President Obama wrapped up his final press conference of the year Friday by telling reporters at the White House that he had to get to a showing of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."

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"OK, everybody, I got to get to 'Star Wars,'" Obama said from the lectern as he waved off more questions at the White House briefing room, smiling widely as reporters yelled out more queries.

"Merry Christmas, everybody," the president hollered at reporters after leaving his microphone, before disappearing from the room.

Obama opened his press conference by joking that "this is not the most important event that's taking place at the White House today," noting there was a screening of the "Star Wars" movie.

First lady Michelle Obama is hosting the screening at the White House for service members and their families. The film opened nationwide Thursday night.

After Obama's speech, White House press secretary Josh Earnest returned to the briefing room flanked by "Star Wars" characters — a pair of stormtroopers and R2-D2. This just happened. @PressSec poses with storm troopers pic.twitter.com/IiFnzJVF21 — Jim Acosta (@Acosta) December 18, 2015 One reporter yelled out, "Now we know what side of the force you're in, Josh."

Obama fielded several questions dealing with climate change and terrorism during his wide-ranging press conference Friday, which ran for around 50 minutes, similar to the length of those in previous years.