FILM fans from the Wellington area have been flocking to see the new Star Wars film released for the Christmas and New Year holidays.

Some 200 people, among hundreds of thousands of fans of the movie franchise across the UK expected to see the film, booked to watch last Thursday evening’s screening of The Force Awakens at the Wellesley Cinema, making sure of their seats.

The Odeon and Vue cinema chains had sold 820,000 tickets between them, according to figures released last Wednesday, and hundreds of thousands more are expected to walk in.

Huw Weston, of John Grinter Way, Wellington, a teacher at Uffculme School, was among the first to see the film at the Wellesley. He was there with his children Charlie and Joseph and highlighted Star Wars’ appeal across the generations.

“My mother took myself and my brother 38 years ago to watch Star Wars back in Pontypridd in the Valleys,” he said. “The children are interested in the original films, the characters still have the appeal. I’ve been dead excited all day, I’m looking forward to it.”

Adrian Woollaston, of Silver Street, Wiveliscombe, went to see the film as a birthday treat for his son, Sam, who was 12 the day before – Sam said he had watched all the previous films more than once. Adrian said: “I saw the original in Exeter. Disney paid $4bn for the rights for this one, let’s see if we get our money’s worth – or if they are going to get their money’s worth!”

Katie Venner said: “We booked tickets a couple of days ago – I remember seeing the original Star Wars film with Harrison Ford as Hans Solo, in his younger days, it was brilliant.”

The Wellesley had packed houses in the

autumn for the latest Bond film, Spectre, selling more tickets than for any film since the cinema opened in 1937, and house manager Sharon Bride said audiences for the latest Star Wars, buster had been ‘good’ on all nights at Wellington

She said: “I’m not a fan of the films myself but my husband loves them. I think a lot of the appeal of Star Wars is the nostalgia, a lot of people come in say they saw the original in 1977 and they bring their kids.”

Vue’s chief executive reportedly echoed Wellington cinema-goers comments about Star Wars’ cross-generational appeal.

He said: “There is the baby boomer generation who grew up with the original Star Wars, then there are the millennials [who grew up with the second trilogy] and now a whole new

audience is being introduced.”

Odeon’s managing director Duncan Reynolds said: “We expect it to become the biggest film of all time. It promises to be a landmark cinematic event.”

The film is effectively the seventh instalment in the series but it will be the first to take the story forward, in time, since Return of the Jedi, released in 1983.

The Forest of Dean, where scenes were shot in the ancient woodland of Puzzlewood, expects a £100 million tourism boost on the back of the new film.