Disney boss Bob Iger admits it released too many new 'Star Wars' movies too quickly

Bob Iger, the CEO of Disney, has admitted that the studio released too many Star Wars movies too quickly.

Since Disney bought up LucasFilm from George Lucas in 2012, for what now seems the bargain sum of just over $4 billion, it has majored on Star Wars output.

First there was J.J. Abrams’ Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015, following a fallow period in the franchise of a decade since Revenge of the Sith, the last of Lucas’s prequel films.

But it was followed by a quick succession of franchise movies, including spin-off prequel story Rogue One in 2016, Star Wars: The Last Jedi in 2017, and the ill-feted Solo in 2018, the first Star Wars movie ever to make a loss.

Read more: George Lucas ‘couldn’t hide’ Force Awakens disappointment

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, meanwhile, arrives this Christmas, making five movies in five years, when previously, the franchise had left three year gaps between releases.

Speaking to The New York Times: “I just think that we might’ve put a little bit too much in the marketplace too fast.”

He then added: “I think the storytelling capabilities of the company are endless because of the talent we have at the company, and the talent we have at the company is better than it’s ever been, in part because of the influx of people from Fox.”

Speaking of Fox, Iger also speaks about how Rupert Murdoch, the owner of the studio, was furious that he didn't think of buying up Lucasfilm first, as Fox was the studio that had always distributed the Star Wars films.

In the same interview with the Times, Iger adds: “Rupert was crazed that we bought Lucas.

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“They were the distributor of all of George’s movies, and he was very disappointed in his people. 'Why didn’t you think of this?'”

As it turned out, Disney acquired the Fox studio 21st Century Fox in March this year, in a deal worth over $71 billion.

Meanwhile, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, the last in the current trilogy, arrives in the UK on December 19.

It will be preceded by spin-off TV series The Mandalorian, debuting on new streaming platform Disney+ on November 12, with two brand new trilogies being developed, one by The Last Jedi director Rian Johnson and the other from Game of Thrones showrunners D.B. Weiss and David Benioff.