The excitement was palpable, and anticipation was conspicuous.

Then a huge black stretch limo pulled up, stars emerged, fans grasping phones and cameras jockeyed for positioning on the red carpet, and Edmond Town Hall welcomed its first-ever big-time movie premiere event June 8 as about 200 residents and celeb-watchers turned out for the first American screening of Matt Berman’s The Wedding Pact 2 — The Baby Pact.

The event, organized by Newtown resident Marianne Grenier, was a fundraiser for the theater, with proceeds to be applied toward an eventual upgrade to the facility’s sound system.

With the film’s first international screening a few days earlier at Cannes Film Festival in his rear-view mirror, Berman was all smiles and hugs as he refocused on the Town Hall Theatre attendees who arrived early to rub elbows and enjoy some snacks and beverages as a major representation from the film’s cast chatted and clowned around a bit in front of a photo backdrop located just north of the building’s courtyard.

Among those who took photos and embraced welcoming and even a few gleeful squealing young fans were stars Haylie Duff, a towering Quinton Aaron (The Blind Side), Heather McComb (Ray Donovan), Chase Masterson (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Kelly Perine (Knight Squad), and Scott Michael Campbell (Shameless).

As showtime approached, everyone shifted into the dimly lit theater to hear a few welcoming remarks from Berman, who brought up friend and Newtown resident Marianne Grenier. It was Grenier who helped orchestrate the large-scale premiere event, after a more downscaled Berman premiere of a previous project, Manipulation, in 2019.

During the film, audience members chuckled and gasped during appropriate moments, and for the most part, sat riveted to the screen until the final credits rolled and applause filled the air.

In the days following, Grenier learned that the premiere party generated in excess of $3,700 for the nonprofit Edmond Town Hall’s improvement fund.

While this installment in his litany of pictures is now available for public consumption in theaters and on various streaming platforms, in a follow-up from The Newtown Bee June 9 suggesting the writer/director consider Newtown as the location for a future film, Berman’s quick and direct reply was, “I just might!”

Editor John Voket can be reached at john@thebee.com.