Fox Caves In

Twentieth Century Fox has swung a U-turn on its decision to ban advance ticket sales for Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, a move that signals the vast empire caving in to huge public pressure over the prequel. The original ban was put in place to avoid scalpers who Fox feared would hoard the seats. However, the ban was lifted last Friday and now theatre owners are permitted to sell tickets but are restricted to 12 per person. "It's a bit of a compromise for us, but the theatres have invested a lot of equipment and money into providing the advance ticket service to their customers," said Fox spokesman, Tom Sherak. "They really wanted this." He added, "The theatre owners promised sellers would watch so that some guy doesn't buy tickets and then get right back in line, but if somebody wants to do it bad enough, they will." The advance tickets go on sale May 12 at 3pm EDT - one week before the release of the film - sold from outlets in North America that offer the advance sales service.