Your dreams of attending the premiere of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" dressed as Darth Vader, Kylo Ren or Captain Phasma may have just crashed around you.

Cinemark, with its more than 500 theaters across the United States and Latin America, has announced that while costumed fans are welcome, helmets ("facing coverings"), face paint, lightsabers and blasters are not. So there goes your Darth Maul makeup, your friends' plans for a big entrance as a battalion of Stormtroopers, and countless hours of Jedi fight choreography. Come to think of it, "face coverings" could also include the hoods of some Jedi robes.

Outer Places reports that Cinemark joins the 300-location AMC Theatres in its cosplay restrictions, although the latter will permit lightsabers (as long they're turned off during the screening).

While the rules will undoubtedly disappoint a lot of enthusiastic fans, it's difficult to argue with the precautions in the wake of the 2012 mass shooting at a screening of "The Dark Knight Rises" in Aurora, Colorado.

Directed by J.J. Abrams, "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" opens Dec. 18 in North America.

(via io9.com)