What Disney Theme Parks Tell Us About 'Star Wars'
Many people consider the Disney Company to be a movie studio first and foremost. However, what many people do not know is that Disney makes most of it's profits, not from it’s movies, but from theme parks. In many ways Disney’s entire company enterprise is to first and foremost serve it’s theme parks. Content is made to be put in it's theme parks, new IP’s (intellectual property) means new rides and new characters for the parks. So when Disney made Galaxy's Edge it was obvious from the get go that they had plans to fully use Star Wars as a means to make profit from their theme parks. However it is how they built the Star Wars section of the Disney parks that is the most intriguing. If we look at the theme parks we can see that, perhaps Disney's long term plans for Star Wars are beyond the movies and Disney + shows themselves.
The biggest look at what Disney’s long term plans for the Star Wars universe are is the fact that Galaxy's Edge is set in the sequel era. They didn’t make it the prequel era or the original trilogy era, but the sequel era. This indicates that when it comes to marketing to their younger audiences, which the parks are aimed for, the sequels are going to be the main drivers for kids and newcomers alike.
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One doesn’t get their picture with Luke Skywalker, they get their picture with Rey. Rey in particular seems to be the one that Disney wants to promote as friendly towards kid. Many of the more kid-themed attractions in Galaxy's Edge are Rey-centric. This is good in the long term, in a generation or two many kids who grew up with this era of Star Wars will have fond memories of Rey and the sequel era.
Disney doesn’t just plan for the moment, Disney is known for thinking long term, a generation or two ahead. When today's youth are all grown up, they will have mostly good feelings toward this era and towards the Disney-created characters. Rey will be the standard bearer for the Star Wars brand by then, and those kids will be nostalgic for it, as adults today are nostalgic for the original and prequel eras.
If having a park in the sequel era is one thing, then having a hotel is another. Here we are with Disney making a sequel era hotel/cruise. Expensive yes, but also the fact it is set in the sequel era again shows that Disney is invested in making this more of a staple of their tenure as the masters of Star Wars, compared to the utilization original and prequel eras. They are playing the long game, so that the nostalgia for the sequel era will be very strong. Fans will be able to be a part of the sequel era in a way they can’t for the original era or the prequel era. Fans will be able to say they took their picture with Rey in the parks or saw Kylo Ren, not Darth Vader or Luke Skywalker.
The Sequel Era will be the era that one can physically touch, physically interact with. It will be a powerful incentive for fans in the long run. It will create some powerful emotions and nostalgia in the long run. The Original Trilogy won’t have it, the Prequel Era won’t have. Disney is preparing for the Sequel Era to be the dominant force in Star Wars because of it. By making a sequel era theme park in Disneyland, Disney is preparing its long term investments with Star Wars and declaring which era is completely and one hundred percent the Disney Era of Star Wars.
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