The Force Awakens for Gold Coast Star Wars fans ready for tonight’s premiere of new blockbuster

THE force has awakened for the Gold Coast, with local fans set to help push the first Star Wars film in a decade into the record books.

THE force has awakened for the Gold Coast with local fans set to help push the first Star Wars film in a decade into the record books.

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens will ­premiere at Gold Coast cinemas at midnight tonight as film buffs of ­George Lucas’s space opera saga ­become some of the first in the world to see the movie.

The J.J. Abrams film will screen at least 173 times on the Gold Coast in its first 24 hours of release.

Up to 1500 fans will line up at Robina tonight for the sci-fi saga while a ­further 700 will be at Pacific Fair.

Talk of the $200 million film finally unseating 2009’s James Cameron epic Avatar as the world’s highest-grossing film are being bolstered by local cinemas which are being forced to put on extra screenings to cater for the demand.

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A scene from the new film Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Film Frame/Disney/Lucasfilm via AP)

Avatar clocked up a whopping $2.7 billion six years ago but Star Wars ­already has a headstart, racking up more than $50 million of pre-ticket sales in recent weeks.

Some industry experts have tipped the film to gross more than $600 million in the US alone this weekend.

Reading Cinemas at ­Harbour Town is set to screen the film 32 times a day this week, with Event cinemas showing it 42 times.

Though the film’s plot line remains under wraps, it is set more than 30 years after 1983’s Return of the Jedi and features the return of old favourites Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) plus many new characters.

Adam Driver as Kylo Ren with his Lightsaber in a scene Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Film Frame/Disney/Copyright Lucasfilm 2015 via AP)

First in line tonight and resplendent in his screen-accurate Darth Vader costume will be Mermaid Waters fan Dan Jensen, ­accompanied by his girlfriend’s 11-year-old nephew, Clay Jeffrey, who will be decked out as bounty hunter Boba Fett.

Mr Jensen’s first memory was seeing Star Wars Episode IV at a drive-in cinema when it premiered in 1977 and still remembers the life-changing moment he saw the Vader, a dark lord of the Sith, walk through the smoke into the stark white corridor of the blockade runner spaceship.

Dan Jensen and Clay Jeffery, 9, are dressing up for the midnight premiere of the new Star Wars movie tonight. Dan is Darth Vader and Clay is Boba Fett. Picture: Jerad Williams

The 42-year-old said he expected the midnight premiere to be an emotional ­affair.

“It is going to be amazing and I think when I see the old cast again on-screen there are going to be tears, if I am honest,” he said.

Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens opens at midnight tonight.

Stormtroopers in a scene from the new film Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Film Frame/Lucasfilm via AP).

And it’s not just tickets to see the movie that are proving popular – merchandise ranging from action figures to costumes have been flying off the shelves since going on sale on September 4.

More than $5 billion worth of film merchandise is expected to be sold this financial year, with the most popular items a smartphone-controlled replica of ball droid B-88 as well as scarce 3.75 inch action figures of the film’s villains, Kylo Ren and Captain Phasma.

All have been rare sights since disappearing from shelves within hours of being unveiled.