Star Wars Mania Hits China as Stormtroopers Assemble on Great Wall

While Western audience had to make do with a new trailer and poster for Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens, Chinese fans got to witness hundreds of Stormtroopers assembled on the Great Wall. Check out the video below, via The Guardian:

China is fast becoming a vital region when it comes to Hollywood--with hundreds of millions of dollars regularly spent on its biggest movies, studio bosses know the value of tapping into the Chinese market. But few blockbusters have had quite as lavish a promotional event as the one this week for The Force Awakens.

No fewer than 500 Stormtroopers stood motionless on the steps below one of the Wall's main towers. At the same time, giant billboards flashed the words "The Force Awakens" in Chinese, while dozens of fans waved their free promotional lightsabers.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Force Awakens doesn't actually have a release date in China as yet, and none of the earlier Star Wars movies have ever screened in the country. However, this month Lucasfilm owners Disney and previous distributors 20th Century Fox signed a deal with online giant Tencent to stream all six of the previous films there.

Star Wars Episode 7: The Force Awakens opens on December 18, 2015. It is directed by JJ Abrams and stars John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Max von Sydow, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, and Mark Hamill.