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Will the Force be with China?

By Xu Fan | China Daily | Updated: 2016-12-29 07:44

Will the Force be with China?

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story will be shown on the Chinese mainland from Jan 6. [Photo provided to China Daily]

Most industry watchers see the addition of Chinese elements as a strategy of Disney to change Star Wars' gloomy track record in China.

In January, the seventh Star Wars film, The Force Awakens, was released across the country but ended with a lackluster performance.

"Some insiders predicted The Force Awakens would surpass 2 billion yuan ($286 million), but it stopped at 826 million yuan," recalls Jiang Yong, a Beijing-based industry watcher.

January's movie ticket sales saw a year-on-year rise of nearly 48 percent-the peak of China's box office bonanza. Most of Hollywood blockbusters easily surpassed the benchmark of 1 billion yuan during that period of rapid growth.

Many earned much more, such as Fast & Furious 7 at 2.4 billion yuan and Transformers: Age of Extinction at nearly 2 billion yuan.

However, a look back finds the Force seemingly not being with Star Wars films in the Middle Kingdom over the decades.

Unlike most movie markets, which have been excited about the sci-fi franchise during the past 40 years, China has shown less enthusiasm.

The Star Wars prequels-the original trilogy was not released on the Chinese mainland-earned only 141million yuan here between 1999 and 2005.

Most analysts believe that the Star Wars prequels came too early to catch the golden phase, as China's box-office boom and Chinese moviegoers' passion for the big screen began growing in 2009.

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