As many of you will likely be aware, the people over at the Star Wars YouTube channel recently released a new official trailer for the upcoming sequel to the already majorly popular Sci-Fi franchise.

The trailer, originally appearing during a commercial break on ESPN in the US, targeted sports fans watching Monday Night Football games. Shortly after, the video was made available on YouTube, garnering what is now over 128 million views (this figure including the number of people who were tuned into ESPN that evening).

Tickets for The Force Awakens were released for sale almost immediately after the trailer dropped. It became apparent that avid fans were patiently awaiting the tickets to be available for pre-booking, since several US and UK cinema chains struggled with capacity on their websites. Fandango in the US, and ODEON in the UK, were two of the most well known chains who were impacted by an overwhelming number of visitors trying to book tickets on their sites.

In the first 24 hours of the tickets going on sale, The Force Awakens established a new record for number of pre-release tickets sold during the first day, superseding previous champion, The Hunger Games. In the UK, 200,000 tickets were sold on the first day alone.

Already, some cinemas have sold out, especially IMAX screenings, leading to theaters adding more screening times to meet the overwhelming demand. Sales also broke the IMAX record, raking in $6.5 million, compared to the likes of Hunger Games and The Dark Knight Rises, which earned approximately $1 million.


EDITED BY STEFANO ELIA - stefano.elia [AT] ufplanets.com