‘Star Wars’ ticket sales crash as Jedi fans overwhelm websites

Star Wars: one of the most iconic multimedia franchises, and perhaps even the greatest one of all time. Beginning with the original film – initially titled Star Wars and later changed to Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope – it has expanded to include television, literature, graphic novels, trading cards, miniature soldiers, costumes, and, of course, more movies, the most recent of which will soon be Star Wars: Episode VII: The Force Awakens. The final trailer was released on Monday, October 20th during the Monday Night Football halftime section and, at the end, announced that tickets were on sale.

And sell they did. Fans from across the globe swarmed onto websites such as Alamo Drafthouse, AMC Theaters, and Fandango to pre-order tickets and claim the earliest screenings possible. Jedi frenzy was alive and in bloom once again, perhaps for the first time in ten years since the release of Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, unless one counts the surprising success of the television series Star Wars: The Clones Wars that aired in-between. The number of ticket-buyers was too much to handle, however, and websites began slowing down dramatically and even crashing. Many users reported having difficulty finalizing their purchases, or even purchasing at all.

Imax CEO Greg Foster called the ticket sales ‘unprecedented’ and ‘record-shattering’, with locations selling out across the nation. There is still two months to go yet until the movie is officially released in theaters, which is plenty of time to improve on this monstrous record Disney and LucasFilm are encountering themselves in.

Disney in particular is having quite the year, with their other major release including Avengers: Age of Ultron. With Universal’s Jurassic World topping box office records this past summer, will The Force Awakens be up to the challenger? These early indicators such as ticket sales seem to predict so. The next two months will be a roller coaster as the destine date approaches.

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