The promotional force was strong in Disney’s latest marketing stunt for the upcoming Star Wars film, which saw 500 replica Stormtroopers lined up in marching formation on the Great Wall on Tuesday night.
The internet freaked out earlier this week when the final full trailer for the latest in the beloved intergalactic franchise was launched online. It caused a ticketing system meltdown for many cinemas when advance tickets went on sale soon after.
However, with folks in China unable to enjoy the new Star Wars: The Force Awakens trailer online due to internet censorship, Disney had to pull out all the stops to create buzz in the mainland so they unleashed the plastic army of Galactic Empire soldiers instead.
Arranged like dominoes, the white imperial mannequins were accompanied by large billboards atop beacon towers at the iconic landmark, which displayed four large Chinese characters spelling out the name of the upcoming film, The Force Awakens in Chinese.
The trailer was also projected onto the wall itself, with fans present at the event given red and blue lightsabers to enhance the selfie affair.
With a quota of just 34 non-Chinese films allowed to be shown in China a year, the seventh in the Star Wars series hasn’t been given a release date for China yet.
Last month, almost four decades on from the first film’s debut, Disney and 20th Century Fox signed a deal with Chinese online giant Tencent to bring the six existing films in the Star Wars opera to the company’s popular streaming video service site.