'Star Wars 7' tries to win Chinese market
- By Zhang Rui
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E-mail China.org.cn, December 18, 2015
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| A "Star Wars" themed exhibition is being held in Sanlitun, Beijing. [Photo/China.org.cn] |
In June, all 6 episodes of "Star Wars" were screened at the Shanghai International Film Festival, as the first step to include Chinese audience and fans into the Star Wars universe. Disney then lavished a promotional event at China's landmark Great Wall in October.
Zeng Maojun, President of China's largest theater group Wanda Cinemas, also suggested that in China, the nostalgia sentiment card is not the one to play to draw audiences, instead, the studio should seek to reach young people. If this plays out, "I'd estimate US$230 million at the box office," he said.
The marketing team in Disney may have heard him. They asked China's teen idol, actor and singer Lu Han to be the promotional ambassador and shot a commercial. Lu, though having incredible fame and a large group of fans, was not the one that all Chinese die-hard Star Wars fans really liked or approved of. "Some of Lu's headstrong fans even said 'Star Wars' is hot because of Lu Han. What!?!, " one fan wrote on Weibo, "I understand the studio is trying to earn more profits and generate hype, but at least find an ambassador next time who really knows the culture of 'Star Wars.'"
To educate Chinese audiences and please fans, Disney also held a special Star Wars exhibition in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou. It even made a special international trailer for the Chinese market with new scenes and dialogues to paint plotlines and characters in a clearer light for Chinese to understand. The trailer was hailed by movie fans even outside China as the best Star Wars trailer for the new film.
In mid-November, a small group of Chinese reporters and guests were invited to J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Productions and Lucasfilm to get a sneak peek at 10-minute footage of the film and have an interview with Abrams himself.
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