There have been record breaking takings in Ireland and the UK for Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Opening at midnight fans flocked to cinemas to be the first to see the hugely anticipated next episode in the Star Wars saga which has taken an estimated £9.6 million on its opening day setting a new UK and Ireland industry record. Midnight screenings alone accounted for £2.4 million of the days box office smashing all previous records. The one day take in Ireland was a record-breaking €836,845.
Tickets for the highly anticipated film went on sale in October and sold more than 200,000 tickets throughout Ireland and the UK in the 1st 24 hours. Exhibitors continually added screens to accommodate demand which resulted in a total of 2 million booked tickets ahead of the release – breaking another record for advanced ticket bookings.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens sees Lucasfilm and visionary director J.J. Abrams join forces to take audiences back to a galaxy far, far away as Star Wars returns to the big screen. The film stars Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Andy Serkis, Ireland’s own Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew and Max Von Sydow. Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk are producing with Tommy Harper and Jason McGatlin serving as executive producers. The screenplay is by J.J. Abrams & Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt.
[quote title=”Trish Long -Disney Ireland, Vice President & General Manager”]We are obviously very encouraged by both the record-breaking presales and delighted with the opening day box office forStar Wars: The Force Awakens in Ireland. But there are literally thousands of tickets available for this weekend, and Irish exhibitors have a lot of flexibility in terms of capacity and increasing the number of shows based on demand.[/quote]