Star Wars characters storm White House press conference

The one and only R2D2 and two Storm Troopers have added some Star Wars: The Force Awakens flavour to a White House press conference.

The characters flanked White House press secretary Josh Earnest at the podium, which he described as “cool”.

"So this is a little different than our usual news conference, but I kinda like the feel of it," he told the amused reporters.

“You got to admit, this is pretty cool.” 

Earlier, US President Barack Obama had opened the conference by speaking about "the year behind us and the year ahead."

Following his address, Obama joined a number of families who have lost family members in armed combat, for a special screening of the film.

"Okay everybody, I've got to get to Star Wars," the President said. 

The film opened in theaters across the US yesterday, and is expected to break records during its opening weekend.