''Star Wars'' mania gripped Las Vegas Wednesday night. A teaser screening of the upcoming prequel, sponsored by Fox and Pepsi, had none of the orderliness and civility of other ShoWest events. Fox made all the attendees stand in line and then opened the doors at 9:45 to let people storm in for festival-type seating. There was pushing and shoving, lots of grumbling. It seemed that the event was intentionally mismanaged so Fox could say it had thousands of people standing in line, just to see two-and-a-half minutes of the most eagerly awaited movie in history.

After the audience sat down, Fox and Pepsi execs stood up and said nothing. The hastily arranged Las Vegas Philharmonic, led by John Williams, butchered the ''Star Wars'' theme. George Lucas, human teddy bear, was introduced, saying the movie will open Wednesday, May 19, ''so families can enjoy it'' (translation: Geeks will go Wednesday and Thursday, so families can enjoy it on the weekend). Lucas announced that he will shoot the next film entirely with digital cameras. It's the wave of the future, he predicted, and said he's investing all his resources in it.

The movie clip, though, was stupendous: everything the first trailer wasn't. It offered much more story, much more Natalie Portman, much more fuzzy interactions between R2 and C3. The only negative: It seems like Lucas and Co. are slowly ruining the surprise.