Bradford couple Guy and Billie Howarth were bowled over by the world premiere in New York of Star Wars, The Phantom Menace.

The lucky pair were flown to the Big Apple where last night they received VIP treatment as winners of the Telegraph & Argus and Showcase Cinemas competition.

Star Wars fan Guy, 31, of Clayton, a plant operator at Ciba Speciality Chemcials, described the first film of the new George Lucas trilogy as "stunning".

"It was as good as I had hoped, with fantastic special effects and loads of new creatures," he said from his New York hotel today.

"Look out for a creature called Jarjar Binks, who almost takes over the film and Liam Neeson who is excellent as Anakin Skywalker's mentor.

"I absolutely loved the film. I didn't think it would be as good, but it surpasses all the other Star Wars films. It is absolutely fantastic."

Star Wars fans will also see familiar characters like Jabba the Hut.

Guy and his wife Billie, 42, both felt the performance of Ewan McGregor, who plays Obi Wan Kenobi, was the one flaw in the film.

"He does seem a bit miscast," said Guy.

There were queues outside cinemas in towns and cities across the US as the latest instalment of the space saga opened.

Cinemas scheduled round-the-clock showings and some companies decided not to fight the Force - they sent their employees from work to The Phantom Menace, which was on schedule to shatter Hollywood records.

"Everyone wants to see this movie, and we thought it would be fun to send our whole company," said Steven J. Lund, president of Provo, Utah-based cosmetics seller Nu Skin Enterprises.

The company has reserved a cinema for all 1,600 employees and one guest each for Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, which opened at 12:01am yesterday, ending, for some, years of anticipation.

No official box office figures were available for the early showings, but movie analysts expected the movie to easily top £62m by the end of the five-day opening preview on Sunday.

It was expected to beat the opening record set by Lost World: Jurassic Park in a four-day Memorial Day weekend in 1997.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.