‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Crashes Ticket Sites, Breaks Records
After the movie trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens was finally unveiled, fans flocked to movie ticket sites, nearly crashing them.
Star Wars fans were very impressed by the new movie trailer, which was unveiled during the halftime of the Monday Night Football game between the Giants and the Philadelphia Eagles. Once the two-and-a-half-minute trailer for The Force Awakens was shown on live television, fans took to several movie ticket sites to pre-order tickets before its December release. Star Wars fans reportedly purchased their tickets at Alamo Drafthouse, AMC Theaters, Fandango, MovieTickets.com, Regal, and several other websites. Nearly all of the websites crashed that very night.
Now it looks like The Force Awakens trailer has already set record sales for Fandango. On Tuesday, Oct. 20, the popular movie ticket website released a statement explaining the demand behind the newest Star Wars film.
“This is an extraordinary time for the industry, which experienced unprecedented ticketing demand last night for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. In fact, Fandango traffic surged to 7 times its typical peak levels, propelling Fandango’s advance sales for Star Wars to a record-setting first day of pre-sales. For Star Wars, we have already sold 8 times as many tickets as we did on the first day of sales for the previous record holder.”
MovieTickets.com also said they experienced higher traffic than they ever did in their 15-year history in the movie business. Advanced tickets for Star Wars: The Force Awakens sold four times more than Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith.
IMAX received similar records as well. They said that they generated $6.5 million from pre-ticket sales on Monday, especially since it’s seen in 390 theaters across North America.
The previous recorder was 2012’s The Hunger Games. The movie generated $155 million in North America during its opening weekend. The movie’s global box office generated to over $650 million. If the pre-sales are any hint, it’s likely that The Force Awakens will break records as well.
The latest Star Wars film is anticipated to earn as much as $517 to $625 million domestically, according to Forbes. It looks like fans are looking forward to the next installment in the franchise, despite the release of it’s disappointing prequel film trilogy in 2005.
The record-breaking advance ticket sales has forced some ticket sites to issue an apology. Alamo Drafthouse was one of the first ticket sites to apologize to Star Wars fans for their crashing website. They issued a statement on Tuesday to accept full responsibility for the “database error” messages that fans received for several hours on Monday night.
“We tried to be ready for this hugely important day, and we missed the mark. In the moment, we tried to react as quickly as possible. We transitioned our sales to Fandango as soon as they were up and running again themselves. We apologize for making what was supposed to be a joyous day a big hassle for Star Wars fans. We commit to doing better in the future.”
As of Tuesday evening, no other ticket sellers or theater chains have apologized for the crashing websites on Monday evening. Disney released the latest Star Wars movie trailer, which helped bring interest back to the franchise. Since it premiered on Monday night, it has already been viewed on YouTube 13 million times, according to a previous report via Entertainment Weekly.
It’s likely that Star Wars: The Force Awakens has become one of the most highly anticipated films of 2015. It’s slated for release in theaters across the U.S. on Dec. 18. What are your thoughts on The Force Awakens trailer? Did you already purchase your movie tickets? If so, did you experience trouble with any of the websites? Share your thoughts and/or experience below in the comments section.
(Photo by Laura Cavanaugh/Getty Images)
