"Sith" Fans Maimed in Light-Saber Mishap

I hope nobody posted this already. If so, then I apologize.

By Charlie Amter
1 hour, 23 minutes ago

The Force–let alone common sense–was definitely not with them.

Two British Star Wars fans sustained critical injuries after constructing their own light sabers from fluorescent light tubes filled with liquid fuel.

According to British media reports, a 20-year-old man and his 17-year-old female friend were filming a mock duel in homage to Star Wars: Episode III–Revenge of the Sith, the latest chapter of George Lucas’ record-breaking franchise.

The duo were reportedly emulating one of Sith’s key battles, a light-saber clash between Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan Kenobi and Hayden Christensen’s Anakin Skywalker.

The two Brits suffered severe burns when their homemade sabers exploded. The two had been videotaping their clash. They have been hospitalized at Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire since the accident Sunday.

Aside from fiery accidents, the Sith craze is being blamed on a string of robberies. In separate incidents in Illinois and Florida, Dark Side-inspired crooks wearing Darth Vader helmets are being sought by police on assault and robbery charges.

Meanwhile, in other Sith-related news, federal authorities have shut down online file-sharing network Elite Torrents. The network had Star Wars: Episode III–Revenge of the Sith available as a download hours before the film even bowed in U.S. theaters on May 19. Officials for the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security said users of the site had downloaded Sith more than 10,000 times in its first 24 hours of availability.

Still, the online leak hasn’t hurt Sith’s bottom line, as the film broke all kinds of box-office records, including a Chewbacca-sized $50 million on its first day of release.

All told, the film has raked in nearly $183 million domestically, per BoxOfficeMojo.com, and should hit the $200 million mark on Thursday with the lucrative Memorial Day weekend looming.