Sure, there are a lot of different ways to splice together a Star Wars poster, but minimizing the movie's only black star seems an odd choice.
Twitter user and producer Guy Lambert posted the following comparison after seeing Deadline's coverage of China's regional poster for Star Wars: The Force Awakens:
Left: UK version. Right: China version. Spot the main massive difference #StarWars#StarWarsForceAwakenspic.twitter.com/9AFfiSAa6L
— Guy Lambert (@SohoGuy) December 3, 2015The main difference is, of course, the notable downgrade of the black character Finn, who's been a centerpiece of the movie's marketing since it began rolling out in 2014. (Chewbacca, it should be noted for intergalactic race relations, is missing entirely, as are some weird little alien and an X-Wing pilot I'm probably supposed to know by now.)
Since the first Star Wars trailer revealed 22-year-old British actor John Boyega in stormtrooper gear (and eventually wielding a lightsaber), his race has been a point of contention for some of the less diversity-minded Internet commenters. Boyega's response when these initial complaints about a "black stormtrooper" popped up late last year? "Get used to it."
It's possible that Disney's marketing team in China felt audiences wouldn't be able to get used to it and shrank down his presence on the poster, or it might just be an unintentional bit of visual prioritization. If the latter (we've reached out for comment), it was probably a pretty dumb one. Heck, maybe Chinese fans just really, really love TIE Fighters.
Here are the full official U.S. and Chinese posters:
