When an unidentified man, dressed all in black and wearing a Darth Vader mask, walked into the Showplace Eight Theater in Springfield, Illinois, just after 9 p.m., employees may have thought he was just another fan arriving for the late showing of the latest Star Wars movie, “Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.” They swiftly realized their mistake, as the man walked around the front counter into the cashier area, shoved an employee aside and grabbed an undisclosed amount of cash.

Springfield Police Lieutenant Doug Williams told CourtTV that the suspect did not speak while committing the crime nor did witnesses detect Lord Vader’s signature heavy breathing. No weapons, including a light saber were used during the robbery.

The box office may have been a logical target. “Revenge of the Sith” shattered ticket sales records with a three-day opening bonanza of more than $124 million. That’s an average of $29,619 per each of 3,661 theaters where it was being shown E!Online reported.

Another Darth Vader doppelganger robbed a pizza delivery man in Kissimmee, Florida according to E!Online. It is unlikely his take matched that of the theater-robbing Vader.

Fans worry that such events may be the beginning of the end of going to the movies in costume.

“We trust an isolated incident like this won’t prevent fans that like to attend the movies in costume to be stopped at the door,” Joshua of theforce.net laments.

Police have no suspects in the theater robbery.