Claria's Feedback Research announced the results of its study analyzing the behavior of Star Wars fans online. Claria found a significant increase in Star Wars-specific activity online with pre-purchase theater ticket sales.

In the study's analysis of Star Wars ads, conducted from April 18 to May 15, 69 percent of respondents had seen or heard Star Wars ads online while 46 percent of Star Wars fans planned to purchase theater tickets online.

"There’s a huge crossover of the online audience and the opening weekend audience. When you’re buying a movie ticket online, everything you need is in one place. Moviegoers go to the internet to research and discover the movie and they can purchase a ticket at point of discovery. Online is the only place where you can watch a movie trailer, read reviews and buy a ticket, all in the same place," says Miyuki Kitamura, vice president of marketing and product development, Fandango, Inc.

Similarly, movie sites experienced increased traffic with Fandango and Moviefone up 46 percent and Movietickets.com up 47 percent.

Nielsen//NetRatings reported an 85 percent increase at Movietickets.com for the week of May 15, with more than 600,000 unique visitors to the site for show times and pre-purchase information.

The Claria study also found that visits to the Star Wars websites increased significantly, where 60 percent of respondents did so to watch trailers and video clips of the film. Increased Star Wars website traffic included a 106 percent increase to the official Episode III site, a 120 percent increase to the LucasArts Episode III game page, a 109 percent increase to AOL Moviefone's Episode III site, and a 107 percent increase to Yahoo!'s Episode III site.