New Rogue One: A Star Wars Story Empire and Rebellion Banners Released

The media blitz for Rogue One: A Star Wars Story has officially commenced, as the film is now the last live-action release on Disney's schedule for the year (Doctor Strange is in theaters now!). With TV spots now airing with regularity and all the main trailers out, we'll be seeing more and more of Rogue One in the final month and change leading to its release.

Today, the official Star Wars UK twitter account released two new banners for Rogue One, one focusing on the Empire, and one on the Rebel Alliance.

Both banners appear to be pictured on Scarif, the tropical paradise planet seen in the trailers. Despite there being a new class of stormtrooper: the Shoretrooper, the Empire poster just shows the standard class. The Death Star, central to the story, looms in the background - note, the December 15 release date is for the UK - it comes out a day later in the States.

The Rebel Alliance banner poster features the core crew: Jyn Erso, Chirrut Îmwe, Captain Cassian Andor, Bodhi Rook, K-2SO, and Baze Malbus, and they're all charging headlong into battle. Chirrut has his bow extended, as well, the first still of him using his staff in "blaster mode," an unexpected move for a blind warrior.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hits US theaters December 16, 2016. Directed by Gareth Edwards, it's the first of the new standalone features from Lucasfilm and Disney, which take place outside the core "Skywalker Saga" of films noted by an Episode number. Rogue One tells the story of the small band of rebels that were tasked with stealing the plans to the first Death Star. The story spins directly off the opening crawl from the original Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope. In that crawl, it read: "Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire. During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Empire's ultimate weapon, the DEATH STAR, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet."

Check out the full-size banners in the gallery below.