Star Wars: The Force Awakens - in glorious a capella

Tonight Show’s Jimmy Fallon performs cover with Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Chewbacca

Star Wars fans were treated to an early surprise on Tuesday ahead of the premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, when the cast of the movie teamed up with US television host Jimmy Fallon to release an a capella cover of the film's score.

Tonight Show host Fallon and his house band The Roots hum the instantly recognisable main theme, penned by John Williams, in unison, and are joined by Star Wars stars like Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford and Chewbacca.

The video, which lasts one minute and 40 seconds, has gone viral online, garnering close to 300,000 views on YouTube in 24 hours.

It begins with Fallon and The Roots humming the opening bars in Brady Bunch-style split screen. They are joined in the centre tile by Daisy Ridley, then John Boyega and Oscar Isaac, who harmonise with the late night host.

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Stormtrooper uniforms

The tone shifts when Fallon and the band, donning stormtrooper uniforms, are joined by actors Adam Driver and Gwendolyn Christie, who are tipped to play villains in the new movie.

They begin humming the Imperial March section of the film’s score, the music associated with the Star Wars universe’s “Dark Side”.

Fan favourites Chewbacca, R2-D2 and C3-PO then make an appearance, humming part of the score from the cantina scenes in the very first Star Wars movie. Fallon and The Roots then move onto the “Force Theme” section of the score and are joined by franchise legends Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher.

The Force Awakens gets its Irish release at midnight on Wednesday and is set to shatter box office records globally.