ABU DHABI: The highly anticipated ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ had its second worldwide premiere Wednesday evening in Abu Dhabi. The event was brought to the UAE capital by twofour54 in partnership with Etihad Airways and Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority.

Held at Emirates Palace, the Middle East premiere was an invitation-only red carpet event where guests mingled with Stormtroopers from the UAE, UK and German garrisons of 501st Legion. Members of the Jedi order armed with lightsabers also took to the red carpet. The screening of the film was then followed by a world exclusive immersion experience of the film’s creatures, props and set pieces. The one-off Jakku experience featured the set piece of the Jakku market place; models of the Jakku speeder truck and the Jakku landspeeder; and the AT-AT foot.

The event was attended by Media Zone Authority — Abu Dhabi Chairman, Khaldoon Khalifa Al Mubarak; twofour54 CEO H.E. Noura Al-Kaabi; Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority Chairman H.E. Mohamed Khalifa Al Mubarak; representatives from key government entities; ambassadors as well as Academy Award winner, Richard Dreyfuss, and local and regional talent.

Speaking at the premiere, Noura Al-Kaabi, CEO of twofour54 said: “Over a timeframe of almost 40 years, Star Wars has traveled far and wide to create a spectacular cinematic experience for audiences around the world and this time around, the film was facilitated by twofour54 and Abu Dhabi Film Commission. This is a step in the journey of Abu Dhabi’s film industry, as part of its quest to become one of the world’s most sought after production sites.”

Speaking at the premiere, Chair of Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority, Mohamed Khalifa Al-Mubarak, said: “Abu Dhabi is well set to harness the power of film as a motivational and destination image-making tool. Star Wars: The Force Awakens has gifted us an exciting opportunity to associate the emirate with a global movie franchise which enables us to entice enthusiastic fans or audience members to visit inspired by what they have seen on screen.

Filming for ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ took place in Abu Dhabi during May 2014 with over 650 crew working across two locations. In the film, Abu Dhabi plays Jakku, a frontier desert planet in a remote section of the Outer Rim Territories.