‘Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’ Gets Chinese Trailer & Chinese Release Date
At a time when the Chinese box office is powerful enough to prop up even films that do terribly at home (see:Warcraft), studios have gone to all sorts of lengths to attract that audience. In the case ofRogue One: A Star Wars Story, it definitely helps that they’ve cast two of the country’s biggest stars,Donnie YenandJiang Wen, in key roles. Naturally, then, those two are getting a lot of attention in the run-up to the film’s release in China.
Yen and Jiang, who play Chirrut Îmwe and Baze Malbus in the movie, get a good chunk of screentime in the newRogue OneChinese trailer, which also announces the film’s Chinese release date.The Force Awakensfaced an uphill climb in the country earlier this year, but with these guys on board, maybeRogue Onewill have better luck. Watch theRogue OneChinese trailer below.
Rogue One Chinese Trailer
Here’s the Chinese trailer. You may have seen a version of this trailer already inRogue One Bits, but we thought it worth breaking out for those who might have missed it the first time.
The previously released version shows all the same footage but is preceded by some adorable banter between Yen and Jiang.
Not surprisingly, Yen and Jiang also get prominent placement in theRogue OneChinese poster.
While much of the world is mad forStar Wars, the franchisedoesn’t really have the same history in China(or some other non-Western markets) that it does here. The original trilogy never got a wide release there, and the prequels opened long before China was the box office juggernaut it is today. This proved to be a big drawback when it came time for Disney to openThe Force Awakens, which in the U.S. (and otherStar Wars-obsessed countries) relied heavily on nostalgia to get butts in seats. Ultimately,The Force Awakenstook in about $125 million in China — good, but not great.
Jiang and Wen surely weren’t hiredjustto draw in more Chinese viewers, but they just as surely don’t hurt. Casting Chinese talent to attract Chinese viewers isn’t really a new tactic, butRogue Oneseems to be playing it better than most. Especially since it looks like Jiang and Wen are actually an integral part of the cast — unlike, say, Angelababy’s disposable role inIndependence Day: Resurgence. IfStar Warsnostalgia won’t work on Chinese audiences, maybe sheer star power will.Rogue Onewill openJanuary 6, 2017in China, around the same time thatThe Force Awakenslanded earlier this year.
The pair is part of an impressively international cast that also includes stars from the U.K. (Felicity JonesandRiz Ahmed), Mexico (Diego Luna), Australia (Ben Mendelsohn), Denmark (Mads Mikkelsen), and the U.S. (Forest WhitakerandAlan Tudyk). British personGareth Edwardsdirects.Rogue One: A Star Wars StoryopensDecember 16in the U.S.
