The force is strong with the latest movie as it breaks the first day ticket sales total at Finnish cinemas.

The latest installment in the Star Wars movie saga has set a new record for first day total box office sales in Finland.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker opened at 10:00 on Wednesday morning and made €593,395 in ticket sales during its first 24 hours.

The previous record was held by another Star War film, The Force Awakens, which made €555,826 on the first day of its release back in 2015.

“We knew that it will grow to be very high, and we were hoping to set a new record, and luckily our wishes came true” says Pekka Lehesmaa, Sales Manager at the Walt Disney Company Finland.

“We are very happy, it’s a fantastic number” he tells News Now Finland.

The blockbuster film is showing on a total of 225 cinema screens around Finland and tells the story of rebel heroes Rey, Poe Dameron and Finn as they battle against dark side foes Kylo Ren and his First Order troops.

Finnkino chain anticipated big numbers

At Finnkino, Finland’s largest cinema chain, The Rise of Skywalker is currently showing at all of their properties.

“It’s in 16 theaters and showing on about a hundreds screens” explains Toni Lähteinen, Head of Film Programming at Finnkino.

Lähteinen confirms The Rise of Skywalker is the cinema chain’s second biggest opening film ever, after The Force Awakens, and also had impressive advance ticket sales.

“Star Wars Force Awakens is the biggest opener in Finnkino’s chain of all time on the first day, but now The Rise of Skywalker is the second biggest by a small margin. But it’s bigger than The Last Jedi, bigger than everything else, James Bond, Harry Potter, you name it” says Lähteinen.

“This film is also our second biggest pre-sales count, in terms of the most tickets sold before the premier” he adds.

The Rise of Skywalker is the third and final film in this current Star Wars trilogy, and is expected to have a $450 million worldwide opening.