Rialto Dunedin duty manager Michael Dillon said there had been high demand online for tickets, both in Dunedin and internationally, even though the first screening of the film is not until December 17.
He believed more than 1000 tickets were sold online in Dunedin alone yesterday, and said commentators across the globe were tipping the film to generate the largest opening weekend ticket sales of all time.
''There was pretty high amounts of online traffic. It's gone very, very well here.
''Everyone is expecting it to be a massive, massive release.
''December is usually a pretty quietish time ... None of the biggest opening weekends of all time have been in December.
''But there's discussions already taking place about whether this film is going to hit that record of the biggest opening weekend of all time.
''It's got the potential to be bigger than Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit for an opening weekend,'' he said.
Demand was so high, Reading's ticket sales website crashed for several hours yesterday.
Staff declined to comment on their ticket sales or the crashing of their website.
Little is known about the plot of the seventh instalment in the Star Wars film series, except that it is a continuation of the saga created by George Lucas, set 30 years after Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983).
It is directed by J. J. Abrams and stars original cast members Harrison Ford (Han Solo), Mark Hamill (Luke Skywalker), Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia), Anthony Daniels (C-3PO) and Peter Mayhew (Chewbacca).
