The most eagerly anticipated movie release of the year, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, is to be shown at Speciality Cinema on the day it debuts around the world.

Cinemas in Britain and the US have reported record-breaking advance ticket sales for the seventh instalment of the Star Wars franchise, which will go on general release on December 18.

Speciality Cinema, on Church Street, is not yet selling tickets for the space fantasy movie, but has received many enquiries from customers asking if it will be coming to Bermuda, and when.

“We’ve had a lot of phone calls about it, and people are happy that we are getting it,” said Giovanna Easton, one of the owners of the cinema. “Initially I was surprised about the level of interest.”

She remembered the original Star Wars movies from when she was growing up in the 1970s and early 1980s, and thought the new film would be of interest mainly to adults who had similarly watched the earlier movies when they were younger.

However, she now expects it to appeal just as much to a younger audience, and said some customers have been enquiring about hosting private functions and dressing up.

The previous Star Wars movies are among the biggest grossing box office releases of the past 40 years. It has been speculated that Star Wars: The Force Awakens will become only the third film in history to earn more than $2 billion in ticket receipts.

Speciality Cinema negotiated with Walt Disney Studios to secure permission to screen the new movie in Bermuda during its opening week. It is anticipated that high demand for tickets will result in the movie being held over at the cinema for a number of weeks. The film will be shown in the cinema’s main auditorium, which seats 160.

“We negotiated with Disney and we were thrilled when we got it,” said Mrs Easton.

She said the cinema has previous experience dealing with extremely popular releases, including the Avengers and Transformers film franchises.

“We have to be prepared for it, and make sure we have enough supplies, such as popcorn, ready to make things as smooth as possible.”

Mrs Easton stressed that tickets for Star Wars: The Force Awaken are not on sale yet. She recommends moviegoers keen to purchase tickets for the film stay in contact with the cinema and monitor its website to see when the tickets are released for sale.

The new Star Wars movie is not the only big release lined up to be screened at Speciality Cinema in the next few months, the latest James Bond outing, Spectre, will be shown in November.

“I’m really happy that we got them. They are two of the big pictures coming out before Christmas,” said Mrs Easton.

Speciality Cinema’s website is: www.specialitycinema.bm