Disney CFO: Star Wars VII Is Key To Our Studio Performance

[Karloff]

Disney CFO: Star Wars VII Is Key To Our Studio Performance

Expect lots of products on offer when the film rolls around.

Star Wars Episode VII, the movie that on no account can miss its 2015 release [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/129229-Star-Wars-Episode-VII-Its-2015-Or-Bust-Says-Disneys-CEO], is key to Disney's Studio profits, says Disney CFO Jay Rasulo. Disney sees Star Wars as a Marvel-style product, and expects to push it across every platform imaginable, just like its Marvel properties.

That means rides, for those of you who love theme park action. Disney's heavily invested in new build, especially its Shanghai Disneyland park, set to be the second-largest, behind Florida's Disney World. You can expect to see plenty of Star Wars themed experiences rolled out over the next few years. But it also means stuff, and when the movie launches you can expect to see a slew of merch on shelves, for your impulse purchase needs.

While he didn't mention Star Wars and mobile products in the same breath, Rasulo did say that mobile was one of the biggest opportunities to get Disney content out to consumers, particularly for the international market. It seems likely we'll see more mobile Star Wars content out there in the not-so-distant future.

Deals could also be cut with outside agencies, as Disney did with Netflix over its Marvel series [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/129408-Disney-Netflix-Team-Up-To-Bring-Marvels-Flawed-Heroes-To-Life]. "Everything I say about Marvel you can take a couple years down the road and substitute the word Marvel for Lucasfilm," said Rasulo.

Source: Hollywood Reporter [http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/disney-cfo-talks-star-wars-664443]


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[Teoes]

Merchandise, theme park rides and tie-in products up the wazoo.. So it'll be like a "Star Wars-style" product then? I don't see how this is much different to the Star Wars franchise we've had up to this point or how things are changing to be more like the Mighty Marvel.

 

[Daaaah Whoosh]

I really don't know how I feel about this. On the one hand, Disney seems to be doing well with Marvel, so they should be able to get Star Wars right. On the other hand, they're not rebooting the franchise, they're adding onto existing framework. I don't think it worked for Halo, and Doctor Who screws over their continuity all the time which is something I really don't want here, so I doubt that anything but a clean slate is going to be worth investing my time and money into.

And no Star Wars ride is going to beat Star Tours. That's one of my favorite rides in Disney World, and it still retains its roots in the original trilogy.

 

[CriticalMiss]

I had never expected that Disney would want to make money from one of their massive franchises, newly acquired or otherwise. My mind is blown.

 

[TiberiusEsuriens]

Battlefront 3 by DICE is the only other thing im interested..

Amen brotha.

I'm pretty stoked about the re-re-emergence of Star Wars. It's finally got a completely fresh pair of eyes with a company that has proven it can handle big-boy movies that are viewable by all audiences. It's Lucas's dream, just with better execution. It is really interesting to hear that Disney outright admitted that they plan on making Star Wars into their Marvel 2.0, though. It's rare to have that much transparency in these things, but I guess everyone already figured it out.

 

[DracoSuave]

I don't know why this is news. Star Wars always has cross-promoted with every release, so there's no change there, and Disney has always cross-promoted with most releases, so there's no change there.

So what?

 

[Toadfish1]

And what'll they do when the fandom remains a bunch of whiny nitpickers who will take anything new as the Worst Thing Evar?