‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ becomes Fandango’s top 2017 ticket seller

Disney-Lucasfilm’s “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” has become Fandango’s top advance ticket-seller of the year, topping previous record-holder “Beauty and the Beast.”

“Even though the film doesn’t officially open till Friday, Fandango’s pre-release ticket sales for ‘Last Jedi’ have already eclipsed the total pre-release ticket sales of any other movie on Fandango this year,” the online ticketing service said on Tuesday.

Tracking indicates that “The Last Jedi” could earn as much as $200 million in its domestic debut, which would be the fourth-largest of all time after “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” “Jurassic World,” and “The Avengers.”

Directed by Rian Johnson, the movie picks up where 2015’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” left off. It stars returning cast members Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, and Andy Serkis. The new cast members include Kelly Marie Tran, Laura Dern, and Benicio del Toro. The movie marks the final film role for Fisher, who died last December.

According to a Fandango survey of more than 1,000 “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” ticket-buyers, 96% are looking forward to seeing Fisher, 94% want to find out more about the relationship between Hamill’s Luke Skywalker and Ridley’s Rey, 83% say the new Porg creatures increased their interest in the movie, and 60% identify del Toro as the new-to-“Star Wars” actor that they’re most excited to see.

“No movie creates quite the level of anticipation of a ‘Star Wars’ movie, and that’s why ‘The Last Jedi’ is Fandango’s biggest advance ticket-seller of the year,” said Fandango managing editor Erik Davis.