A sense of deja vu fell over many Star Wars fans last night as they tried to purchase tickets for "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story." Similar to what happened with "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" last year, the high demand for tickets to the next "Star Wars" film overwhelmed ticket sites resulting in half-hourlong waits and time out errors for those wishing to score tickets. RELATED: Everything We Know About Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (So Far)Tickets for the film went on sale at 12:01 AM EST and, as Deadline reported, Fandango and Movietickets.com both either crashed or experienced slowdowns as their sites were flooded with purchase requests. A half hour after tickets went on sale, Fandango launched a waiting room for people wishing to buy tickets.
Deadline points out that it's likely that Fandango didn't exactly crash; instead, it's possible that -- like with "Force Awakens" last year -- there were only intermittent performance challenges, the kind that come along when there's an overwhelming demand for tickets.
It's no surprise that so many people wanted "Rogue One" tickets. The film is on track for a $130+ million opening weekend. That puts it ahead of every other December opening of all time -- except for last year's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," which set an all-time opening weekend record with its $247.96M haul.
Those that got tickets may have also scored some exclusive merchandise, which many theater chains were offering to pre-sale ticket purchasers. For example, Alamo Drafthouse has a Mondo-designed limited edition glass featuring art by Martin Ansin.
Additionally, Cinemark and IMAX are giving away exclusive mini-posters, and Regal is giving away a collectible ticket.
Last year, "The Force Awakens" earned more than $50 million in advance ticket sales prior to the film ever even reaching theaters. The film broke all pre-sale records, besting the high bars set by "The Dark Knight Rises" and "The Hunger Games" in previous years. We'll most likely have to wait a little to see how "Rogue One's" advance ticket sales compare.
Set outside of the main sequel trilogy that began with âStar Wars: The Force Awakens,â âRogue Oneâ is set just before 1977âs âStar Warsâ and details the Rebel plot to steal the Death Star plans from the Empire. Directed by Gareth Edwards (âGodzilla,â âMonstersâ) from a script by Gary Whitta and Chris Weitz, âRogue Oneâ stars Felicity Jones, Mads Mikkelsen, Alan Tudyk, Donnie Yen, Forest Whitaker, Diego Luna and Riz Ahmed.
âRogue One: A Star Wars Storyâ opens on December 16.