By Michael Shipma

To say Mark Head is a “Star Wars” fan is an understatement.

He’s an avid fan and collector.

And, like millions of fans he’s eagerly awaiting tonight’s premiere of “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” The seventh installment in the Star Wars series is set to open in theaters nationwide on Thursday, and national record ticket sales have already been broken.

“We won’t be camping out,” Head said. “But we’re definitely making it a family event for me, my wife, and our son and daughter.”

Head, a longtime Star Wars fan, said that he’s been looking forward to this film ever since it was announced in October 2012.

“One thing that will be really neat about the film is having the original cast in the new movie,” Head said. “We’ll be able to see the same faces that we grew up with.”

Head said that he believes in the hype for the new film, and has already bought tickets for his family to see it.

And so have hundreds of other fans in Pike County.

“We’ve already sold hundreds of tickets for this film,” said Chase Taylor, co-owner of Continental Cinemas in Troy. “I expect that we’ll sell out all of our seats for this movie easily.”

Taylor said that the film is projected to rack up at least $225 million in domestic sales, surpassing Jurassic World’s recent success of $204 million in domestic ticket sales.

“One thing that I do want people to know is that we’re going to run this on as many screens as possible,” Taylor said. “If needed, we’ll make room in another auditorium so that people can see the movie.”

Taylor expects that moviegoers will dress up in costumes of Star Wars characters, a normality for opening nights of highly anticipated movies.

“We want to make sure everyone has a good time when they come to watch the film,” he said. “Big openings often make for the fondest memories. However, I strongly advise that anyone wanting to see this film should go ahead and purchase tickets now either at the box office or online, and to plan on coming at least 30 minutes prior to show time.”