Star Wars: The Force Awakens Ticket Demand Crashing Cinema Websites

The Force was too strong for websites of UK cinema chains today.

This morning, advanced tickets for J.J. Abrams' Star Wars: The Force Awakens went on sale in the UK, but fans immediately felt a disturbance in the force as the "unprecedented" demand has caused several cinema websites to crash. Odeon, Picturehouse and CineWorld cinemas have acknowledged potential customers are experiencing issues today due to the weight of demand.

The third-largest UK cinema chain Vue Cinemas said that their website has been working fine throughout the day and revealed that they sold 10,000 tickets in the first 90 minutes. Their spokesperson (via The Guardian) said it was "the biggest first hour of advance ticket sales seen so far this year" and "it would normally take a matter of weeks for advance sales to reach this level."

Lucasfilm and visionary director J.J. Abrams join forces to take you back again to a galaxy far, far away as Star Wars returns to the big screen with Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The film stars Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong'o, Andy Serkis, 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 Lawrence Kasdan & J.J. Abrams and Michael Arndt.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens opens in U.S. theaters on December 18.