Star Wars: The Force Awakens is only hours away from finally hitting U.S. theaters, but the massive blockbuster has already been breaking all kinds of records. Since the third trailer was released back in October, ticket sales for the latest adventure in a galaxy, far, far away have been soaring through the roof…scratch that, the roof was completely disintegrated, and the sales have been soaring through space. Now Fandango reports that the movie has broken its biggest record without even screening to the U.S. public yet.
Looking at their preticket sales, the online ticket service reports that Star Wars: The Force Awakens has broken their record for the "most tickets sold for any film during its entire theatrical run," and that’s all through pre-sales. So just imagine how much larger that number will get once the movie settles into theaters. The latest Star Wars installment nabbed the top spot from from this year’s summer hit Jurassic World, and the other entries in Fandango’s Top 5 slot are (in order) 2013’s The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, 2015’s Avengers: Age of Ultron and 2012’s The Hunger Games.
This isn’t the first time Star Wars: The Force Awakens has taken Fandango by storm. On the day tickets first went on sale, the site experienced so much traffic that it crashed. As the first live action Star Wars movie to be released in 10 years, anticipation for the J.J. Abrams-directed feature is at an all time high, and there’s no sign that’s going to slow down soon. This Fandango record is just the latest way Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been dominating the tickets game. It was reported yesterday that the movie already has earned $100 million in pre-sales, with 50-60% of that figure expected to apply towards the opening weekend. It’s also already opened in select markets around Europe, and Wednesday’s box office in those regions reached $14.1 million.
It’s gotten to the point where if you’re seeing the movie in a major city like New York or Los Angeles and didn’t preorder your ticket already, you may not have much luck walking up to the ticket counter and buying one outright, and scalped tickets are now marked upwards of $1,000. Basically, what we can take away from all of this is that fans and regular viewers alike are eager to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and even once the movie is available to everyone, it’s quite likely that it will continue to break sales records in the coming weeks.
Moviegoers will finally be able to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens tonight, depending on which theater they’re going to. You got your tickets already, right?
