Hong Kong sees the film a day before its US release, but the rest of China will have to wait until early January.
Last week we told you Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (侠盗一号：星球大战外传) had secured cinematic release on the Chinese mainland. Now we can tell you the exact date: January 6, 2017.
December’s release schedule is already overcrowded, so it was always unlikely it would get a day-and-date release on December 16. Chinese fans of Star Wars desperate to see the film can head down to Hong Kong, where it opens on December 15 — one day before the rest of the world.
As Slash Film points out, the Chinese trailer is by far the most revealing and features a quick introduction in Mandarin from actors Donnie Yen and Jiang Wen.
“As Chinese actors in Rogue One, we’re not just there “to get some soy oil,’” 打酱油 (Dajiangyou) Yen says to Jiang. Dajiangyou is slang for when people take part in something but do not put in any effort or get any results.
There’s a version of the same video on Youtube with English subtitles here:
The two even tease the possibility that they will star in Rogue Two in the future, although that’s not going to happen, by the way. Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy recently confirmed the movie will not receive a sequel.
“I think that’s what makes it exciting. You can just drop into Rogue One and not feel like you’re being pulled along into something you need to make a commitment to. It means anything can happen,” Kennedy told Empire.
For Chinese audiences who have still not quite become hardcore Star Wars fans, that’s probably a good thing.
