Just hope nobody launches a big e-mail virus attack today -- the computer staff might be off recovering from a late night at the movies.

	Lucas Films A computer "wallpaper" available on the official Web site for "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith." Click photo for larger image. Previous coverage Read the PG's review The moviegoer's guide to the Star Wars' galaxy On the Internet: "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" Web site

Or, perhaps, it may still be camped out in a cool, dark theater watching repeated showings of "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith."

You laugh.

Check out this headline on a press release from outplacement firm, Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.: "Absenteeism Losses Could Reach $627 Million." The firm's researchers ran the numbers and figured 4.8 million people might miss work over today and tomorrow to see just how Darth Vader got that sleek helmet.

Of course, it was a marketing ploy. The study was supposed to draw attention to electronics retailer Best Buy's on-call computer guys, the Geek Squad, who want everyone to know that they will be around today if your regular computer tech is lost to the dark side.

Mike Brown just laughed at the idea that entire information technology staffs would be sneaking out of the office even though he was organizing a group of 14 friends -- including several co-workers from GlaxoSmithKline -- to catch a midnight showing at the Destinta theater in Bridgeville.

Brown was not planning to go to work today. He said that was just serendipitous. He had been scheduled to take time off to go to a wedding. He promises that was the case.

Whether or not a significant slice of the work force is missing in action today, the general feeling among fans and movie theater operators seemed to be that they might as well make an event out of the last Star Wars movie release ever (unless George Lucas changes his mind, of course) because something this big may not come around again for a while.

"In the history of film-making, I can't think of another series of films that's been as successful as the Star Wars films," said Brian Callaghan, spokesman for National Amusements, which owns three Pittsburgh theaters -- Northway Mall, Showcase Cinemas North and Showcase Cinemas West. All three were scheduled to begin showings at 12:01 a.m. this morning.

Strong movie series such as "Star Wars" and "Harry Potter" are valuable because theater operators know there is an established audience. They feel safe setting aside several screens and warming up the popcorn machines.

The conclusion of the "Star Wars" series is even more painful than the end of Frodo's journey in the "Lord of the Rings" series. "Movie operators would have loved to hear, 'There's three more Tolkien books just found in a dusty attic in Birmingham, England,' " said Callaghan.

In lieu of such a reprieve, theaters all over Pittsburgh were staffed up and ready for late night -- or would it be early morning? -- showings. From Cheswick to Squirrel Hill and points north, south, east and west, there was probably somewhere to catch the show.

One theater that was not open to the general public for a showing at 12:01 a.m. was the SouthSide Works cinema off East Carson Street.

Its developer, the Soffer Organization, sold all 270 seats in front of one screen to Steel City Media, the company that owns the Pittsburgh City Paper and radio stations WRRK and WLTJ. The radio stations used the tickets as prizes and SouthSide Works was happy to get the publicity.

Soffer spokeswoman Jean Mignogna planned to be there last night. She is enough of a fan that co-workers gave her a Darth Vader helmet earlier this year. She held it up to the phone and played one of the better excuses of modern times: "You don't know the power of the dark side."

More than 150,000 copies of customizable excuses had been downloaded off the Geek Squad Web site as of yesterday, presumably more for the fun of it than to make a serious attempt to convince the boss/principal that Johnny was suffering from a tractor-beam induced migraine or a marathon laser sword battle.

Jami Rutherford, of Friendship, certainly was not planning any such silliness to explain her absence today from her job doing claims analysis and litigation support. Nobody is likely to ask anyway, said Rutherford, who was scheduled to be a part of Mike Brown's GlaxoSmithKline group.

She has loved the Star Wars movies from the moment she saw the first one that came out in 1977 when she was 8 years old. She does not collect figurines or worry about the escalating marketing hype. "I guess I'm pretty immune to it. I don't eat a lot of fast food and I don't have kids," Rutherford said.

Rutherford had never gone to a midnight showing of a Star Wars opening before. She figured this is the last one and she would not get the chance again.

Hey, aren't the computer technicians on the Geek Squad Star Wars fans, too?

"We'll go tonight," promised spokesman Gavin McKay, who has been hanging out in New York with a group of fans who use the line-sitting tradition as a charitable fund-raiser.

Sounds like his company's employees will be tired today, too. McKay offered this sage prediction. "This weekend will be a weekend of rest."