The moment all Star Wars fans have been waiting for has finally arrived as the most recent film in the franchise comes to the big screen.

With its official release date on Thursday, dozens of cinemas across Scotland will be showing Star Wars The Last Jedi after midnight on Wednesday.

It will be screened in the early hours of Thursday throughout the country including at Cineworld and Odeon cinemas in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Dundee and Falkirk.

For fans too excited to wait until midnight, the IMAX Cineworld in Glasgow will be hosting a Star Wars extravaganza by showing 2015's The Force Awakens and The Last Jedi back-to-back from 9pm.

The Last Jedi is the eighth instalment of the series, which began with Star Wars: A New Hope in 1977.

It is the second film of the Star Wars sequel trilogy after The Force Awakens.

The trilogy, which will be concluded by Episode IX in 2018, was announced by Disney in 2012 after it acquired the franchise from Lucasfilm.

The Last Jedi is only the second of all eight Star Wars films not to be produced by George Lucas and will also be significant as the last to star Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia after the actress died last December.

Anticipation has been building since filming commenced last year and the world premiere took place in Los Angeles on Star Wars.

The film's all-star cast includes Lupita Nyong'o, Benicio Del Toro, English Game of Thrones actress Gwendoline Christie and the original Luke Skywalker Mark Hamill returning to the iconic role.

Scotland was listed as a filming location for the 2015 release The Force Awakens.

The Last Jedi was filmed on locations in Ireland and at Pinewood Studios in England.