Local Star Wars ticket sales smashes Aussie record

STAR WARS The Force Awakens’ Australian ticket sales have broken records, with some cinemas putting on 3am sessions to meet demand.

STAR WARS The Force Awakens’ Australian ticket sales have broken records leaving other box office breakers in its space dust two months ahead of its release on December 17.

According to Event Cinemas, Star Wars’ first day pre-sales totalled 30,000 since going on sale at 8am on Tuesday, eclipsing the end-of-day record set by The Avengers (26,988) tickets in just four hours.

To put that in perspective, that’s four times as many as the first day of presales for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 2 (7726 tickets) and Harry Potter and The Deathly Hollows Part 2 (7258 tickets) in the same period.

1200 tickets sold in the first minute, 10,000 in the first ten minutes and more than 30,000 by yesterday afternoon.

Ticket sales have since doubled overnight, with 31 per cent of all tickets to midnight sessions and 70 per cent to sessions in 3D.

Some Event cinemas have even opened up sessions at 3am to meet demand.

“We anticipated the ticket sales for Star Wars: The Force Awakens to break records, however the pace in which this film has achieved this is remarkable,” David Seargent, group managing director of Event Cinemas’ parent company AHL, said in a statement.

In the US, Fandango, the market leader in online ticket sales, said on Tuesday that it had sold eight times as many tickets as it did for The Hunger Games, the previous record holder for first day tickets sales.

The Star Wars: The Force Awakens latest trailer debuted yesterday.

Demand was so overwhelming on Monday evening, when the tickets went on sale, that several online ticketing services crashed.

Some tickets were already showing up Tuesday on eBay, with one pair of VIP tickets offered for $10,000.

When they weren’t buying tickets, fans worldwide were glued to their screens waiting for the release of the film’s first full-length trailer.

The trailer, which premiered on US TV during ESPN’S Monday Night football and then dropped online, gave fans its first look at new characters including stormtrooper-turned-Jedi Finn (John Boyega), and veterans Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and Chewbacca.

However some fans were disappointed with the lack of new footage of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill).

“Where is Luke Skywalker???,” Tori Gonzalez tweeted.

“Dear Disney, Where’s Luke Skywalker? Sincerely, Every Star Wars Fan,” Lee Letarte Jr tweeted.

Analysts expect merchandise sales to reach up to $5 billion this year, with everything from light sabres to action figures and even pet gear on offer.

Super fans of the saga will also be able to book tickets for marathon viewing of the first six instalments in the series before Episode VII.

The entertainment site Deadline has predicted that the movie could rake in a record-setting $615 million when it opens during the busy Christmas season.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens premieres in Australian cinemas on December 17th.

Originally published as Local Star Wars ticket sales smashes Aussie record