I've got a few genuine questions here.
Well shit, I'd hope they were genuine.
When I say "sense of community" I mean the larger community, especially in comparison to 99-05, when this sort of thing wasn't even that newsworthy. It was common. I've explained why it was more common then upthread, but basically, while there were always one or two really big lines (and I mean REALLY big, not just 100 people less than a week out), there were also a bunch of smaller lines in cities all across America. Happened for every single movie. 100 people in LA with about a week to go is a pretty decent sign of how the larger community has, in the 10 years since Revenge of the Sith, eschewed or abandoned the idea of lining up as some sort of community event.
It's one thing to cast lining up as a community event when large chunks of the community are actually doing it, and it's obvious that it's more about the camaraderie than it is getting in (although logistics of the time made it so the two blended really well). But in 2015, these people lining up isn't so much a reflection of community goodwill, not like it was then. They're an outlier. Like I said earlier, it reads less like hardcore fans enjoying themselves and the sense of belonging, and more like people doing a thing for the sake of doing it and being seen doing it.
I don't think I'd be as cynical as some, suggesting it's basically a stunt in the hopes someone from Lucasfilm will swerve over, say "Hey, we've got 100 extra seats we weren't planning on, guess you guys are going to the premiere," because that really seems like a longshot.
But even if they've already pre-bought their tickets for a screening to that theater, this line isn't like those other lines, simply because lining up isn't anywhere near as much as a thing anymore. It's not a defining part of the Star Wars experience like it used to be. It's one of the traditions that more or less got left behind between there and here.
