Disney will feature Star Wars attractions in its theme parks based on the new films which will be released now starting from the ‘The Force Awakens’ next December.
Disney chairman Bob Iger told Variety that the company was biding its time before introducing the long-running space opera to its Disneyworld and Disneyland sites.
“There will be a much larger Star Wars presence in our parks globally,” Bob said. “But we want to do this big, which takes time, and to do it right. I didn’t want someone to say, ‘I just saw the movie and there’s nothing in that movie in this [attraction].’”
The studio earlier planned to incorporate earlier films to their theme parks but halted at early development stage to give film-makers time to realise their visions.
“We couldn’t tell [designers] what was new,” he said. “I slowed it all down so what we come forward with will have a blend of the past, present and maybe the future. Now we have a sense of what’s in Star Wars 8, and what some of the standalone films will have in them.”
He also stressed on the fact that the investment Disney put into LucasFilms in 2012, a whopping $4 billion, and the future of the franchise will solely depend on the success of The Force Awakens’ will be in theatres on 18 December 2015.
“I keep telling J.J. Abrams this is a $4 billion movie,” Bob said, in reference to the LucasFilms deal, not the actual budget of the film. “We need to treat this very special. It’s an unbelievable privilege and unbelievable responsibility to take a jewel and treat it in a way that is respectful of its past but brings it into the future.”
This shows how much successful the movie has to be in order to keep the franchise alive. But, from the views the first teaser has received, (52 million in a week) things only look positive for the studio.