Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Tickets Go On Sale Monday

With only three weeks until the release of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, fans have been wondering when they can get their hands on tickets to the film, debuting in North America on Friday, December 16, 2016 (with preview showings likely starting as early as 7pm on Thursday). After all, tickets have been on sale for awhile in the UK, where the movie is coming out only one day earlier. Now they know: Monday November 28, the mad online scramble to see the movie first begins.

The ticket release was announced late Thursday night on the official Star Wars facebook page, with the note: "Lord Vader, we've been expecting you."

Despite tickets not yet being on sale, the early projections for Rogue One have been phenomenal, with the industry expecting the film to make around $130 million in its opening weekend, according to the three-week look ahead. That number will gain some much-needed perspective when ticket sales begin. At $130 mil, Rogue One would decimate all December releases except Star Wars: The Force Awakens, as no other film has ever made $85 million or more in an opening in the first winter month.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens set over thirty box office records in its release, including the most advanced ticket sales ever, according to Fandango. In fact, it sold more tickets online ahead of release than any other film had ever sold online tickets for in its entire run.

There are zero expectations for Rogue One to do Force Awakens style business, of course. The seventh episodic movie was a unique cultureal phenomenon, with thirty years of anticipation, a major marquee director, and it being the first Star Wars film from new parent company Disney. With Rogue One, Lucasfilm and Disney are looking to expand the franchise; while another $2 billion at the global box office wouldn't break any hearts at the companies, it's not what they're expecting for what is essentially a World War II movie set in the Star Wars universe.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits US theaters December 16, 2016. Directed by Gareth Edwards, it's the first of the new standalone features from Lucasfilm and Disney, which take place outside the core "Skywalker Saga" of films noted by an Episode number. Rogue Onetells the story of the small band of rebels that were tasked with stealing the plans to the first Death Star. The story spins directly off the opening crawl from the original Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. In that crawl, it read: "Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet."

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