Disney is hosting the world's first-ever global live unboxing event on YouTube next week, where a whole stack of official Star Wars: The Force Awakens products will be revealed on a YouTube livestream.

The merchandise will be revealed in stages as merchandise unboxing events will take place in 15 cities across 12 countries, and all of them will be streamed live and back to back through 18 hours on the Star Wars YouTube channel.

It will kick off at 10.45pm BST on 2 September as the first unboxing event is planned for 7.45am in Australia. The grand finale will take place at Lucasfilm in San Francisco at 4pm BST on Thursday, 3 September (8am locally).

Each of the 15 locations taking part will reveal a previously unseen item inspired by the new film in the Star Wars series, directed by JJ Abrams.

Retailers around the world will also open their doors at midnight local time on 3 September to sell Star Wars: The Force Awakens toys, collectibles, books, apparel and more. None of them will have been available previously.

There will also be a dedicated hashtag for what is being called Force Friday on 4 September. British fans are encouraged to tweet with the hashtag #ForceFridayUK.

As well as the unboxing events, the YouTube stream will include the latest trailers and commentary from special guests.