The State of Disney’s Star Wars Is Strong

Bloomberg took a look into the state of the Star Wars brand, five years after Disney purchased Lucasfilm. The article has a very positive outlook on Kathleen Kennedy's stewardship of Lucasfilm, five years into her tenure. As president of Lucasfilm, Kennedy not only oversees the Star Wars brand, but is also responsible for ILM, Skywalker Sound, and other divisions.

-Disney/Lucasfilm's second installment in the sequel trilogy is just days away from release, with The Force Awakens taking in over $2B worldwide, and is the highest grossing domestic film of all time, by a wide margin. In 2019, Episode IX will cap off the sequel trilogy.
-Solo is set for release in May of 2018. The standalone follows the 2016 release of Rogue One, which took in $1B worldwide, and is the 7th highest grossing domestic film of all time. Plans for a third movie, strongly rumored to be about Obi-Wan (but unconfirmed), are also set for 2020 release.
-A fourth trilogy (second for Disney) was announced recently, reportedly focusing on characters and events unrelated (to an unknown extent) from the Skywalker arc.
-A new live action TV series is underway, being helmed by Dave Filoni, who is about to wrap up the animated series, Rebels, and will be part of Disney's own streaming service, to be launched in 2019.
-Two new Star Wars themed parks will be unveiled in 2019, in Anaheim and Orlando.

In addition to the above media, under Kennedy's leadership, a new Lucasfilm division, ILMxLAB was established to explore and develop virtual reality technology and techniques for telling more tales in the Star Wars universe.

Its work is evident in a new business venture with Void, a Utah-based entertainment company. At three malls in Anaheim, California, Orlando and London, Void is opening 30-minute virtual reality experiences. For $30, guests put on goggles and computer backpacks and walk through a virtual Star Wars story, blasting stormtroopers, feeling the heat on the molten planet of Mustafar and even smelling the giant lava monsters.

Void's CEO thinks this type of venture has huge potential, adding a level of entertainment for industries looking for new ways to attract clients.

“Shopping malls, theater chains, airports, cruise ships, they’re all looking for attractions,”

Under Kennedy Lucasfilm has also been hard at work revamping and modernizing its licensing business in order to

broaden the base of customers for Star Wars products—taking a brand traditionally known for boys and widening it to include apparel, jewelry and high-end electronics aimed at girls and adults.

“One of our top priorities within our segment is what we call audience expansion,” Jimmy Pitaro, the executive who runs Disney’s consumer products business, said in a September interview.

With 2 films coming out in the next six months, we'll see if Kennedy continues to have the hot hand. While these ventures are undoubtedly a huge financial success so far, it would seem that rave reviews are less likely from the more hardcore and unforgiving fans that grew up with the OT. Nevertheless, we're fans of how Kennedy is handling Lucasfilm and the Star Wars brand, even if some of the creative decisions aren't our favorite.

Check out Bloomberg for more.

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