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500 Star Wars stormtroopers march on Great Wall of China in epic Disney event

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Latest stunt for The Force Awakens proves to be on larger end of scale, as Disney pushes for release date in world’s second biggest film market

When the third and final trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released into the world on Monday, advance ticket sales crashed websites on both sides of the Atlantic.

But nothing can match Disney’s latest frankly terrifying stunt – flying an army of stormtroopers in to line up on the Great Wall of China, a landmark that was once believed to be visible from space itself.

The 500 figures stood in motionless formation on the steps below one of the famous guard towers on Tuesday night, as giant billboards flashed with the message “The Force Awakens” in Chinese, and fans waved the free red and blue lightsabers being handed out for the ultimate selfie.

In a first-ever event of its kind, 500 stormtroopers were stationed on the Great Wall to celebrate #TheForceAwakens! pic.twitter.com/E27fUNxdAo

— Star Wars (@starwars) October 21, 2015

Disney is yet to announce a release date for episode seven in China, according to the Hollywood Reporter, although a deal has been signed to make all six existing films in the Star Wars franchise available to stream via internet provider Tencent.

Chinese cinema-goers were only treated to the first official theatrical screenings of the original trilogy this year, almost four decades after the first film came out in 1977 when the Cultural Revolution had only just come to an end.

Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi all showed at Shanghai international film festival in June, though many audiences had seen them already via illegal downloads or DVDs.

With more than 10,000 cinema screens, the country is set to overtake the US as the world’s largest box office by 2020, offering director JJ Abrams and the Force Awakens producers another huge bite of the global audience for what is already set to be a record-breaking release when it premieres at Christmas.

Tuesday’s stunt was well received on social media, though some commenters questioned why the army wasn’t a little more Terracotta in hue.

@starwars i think the red stormtroopers would have been more appropriate here

— LazySubstitutesToanA (@Jalen9070) October 21, 2015

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