Stanthorpe teenagers John Boullier, Martin Boullier, Jordy Davies-Ilott and Branic Armstrong (pictured) who were at Tenterfield cinema to watch Star Wars on Friday night said they did not really notice the increase of smoking stars.

"There won't be any stars smoking in Star Wars anyway, just a lot of smoke," said Branic Armstrong.

But they were quick to think of smoking characters naming James Bond as a major culprit. Stars butted out during the 1970s and 1980s when eight was the average number of times a film showed someone smoking or made a reference to cigarettes. Twenty five was the average number in a film of the late 1990s.

Research has shown that movies that feature smoking can weaken the resolve of young people not to smoke.

Tenterfield Shire Council cultural development officer Harry Bolton said his perception is that for a long time smoking seemed to be taken out of the movies but it has been creeping back in recently.

Numbers of people who smoke in the movies far outweigh the percentage of the population who smoke in real life.

This was a surprise to teenagers John and Martin Boullier who thought films did not exaggerate smoking that much.