Can a ‘Star Wars story with Chinese characteristics’ sell the Skywalker saga in China?

Tencent’s China Literature, the country’s biggest online publisher, chose a popular author on the platform to write a new Chinese novel based on the Star Wars franchise. It’s part of a partnership struck between China Literature and Disney, which bought Star Wars owner Lucasfilm in 2012.

The companies have yet to reveal any details about the book, which they say is still in the “initial preparation stage.” But a report posted by the official Star Wars Weibo account says the book will be an “authentic Star Wars story with Chinese characteristics”. 

The book will be exclusive to China Literature and will “combine native Chinese elements and the narrative style of the Chinese language to tell the story of Star Wars,” according to the report.

In recent years, major Hollywood franchises have performed extremely well in China. DC’s Aquaman, some Fast and Furious films and Marvel’s Avengers series have been among the highest-grossing films in the country in their respective years. But the epic Star Wars franchise -- a US$65 billion global empire -- has never managed to connect with Chinese audiences on a large scale.

So Disney is now taking a new approach by appealing to the country’s more than 454 million readers of online literature. China Literature, which went public in Hong Kong in 2017, claims 217.1 million monthly active users and 7.8 million authors across its platforms, which include Qidian.com and QQ Reading. The company has said it aims to become China’s Marvel by monetising its huge pool of online novels through adaptations.