According to Disney head-honcho Bob Iger, visitors to all major Disney attractions will soon feel the force – of new Star Wars rides, that is.
The first of many new attractions – based on that galaxy far, far away – is set to be unveiled next year. This ties in to the marketing for Star Wars Episode VII, the first of three new movies to be produced since Disney acquired Lucasfilm. The companies are also set to host Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim on April 16-19, while “Star Wars” is expected to have a major presence at the D23 Expo, Aug. 14-16, again from the Anaheim Convention Centre. As well as Star Wars, Disney have also acquired the rights to Indiana Jones in the acquisition but a ride and stunt show based on those movies already exists at Disney’s resorts.
This news was announced during a conference call between Bob Iger and analysts. At one point in the call, Iger talked about the decision to build new Star Wars attractions – “the likelihood of their success is greater” when they’re branded. When we grow ‘Star Wars” presence, which we will do significantly, you will see better bets being made that will pay off for us than were made in the past,” adding that leveraging the collection of popular franchises and properties that the company owns for rides and experiences will deliver “better returns than we saw in the past.”
And when Iger was asked if Disney was looking to broker new licensing deals with other franchise owners for attractions, similar to how it did with James Cameron’s “Avatar,” he dismissed the idea, citing properties owned by Marvel, Pixar and Lucasfilm,
“We don’t have to license from third parties,” he said. “We own them all.”
Marc
Marc is a self-confessed nerd. Ever since seeing Star Wars for the first time around 1979 he’s been an unapologetic fan of the Wars and still believes, with Clone Wars and now Underworld, we are yet to see the best Star Wars. He’s a dad of two who now doesn’t have the time (or money) to collect the amount of toys, comics, movies and books he once did, much to the relief of his long-suffering wife. In the real world he’s a graphic designer. He started Following the Nerd because he was tired of searching a million sites every day for all the best news that he loves and decided to create one place where you can go to get the whole lot. Secretly he longs to be sitting in the cockpit of his YT-1300 Corellian Transport ship with his co-pilot Chewie, roaming the universe, waiting for his next big adventure, but feels just at home watching cartoons with his kids….
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