One of the biggest questions in Hollywood in 2016 will be whether or not a Star Wars spin-off can live up to the record-breaking box office precedent set by the franchise standards.
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story is set to hit theaters this December, almost exactly one year after Star Wars: The Force Awakens debuted with a record-breaking opening weekend on its way to becoming the highest-grossing film ever in theaters in the U.S. and Canada. That’s a tough act to follow for Rogue One, a spin-off featuring a new cast of characters engaging in action that takes place (in terms of the franchise’s universe) before the events depicted in the original Star Wars film released in 1977.
With that in mind, Star Wars fans got their first extended look at the highly-anticipated upcoming film on Thursday, when Walt Disney (DIS) unveiled the movie’s first trailer online.
Watch the trailer here:
The roughly two-minute video introduces fans to some of the main characters from the new film, which (brace yourself for some Star Wars-specific language) follows the group of rebels that executed a daring mission to steal architectural plans for the Galactic Empire’s Death Star space station—a turn of events that paved the way for the action in the original Star Wars trilogy.
Whether or not Rogue One can live up to the expectations set by The Force Awakens remains to be seen, but the film’s performance should at least help Disney gauge the value of pursuing further spin-offs from the massively popular franchise. In the meantime, the company already has another spin-off in the works—a currently untitled prequel that would follow a younger version of the movies’ Han Solo character.
