma Westell said: "To add to the Star Wars phenomenon, the Odeon Southend will be keeping its doors open for sci-fi die-hards until 6 in the morning on Friday and Saturday of the opening weekend and the weekend following, with late night performances starting at around 2.30am.

"It was as close as we could get to opening for 24 hours."

The Southend Odeon will be showing Episode One, which stars Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson, in screen five.

The screen itself is also having the sci-fi treatment to give an extra dimension to the film

Emma said: "We are having a state of the art sound system installed which has been partly devised by George Lucas himself.

"The system, Dolby Digital Surround EX, allows the whole audience, including those in the aisles, to experience the vast range of special effects, crisper and more spatial than ever before.

"Created by Dolby Laboratories, Lucasfilm THX and Skywalker Sound, the new surround system adds another channel of sound to the back of the auditorium, so the sound can move from front to back, giving the audience convincing flyovers and 360 degree pans."

Lucasfilm has yet to confirm the distribution of the film so cinemas across south Essex have to wait to find out exactly when and how many times it can be screened.

Ian Duffield, manager at UCI Basildon, said the cinema was still in negotiations with distributors, but hoped to show it in nine screens out of 12. He said: "That means there will be 2,300 to 2,500 seats, with the Phantom Menace starting every 15 minutes.

"We will certainly be showing it in screens 12 and one, which are the biggest screens in Essex.

"We also hope to have staff dressing up as Star Wars characters, and use lightsabres instead of torches to show people to their seats."

Racing on Tattooine - a scene from the Phantom Menace

(Right) Jedi knights - Ewan McGregor and Liam Neeson in the new Star Wars film, the Phantom Menace

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.