As I experienced the thrilling new Rise of the Resistance rollercoaster in the midst of the highly anticipated grand opening of Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, I pondered how Disney managed to revive this dying franchise. Former Disney CEO Bob Iger purchased Star Wars from George Lucas for a whopping 4.05 billion dollars that Disney would make back in only a short 5 years. On top of the four feature films released—grossing 4.8 billion dollars—they innovated many unique Star Wars themed television shows, including hit series The Mandalorian on their new streaming platform Disney Plus. Since the 2012 purchase, Disney transformed the Star Wars franchise into a dynasty.
Disney uses a variety of genius techniques to draw in excitement around the renewal of this franchise. They are aware that loyal Star Wars fans are wary of the repercussions of additions to their precious series. So, Disney eased these fears by bringing back characters from the original movies without recasting. They recently announced that in the spin off series, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ewan McGregor and Hayden Christensen make their return to the franchise. This series takes place just 10 years after the events of the original movie Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. This move was extremely unexpected, especially because they brought back Christensen who had been on a long hiatus from acting. The shock of bringing back the original Darth Vadar and Obi-Wan Kenobi excited even the most moderate fans. Disney always finds a way! Disney uses witty techniques to draw in people who weren’t fans of the original movies. A prime example of this is Baby Yoda, from the series The Mandalorian. Who doesn’t love Baby Yoda? The creature is so cute and innocent, drawing attention from all parties. It is almost impossible to even purchase a Baby Yoda toy as it is the #1 toy on Amazon and is sold out, even for preorder! This Baby Yoda character also brings a major element of nostalgia as it is of the same race as Yoda, from the original movies. Once you get drawn in from these major pull factors, you will become obsessed as Disney delivers with these new Star Wars films and series. Disney has done a superb job of reviving the dying Star Wars name and has renewed the dynasty and culture from the 1980s into the 2010s and 2020s.