Star Wars: The Force Awakens teases with poster, video tidbits

Less than two months before fans return to a galaxy far, far away, the Star Wars machine is blasting off with a multimedia blitz for The Force Awakens. 

On Sunday, Lucasfilm unveiled the film's official movie poster and two short teaser videos online to whet fans' appetite for a new trailer debuting on primetime television Monday night.

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The new trailer will debut during the halftime segment of Monday Night Football immediately before tickets for the forthcoming instalment of the space saga go on sale.

Ravenous fans in the U.K. have already swarmed onto British cinema sites for advance tickets, sparking some websites to crash or slow to a crawl due to the strain. The Picturehouse chain reported "unprecedented" demand, while a Vue spokesman reported selling 10,000 tickets in 90 minutes.

The Force Awakens, the seventh movie of the blockbuster franchise, opens in North American theatres on Dec. 18, after a world premiere in Los Angeles on Dec. 14 and other premiere events around the globe.

Anticipation for the new slate of Star Wars films — which will comprise new chapters of the main saga as well as spinoff movies — is extremely high. 

It has been a decade since the last major Star Wars film was in theatres: 2005's Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.

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For diehard fans, a host of North American cinemas have also announced a massive movie marathon: beginning on Dec. 17, they will show the entire series, in chronological order, leading up to the grand finale screening of The Force Awakens on Dec. 18.

Theatres in Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal, Edmonton, Calgary and Kanata, Ont., are among those participating.

George Lucas's original Star Wars: A New Hope debuted at Hollywood's Chinese Theatre in May 1977.