'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' Playing Imax Screens Alone, New Toy Line Debuting

Star Wars: The Force Awakens will be taking over shortly. Well, it will be taking over all the Imax screens in North America for a month when it hits theaters on December 18th. You won't be able to see anything but Darth Vader in all his glory. The new installment in the popular franchise has been booked by itself by the Imax chain. The company is taking a big chance with the film, but many in the industry believe it to be a risk well worth taking. To help stoke the fan frenzy, Lucasfilm and Disney are staging an 18 hour marathon on YouTube where they will unveil the new line of toys coming out in conjunction with the film.

This is not the first time Imax took such a risk. The Hollywood Reporter reports, "Imax reserving all of its screens for a single movie for a month is not unprecedented, but it is unusual. The company had a similar deal for the three Hobbit movies, but it struck that pact four years ago and hasn't made that type of commitment since." Expectations are that Star Wars will break the record set by the recent entry Jurassic World, which took in a respectable $44.2 million dollars worldwide its first weekend of release.

As for the toy launch, it is happening on September 3rd. The day after has been dubbed Force Friday. A thousand stores worldwide will open at midnight in celebration of the release of the toy line. The Hollywood Reporter shares details of the unveiling: "The "Countdown to Force Friday" event will launch in Sydney, Australia at 7:45am local time, before leapfrogging to Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo, Berlin, Paris, Madrid, London, Rio De Janeiro, New York, Toronto, Chicago, Mexico City, San Francisco and Los Angeles across the broadcast, during which products from the Force Awakens toy line will be unboxed for the first time. Each of the 15 locations will feature the reveal of a new product by a personality from Disney's Maker Studios video network."

And this is just the beginning!