Tickets rush as High School premieres

High School Musical 3 will get its first viewing in the West Midlands tonight – as screenings sell out a full three weeks ahead of its general release.

A regional premiere will be held tonight at Birmingham's Broad Street Cineworld, to coincide with other showings including one in London's Leicester Square where the film's stars will appear. It means a few hundred lucky people will get to see the film before it opens to the general public on October 22 - in time for half-term.

Cinemas in the West Midlands say they have taken record advance bookings for the film – more than was seen for films like Star Wars, Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings.

Tickets worth more than £500,000 have already been sold, beating previous record holder Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, the Lord of the Rings and all the Bond films.

Celebrities and local competition winners will be at Birmingham's Broad Street tonight for the red carpet showing.

The national release of the film is being held back to co-incide with the school holiday, although tickets have been on sale for more than two months.

In Dudley, cinema bosses could not provide figures, but said they expect many showings to be a sell out.

Kate Birch, of Dudley's Showcase Cinema in Castlegate Way, said: "There's definitely a lot of interest in that film. We are expecting it to be massive.

"We take advance bookings and have had quite a few already. Some of the release day viewings will sell out."

Odeon Cinema, the UK's largest chain, has already taken advance bookings of £245,205.

Rupert Gavin, chief executive officer of Odeon and UCI Cinema Group, said: "This is a phenomenal and record breaking start for High School Musical 3.

"Our cinemas have been inundated with calls to pre-book tickets."

• See tomorrow's Express & Star for a full report from the Birmingham premiere.