Next month, an obscure little franchise called Star Wars will make its way back to theaters. Perhaps you've heard of this series. With the imminent release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, many die hard Star Wars have flocked to the Internet in order to obtain their tickets early. In fact, so many fans have tried to buy their tickets early that Fandango has run into some major technical problems. The company issued a statement acknowledging this issue.
After experiencing technical issues due to an "overwhelming" amount of web traffic, Fandango actually told customers they were in a queue -- temporarily -- because of the insane demand. As a result of this, the ticket website established a "waiting room" in order to cope with the increased burden. This meant that Star Wars fans were still be able to get their tickets for Rogue One from Fandango in the heat of the shopping flurry, but they had to wait in line from the comfort of their own homes. It's admittedly not ideal, but at the end of the day it's still better than camping out for tickets. At press time, however, Fandango seemed to have used The Force to get its ticketing system back online. Stay on target, Fandango. Stay on target! The company actually a statement on the matter, saying:
Last night, Fandango saw extraordinary demand for tickets to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Within minutes of going on sale, we sold hundreds of thousands of tickets. Similar to ticketing for a highly popular concert event, a 'waiting room' in the checkout process was established to accommodate customers as quickly as possible. We were able to continuously serve a record number of customers throughout the night, despite some intermittent slowdowns -- and in order to meet the incredible consumer demand, our exhibition partners continue to add new showtimes for opening weekend.
Smaller ticket websites actually seized this opportunity to capitalize on Fandango's predicament. If brand loyalty to a particular ticket retailer isn't terribly important to you, then you can purchase your tickets at websites such as Atom Tickets instead.
This development shouldn't necessarily surprising Star Wars fans, as it's definitely happened in the past. Last year when tickets for Star Wars: The Force Awakens went on sale, several online ticketing outlets (including Fandango) crashed due to overwhelming fan demand. With a Star Wars movie slated to hit theaters basically every year for the foreseeable future, it seems fairly likely that this could become a typical phenomenon. After all, it would only make sense for Episode VIII to elicit the same response from fans. Never underestimate the power of two things: The Force, and rabid Star Wars fans.
It's certainly worth noting that this early buzz bodes incredibly well for the upcoming Star Wars standalone movie. Even without essential facets of the franchise (the Skywalker family, an opening crawl, or a John Williams score) Rogue One has still managed to get fans of the iconic saga incredibly excited. Even after four decades, the Star Wars craze is clearly still as strong as ever -- if not stronger.
We will bring you all of the latest and greatest Star Wars news as new details become available to us. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will blast its way into theaters next month on December 16.
Have you purchased your tickets for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story yet? If you're currently in the waiting room then check out the final trailer for the upcoming Star Wars anthology film on the next page to kill some time!
