Kiwi cinema site crashes as Star Wars fans scramble for tickets

Fans are rushing to secure their seat for the latest Star Wars film set for release on December 17.

The Force will soon be with us once more - and cinema chains are struggling to cope.

Although the seventh film in the Star Wars saga is still two months from hitting the big screen, tickets went on sale today and such was the response from fans that cinema websites crashed.

Pre-sales totaled more than $175,000 after just four hours, and more sessions are being added to keep up with demand.

It was the biggest flurry Kiwi cinemas had seen since Avatar in 2009.

Stars Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens opens on December 17 and is already being seen as a contender to become the highest grossing film of all time.

New Zealand sales exceeded expectations, with reports of tickets being snapped up in minutes this morning.

The website for Reading Cinemas crashed right on 10am.

Fans are rushing to secure their seat for the latest Star Wars film set for release on December 17.

Hoyts New Zealand general manager of operations Matthew Garelli said while they were still waiting on set figures there had been a "good, steady" flow of traffic throughout the day.

He believed the launch of a film trailer this afternoon would push even bigger sales into the evening.

"It's been really good, it's been very strong we are opening up new sessions across the board because of demand," he said.

At this stage midnight shows were "doing good business" with three scheduled for their most popular Sylvia Park cinema.

"We will probably open that up to six. We will show the film every hour on the hour across the multiplex so there is plenty of choice for everyone."

Fans were keen to ensure up their seat at what is already being touted as the biggest film of the year, Tweeting their excitement.

@eVent_cinemas I forced myself to awaken at 5am and got some great gold class tickets! Only 57 days to go...

— Sam Carton (@iSam_) October 19, 2015

Just got my midnight tickets for #TheForceAwakens @eVent_cinemas

— The Big Dog (@lookatme213) October 19, 2015

Internationally the Vue chain alone sold 10,000 tickets in the first 90 minutes of business.

Odeon took 'tens of thousands' of bookings before lunchtime and 'thousands' each hour throughout the afternoon.

Both said the film was already the most pre-booked since their records began.

So many tickets have been sold that extra showings have been added into cinema schedules, with some planning to screen the film 24 hours a day during its opening week.

Problems with slow or crashing websites brought out the dark side in some fans.

'The Odeon website is so slow at the moment. I just wanna buy Star Wars tickets!' wrote one fan.

The Force Awakens is set 30 years after Return of the Jedi - the third film in the original trilogy - and brings together the original cast of Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill.

- nzherald.co.nz with additional reporting from The Daily Mail