'Star Wars' Literally Breaks the Internet as Fans Stay Offline in Massive Numbers

The force is strong with Star Wars fans. So strong, in fact, that internet traffic all over the world was measurably affected this week. The Guardian reports that traffic was up to 10.9 percent down in some countries in the wake of first screenings of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Cyber-monitoring firm Imperva reported that overall internet traffic in the UK was down by 5.5 percent on Thursday when the film opened. The firm also reported that internet traffic was down 4.7 percent in Russia and a whopping 10.9 percent in France on Wednesday when the film released there.

And while there is no way to definitively prove that the drop in traffic is directly caused by people avoiding spoilers, senior digital strategist at Imperva, Igal Zeifman, believes there is a direct correlation, saying, "In the 12 hours after the first screenings of Star Wars in UK we noticed that traffic levels remained relatively low. This could of course be as a result of more people going to cinemas to catch other early screenings of the movie. However I do believe that this might also be a result of some fans staying offline to avoid the early morning spoilers."

Regardless, it appears the new Star Wars film is to blame, at least in part: internet traffic was down most during the screenings for the film. Traffic in Russia was down by as much as 6.9 percent and UK traffic was down by 8.7 percent during those times.

Imperva collected their data by comparing traffic during and after when the film first hit theaters in each country to those from the same time of day earlier this month. No word yet on whether traffic in the US changed or not.

The Force Awakens, which opened to rave reviews from critics and fans alike, is directed by J.J. Abrams and stars Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and more. It's in theaters around the world now.