The new Star Wars installement "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" has driven people to buy film premiere tickets hoping they would not miss out on the widely expected movie event of the year. Yes, even those who are non-'Star Wars' fans.
As crazy as it sounds but literally everyone, whether a fan or not, have bought tickets for the upcoming "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" premiere online.
Los Angeles Times reported that one non-fan had this "anxiety-induced" feeling that made her buy tickets though she isn't really a diehard fan. "There was this kind of anxiety-inducing thing. We didn't want to miss out on what was happening," Alexis Ramsey, 28, said.
The feeling of "fear of missing out" has been a big help in driving the overall ticket sales dramatically rise although the premiere is still a week away.
This same scenario was also experienced with the famous "The Hunger Games" first release in 2012 wherein they got the most sales from people who experienced this premiere frenzy. However, compared to the ticket sales earned by "The Hunger Games," "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" already broke the record set with the total of more than $50 million in domestic pre-sales.
This set-off records made by J.J. Abrams' masterpiece was acknowledged by the entire movie industry.
Dave Hollis, head of distribution for Burbank-based Disney, said, "While it's still a nascent piece of the overall business, it's going to continue to become a bigger and bigger thing," he added, "Technology is going to continue to do more to build a relationship with consumers."
What is more surprising is that the total pre-sales made by the "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" was compared to the advanced ticket sales made by another blockbuster hit film "Fifty Shades of Grey" last year. The Guardian noted that that the film lies on the top 10 in terms of advance ticket sales.
The head of domestic distribution for Universal, Nick Carpou, said, "We were able to use the avaialability of tickets and the early sales success to generate even more interest in the film. We were able to announce it and create that early hit.
When people give out their personal details when buying tickets online, their e-mail addresses will be on the database where they will also be sent e-mails of future film releases. This will give viewers a chance to plan on which movies to watch next.
Elizabeth Frank, executive vice president and chief content and programming officer at AMC, said, "More moviegoing is planned and that's a good thing for the business ... the more the moviegoing occasion is planned, the more you see online ticket sales."
Maybe this is what happened with the "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" film or maybe the Star Wars series are just famous. But either way, the film will premiere this coming December 18.