Star Woes: May the farce be with you in quest for tickets

But, after waiting a whole 32 years to finally pick up where Return of the Jedi left off, Star Wars fans were left on the dark side yesterday when cinema websites crashed under the demand for tickets for the new movie.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens will hit the big screen on December 14 and the first tickets went on sale yesterday morning. A brand new trailer was released overnight.

However, both the Odeon and Cineworld websites crashed under the strain of thousands of people trying to book their places.

Fans took to Twitter to air their frustrations after they were left facing lengthy delays when tickets went on sale at 8am. Matters were also not helped by the upcoming release of the new James Bond movie, Spectre.

A spokeswoman for Odeon, which has cinema in Dudley's Merry Hill, Telford and Birmingham, said: "We're seeing massive traffic to our website in the morning as guests booked ahead for Spectre and Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

"There were some booking delays in the initial peak, but our website is now returning to normal speed."

A spokeswoman for Cineworld, which has sites in Wednesfield and Telford, added: "We're aware that some customers have been unable to book tickets for Star Wars: The Force Awakens at a small number of Cineworld cinemas.

"We know just how excited our customers are about getting their hands on tickets and we're hoping to have the remaining tickets online shortly."

At the Electric Cinema in Birmingham, only the venue's film club members were able to get their hands on tickets yesterday, with them not going on general sale to the public until today.

David Baldwin, assistant manager, said the venue had been preparing itself for the rush.

"We're expecting demand to be high," he said. "We don't know what to expect, because the Phantom Menace prequels weren't as well received. We're hoping it will be a lot better, and we're thinking it certainly will be. Director JJ Abrams was a very good choice.

"It's Bond versus Star Wars for us. We're hoping there's a lot demand – there certainly was for 007's Spectre."

Mr Baldwin said that people had been joining the cinema's Electrolyte Club film group just to get tickets for Star Wars.

"One of the benefits of the membership is you get priority booking," he added.

"We've had some calls, but it's been more online. I imagine today will be very busy."

The ticket frenzy comes as the final poster for the film was released earlier this week, showing older versions of Han Solo, Princess Leia and Chewbacca.

And last night, a brand new trailer was shown at the American football game between the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles.

Star Wars 7: The Force Awakens is the first new Star Wars film to hit cinemas in more than a decade.

It brings together many of the cast members from the original trilogy, including Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrier Fisher.

Set 30 years after Episode 6: Return of the Jedi, the story follows a fresh-faced cast of young Jedi Knights as they tackle the remnants of the Empire.

The first in a new trilogy of films was announced in 2013, shortly after Disney acquired the popular sci-fi franchise .

J. J. Abrams, known for his work on the new Star Trek films and the television series Lost, was chosen to direct, write and produce the first of the new films.

There have also been rumours of an entire franchise showing coming to the UK. All six of the original films will be shown before Episode 7 with the showing will last more than 17 hours and will only be available in select locations.

The franchise showing has already been confirmed for the US, and a worldwide announcement is expected soon.

As well as the updated trilogy, Disney has reignited the Star Wars series.

A new series, Star Wars Rebels, was started for children, while characters from the films have appeared in the Disney Infinity 3.0 video game.

Star Wars Battlefront on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One will be released in November to tie-in with the movie. It lets players fight across some of the most popular locations from the franchise, including the ice planet of Hoth.