New Orleans stars in new Netflix movie ‘People We Meet on Vacation.’ Take a sneak peek.

They arrived at the Prytania Theatre early, with glitter and blankets and friends from book club, for the first chance to see a romance they’d loved on the page transformed for the screen.

To them, and to the film and book industries courting them, the screening of “People We Meet on Vacation” this week in New Orleans was a big deal.

The first of author Emily Henry’s wildly popular romance novels to be turned into a movie. The first screening of that movie in any theater.

The fans were bright and buzzing about the film, much of it shot in New Orleans, even before Henry herself burst through the theater’s side doors.

“The reason we are all here, folks,” said the film’s director, Brett Haley, as fans screamed. Henry stepped onto the stage, waving, her long, blond curls bouncing.

“Omigosh, I’m so, so, so excited,” she said. “I’m shaking, I’m sweating, I’m wearing multiple of those little sweat pad things…”

It was the first of many surprises for the audience, mostly women, many of them in their 20s and 30s, who have helped make the 34-year-old author a star. This film, to be released Jan. 9 on Netflix, is just the first of Henry’s books to be turned into a movie. Four more are in the works.

Everyone in that theater knew whether the story’s main characters Poppy and Alex — best friends who, each summer, take a trip together — would end up together.

The big will-they-or-won’t-they was whether this audience, devoted to those characters’ quirks, would celebrate the retelling of their story. Whether they, in a broader sense, would bring their passion and their dollars to the movies. Whether they might revive the rom-com.

“Just to hear people cheer, literally, multiple times during a rom com…” said Haley, the director, during an interview the next morning. “It was like ‘Avengers: Endgame‘ vibes, which was pretty cool.”

Onstage and in conversation, Haley emphasized his love for rom-coms, including “When Harry Met Sally,” and his belief that they ought to be considered cinema.

“I think this is an underserved genre right now, and I think it’s an underserved audience,” he said. “Watching the film last night and hearing them respond the way people respond to action movies or superhero movies tells me that we’re missing a big chunk of people who really love movies and want to see films that make them feel good in a grounded way, in a way that’s actually earned, that feels relatable.”

The film, like the novel, takes place over a dozen years, as Poppy and Alex, who grew up in the same small Ohio city, connect on a ride home from college over — or despite — their likes and dislikes.

As it turns out, responsible and reserved Alex dislikes most things that wild and goofy Poppy loves, from saxophone to public displays of affection. Poppy doesn’t understand Alex’s love of running, or of their hometown.

Early on in their unlikely friendship, they make a pledge: to travel each summer together. So their love story plays out in Nashville and Montana, Palm Springs and New Orleans.

“NEW ORLEANS,” that chapter begins. “Alex is curious about the architecture — all those old Crayola-colored buildings with their wrought-iron balconies and the ancient trees writhing up right through the sidewalks, roots sprawling out for yards in every direction, breaking up cement like it’s nothing. The trees predate it, and they’ll outlast it.”

As for Poppy: “I’m excited for alcohol in slushy form and kitschy supernatural shops.”

Haley, who is from Pensacola, Fla., grew up visiting New Orleans and counts himself as a Saints fan. When they were whittling the list of filming locations, he insisted on New Orleans. In the end, they filmed more than half the movie here, he said, including much of the Ohio storyline.

During Wednesday night’s screening, the audience cheered when Poppy and Alex ordered beignets from Cafe du Monde and po-boys from Domilise’s Po-Boy & Bar. They laughed when a sidewalk, supposedly in Ohio, was so cracked and uneven it could only be from New Orleans.

They laughed and they sighed and once, when the plot differed dramatically from the book, they gasped.

“Just kiss!” one woman whispered, more than once.

Most fans had gotten free passes from a few local bookstores. The Garden District Book Shop, for example, offered passes to folks who commented on their Instagram post, then showed up in person to give a bookseller the secret code, a line from the book: “When I think of home, I think of you.”

Within 24 hours, all the passes were taken, said marketing manager Caroline Johnson.

Fans of “EmHen,” as they’ve dubbed her, appreciate her smart, snappy dialogue and her flawed, funny heroines. Many credit her with igniting or reviving their love of romance. “Especially on YouTube and Instagram, she’s kind of like the queen,” said Chloe Lyons, 21, who arrived at the screening with a Shakespeare and Company tote bag.

Most have not only read all her novels but have them ranked, in order, on their Goodreads.

First in line for the screening was a group from the woman-run Blue Cypress Books, who arrived at 5:30 p.m. for the 7 p.m. screening to make sure they got good seats. “It’s a very Taylor Swift vibe,” one of them explained. Jodi Laidlaw, a manager at that bookstore, wore a disco ball headband and a floral dress.

“It’s Poppy inspired,” she said, referencing the character’s love of costumes, as she pointed her toe to show off her silver, sparkly boots.

Laidlaw was once “a recovering English major,” too serious to read romance. Then, a book club “made me read ‘Beach Read,’” Henry’s first adult novel, she said, “and scolded me appropriately, and I undid some of the misogyny.”

Now, Laidlaw organizes a “Happily Ever After” book club at the store, with hundreds on its listserv and dozens at every meeting.

Walking out of the movie, Laidlaw and her friends laughed as they compared notes. “The trick with romance,” she said, “is taking its characters seriously without taking itself too seriously.

“And I think it did that very well.”