With its unique charm, Star Wars has evolved into a symbol, an enduring emblem. This culture has permeated every aspect of American life. Understanding Star Wars lore has become a basic form of cultural literacy. It's no exaggeration to say that Star Wars holds a godlike status in the hearts of Americans—much like how people across the Pacific feel about Journey to the West.
Without a doubt, Star Wars is the national mythology of the United States—but it is not the national mythology of China.
"China's box office saw explosive growth in 2013," Duke said earnestly during a meeting at Warner Bros.' Star Wars Studio, addressing the professionals from Lucasfilm and Warner Bros.' publicity department. "This growth is reflected not only in the rapid expansion of the overall box office but also in the shifting proportion between domestic Chinese films and Hollywood productions."
"The growth of China's box office has exceeded our expectations," he continued. "By the end of this year, the total Chinese box office may surpass 30 billion RMB."
The importance of the Chinese market to Hollywood is now beyond question. If Star Wars: The Force Awakens wants to achieve a massive breakout and maximize profits, the Chinese market absolutely cannot be ignored.
"Here's what I want to say," Duke said solemnly. "Our promotional efforts in the Chinese market are far from enough."
It had to be admitted that the overwhelming success of the Star Wars franchise had given many at Lucasfilm and Warner Bros. a misleading impression—making them believe that if Star Wars could explode in Japan and South Korea, it would naturally do the same in China.
But Duke knew perfectly well that was not the case. If they wanted Chinese audiences to buy into Star Wars, they would have to work much harder.
"I demand that a complete and detailed promotional plan be drawn up," Duke emphasized. "We'll double the resources allocated for China. In the final stage before the film's release, I want the name Star Wars to appear before every Chinese audience."
That statement was, of course, somewhat exaggerated. But no amount of emphasis on the potential of the Chinese market could be considered too much. And from the data and reports sent by Warner Bros.' Greater China division, Duke could already see that subtle but significant changes were taking place within China's film industry.
Over the past year, the ratio between domestic Chinese films and Hollywood imports had shifted dramatically. For the first time in over a decade, Hollywood's share of China's box office had fallen below 60 percent. This major change was, in fact, the result of the rapid growth of China's own film market in recent years.
China's moviegoing audience had been expanding rapidly—an inevitable outcome of the country's ongoing process of "nationalizing" its film culture.
Since the 1990s, the structure of China's box office had long been dominated by a few mega-cities. But that structure was now undergoing a fundamental transformation, driven by two new forces: first, the expansion of China's middle class had sparked rapid growth centered on third- and fourth-tier cities; and second, the "post-80s" and "post-90s" generations had become the main force of cultural consumption.
The combination of these two factors had given rise to a new group of moviegoers—the so-called "small-town youth" who were attracting widespread attention. The rise of these "new audiences" had fundamentally increased China's moviegoing population and reshaped its cinematic tastes. This, in turn, became the internal driving force behind the continued growth of China's film market—a force that would likely sustain rapid box office expansion for at least another five to ten years.
This growth was a direct result of China's deepening urbanization. The emergence of new middle-class audiences would make China the undisputed new center of Chinese-language cinema—and possibly global cinema. These two driving forces represented China's most important consumer growth segments, as well as new engines of economic and social development. Under their influence, the surge in China's box office was entirely logical.
It was also the result of infrastructure development: the rapid spread of cinemas inside large shopping malls across third- and fourth-tier cities, along with the overall increase in the number of screens, were necessary conditions for these cities to join the movie market. Meanwhile, the rapid expansion of the middle-income class and the steady rise of ordinary workers' wages had provided a solid foundation for film consumption.
Young people had always been the main consumers of movies—but today's incremental audience no longer came from metropolitan areas. Instead, it was the youth from third- and fourth-tier cities, whose tastes were exerting a huge influence on the film market. The expansion of the moviegoing audience was the result of the overlapping effects of these two growth segments: small-city development and youth consumption.
Yet, for these small-town youths, Star Wars was rarely their first choice. They preferred more action-packed Hollywood blockbusters—or homegrown films that felt closer to everyday life.
This trend would only deepen the "localization" of China's film industry.
Meanwhile, in North America, the film market had shown signs of stagnation in recent years. Most Hollywood blockbusters were sequels, and the lack of originality was becoming increasingly serious.
Though Hollywood still held great strength, the continued vitality of China's movie market and film production was already reshaping the overall structure of the global industry.
First, it meant the pie was getting larger: Chinese films were now capable of competing with Hollywood productions on home turf. Supported by policies such as "Domestic Film Protection Months," they were gradually reaching parity—a feat rarely achieved by any film industry outside of India.
Second, it underscored China's growing allure to Hollywood, as well as its central position in the global Chinese-language film landscape. Major commercial directors like Duke had already adapted to this shift—such as by casting Daniel Wu.
How to attract these new Chinese audiences had become a key task for the promotion of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in China.
The failure of the previous Force Awakens promotional campaign had been a painful lesson—one that could not be ignored.
Of course, there were also many objective reasons behind it.
For example, Chinese audiences had simply never encountered Star Wars at the right time.
In 1977, when Star Wars premiered and swept across the United States, China had just emerged from a special ten-year period. During those ten years, most Chinese people had only ever watched a few "model operas" projected on makeshift outdoor screens in the village threshing grounds. The Star Wars trilogy never had the chance to be released in China.
Some things, once missed, are simply gone. Meeting them at a different time no longer sparks the same magic.
To address this, Duke instructed Lucasfilm to adopt a targeted strategy—granting limited-time free broadcast rights of all six Star Wars films to Chinese television stations and streaming platforms, in order to increase their exposure to Chinese audiences.
Movies are the foundation of all derivative products. Since Star Wars didn't have a large fanbase in China, very few people cared about the so-called "Star Wars Universe." Without the "Star Wars Universe," how could new fans be cultivated during the long intervals between films? It eventually became a "chicken-and-egg" dilemma—no fans, no market; no market, no fans.
The severe lack of a derivative merchandise market in China was also a major factor.
When the Star Wars Prequels were released in China, many cinemas didn't even have merchandise sales systems. Some had no authorized product suppliers at all. On rare occasions when a theater wanted to launch merchandise sales, they had to send staff to Hong Kong to make small-scale purchases, since they couldn't risk stockpiling inventory.
Missing the optimal release window and lacking a culture of merchandise development, Star Wars: The Force Awakens was essentially facing a near "casual viewer" market in China. Chinese audiences had no "nostalgia" for the franchise, no "mythology" of their own related to it, and its "pop culture" status had barely begun to take root. All the elements that bound American audiences so deeply to Star Wars simply didn't exist in China.
These were objective realities. Yet the biggest failure of The Force Awakens marketing campaign in China was that it failed to capture the attention of the "small-town youth."
By now, even from across the Pacific, Duke had to admit that for a film to gross over one billion yuan—or even more—in China, it needed the recognition of the "small-town youth."
Unfortunately, without any eye-catching or localized promotional strategy, those small-town youth were never particularly fond of Hollywood blockbusters. It was the down-to-earth domestic comedies that truly captured their hearts.
Even when they did choose a Hollywood blockbuster, what they valued most was its fast-food-style entertainment—the thrill of sensory stimulation. That's why films like Iron Man, The Avengers, and Transformers, filled with spectacular battles and explosions, were far more popular among small-town youth.
While The Force Awakens did contain such elements, their proportion was far too low. If you told these young audiences, "Overcome your fear, or you will fall to the dark side of the Force," most would probably just roll their eyes.
In Duke's view, Star Wars was to Americans what Journey to the West was to China—so it was perfectly normal for Chinese audiences not to feel the same passion. Yet he understood one thing very clearly: in this world, almost all beautiful things can be appreciated—once people have the chance to truly understand them.
Perhaps The Force Awakens would not achieve the explosive success in China that Duke hoped for. Still, neither he nor Lucasfilm had any intention of abandoning their long-term plan for Star Wars in China.
The fact that Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which Lucasfilm had already confirmed for production, would star Jiang Xiaojun and Wu Jing was a significant signal of this intent.
As China's film market matured, its audiences—including the "small-town youth"—would become increasingly receptive to foreign cultures. Likewise, as China's merchandise market developed, the loyalty of movie fans would also grow stronger.
From the very day Duke acquired Lucasfilm, he had been fully committed to promoting Star Wars culture in China. Lucasfilm CEO Kathleen Kennedy had personally visited China multiple times to work with local partners in designing promotional strategies.
Although Star Wars' influence in China still could not compare to its immense popularity in Japan and South Korea, it was certainly no longer at the level it once was.
Moreover, in Duke's eyes, with the right publicity and marketing, Chinese audiences would have no trouble understanding Star Wars culture.
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