Exact early ticket sales for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story have not yet been calculated, but early reports say that the numbers have been pretty impressive. As Deadline reports, Fandango had "extraordinary demand for tickets to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. Within minutes of going on sale, we sold hundreds of thousands of tickets."
In fact, the site was crushed by visitors, causing waiting times of 20-30 minutes. While the site never completely crashed, there were some significant delays. "We were able to continuously serve a record number of customers throughout the night, despite some intermittent slowdowns," Fandango said. "And in order to meet the incredible consumer demand, our exhibition partners continue to add new showtimes for opening weekend."
Not even Disney thought pre-sales would go this well. As Deadline reports:
Buzz is that Disney insiders are giddy about the results, with a number of folks in exhibition surprised at the high sales. No word yet about Rogue One breaking Force Awakens records, however, that was never expected to happen. The J.J. Abrams-directed Episode VII set the bar rather high: it had been 10 years since the last Star Wars movie, and 32 years since Return of the Jedi. Force Awakens' first day sales last October set a record for both Imax ($6.5M) and Movietickets' which saw its best first day ever with 95% tickets sold.
Right now, Rogue One is expected to open between $100 million and $140 million in the U.S., making it the second best December debut after The Force Awakens.
By Tuesday morning (tickets went on sale at 12 a.m. Monday) a few seats are still available for the first showings on December 15 in the New York City area, though already very limited.
