How Disney made Star Wars the top film franchise of 2023 without a theatrical release

Each movie seems to be a total departure from the previous one. If 2015’s “The Force Awakens” was criticized for being too much of a mirror of the original trilogy, 2017’s “The Last Jedi” was criticized for doing the exact opposite. “The Rise of Skywalker” in 2019 undid major story lines from its predecessor and sidelined major characters. Emperor Palpatine, who was killed by Darth Vader in 1983’s “Return of the Jedi,” returned — somehow.

In between each film in the sequel trilogy, Disney released a film that harkened back to an important plot point from past Star Wars films. “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story,” which followed the rebels who stole the Death Star plans given to Princess Leia in the original “Star Wars,” was generally well-received across the board when it hit theaters in 2018, but two years later, “Solo,” which centered on Han Solo’s origin, fell flat with critics and many in the fan community.

“At the time, Disney’s strategy was to essentially release one new Star Wars film theatrically each year,” said Peter Csathy, founder and chair of advisory firm Creative Media. “But each year brought diminishing box office returns.”

While “Solo” was the only true box office flop, Disney decided to suspend its theatrical Star Wars releases and regroup. It was already seeing success from the first season of TV spinoff “The Mandalorian,” which launched in late 2019. The series was proof that Star Wars can strike a balance between nostalgia and innovation — and that the franchise didn’t need to be in theaters to thrive.

“The Mouse House pivoted to a strategy of scarcity for the big screen, while fleshing out the characters and storylines on TV and introducing them — and the entire Star Wars universe — to new generations with new viewing habits, essentially going where the audience was going,” Csathy said. “This, in turn, builds anticipation and buzz for future main marquee events at a theater near you.”

Disney isn’t set to release another Star Wars film in cinemas until 2026. But, in crafting its televised Star Wars content, it is rebuilding goodwill within its established community and drawing in new fans.

Overall, the live-action Star Wars series — “The Mandalorian,” “The Book of Boba Fett,” “Andor,” “Kenobi” and “Ahsoka” — have been well-received by critics and fans alike.

While these stories explore past Star Wars tales, either harkening back to characters seen in past installments or exploring a piece of the Star Wars timeline, and are unlikely to connect to future theatrical entrants, they provide moviegoers with a sense of cohesion and quality.

In animation, Disney released a final season in the “Clone Wars” saga, where fan-favorite Ahsoka Tano debuted, and continued following a number of clone troopers from this era in “The Bad Batch.” Additionally, through streaming, Disney has given audiences several different ways to watch Star Wars stories.

There’s “Tales of the Jedi,” which explored the backstories of Ahsoka and Count Dooku; “Young Jedi Adventures,” which caters to a preschool demographic; and “Visions,” a collection of animated shorts from different genres and featuring different levels of maturity.

In establishing such variety, Disney is entertaining its existing fanbase and offering olive branches to newcomers of all ages.

“I think that creators in these worlds have to find ways to build them and expand the audiences while making sure that it doesn’t skew too much from what the core fans love about it,” said Stephanie Fried, chief marketing officer at Fandom.

Another key for Disney has been parsing these series out slowly over the course of several years.

“A critical takeaway is that franchise theatrical releases need room to breathe,” said Csathy. “We are seeing diminishing returns by the rapid release schedule of the past several years, and now there is a broad realization that anticipation needs to build for box office dynamite to ignite.” That, and the fact that none of these shows are required viewing for future Star Wars projects.

Disney found itself in a tough spot with its Marvel Cinematic Universe because it began introducing key characters in its Marvel streaming shows before they appeared in theatrical projects. This required fans to catch up on hours of television content to understand what was happening on the big screen.

While some viewers might want to catch up on episodes of “Clone Wars” before diving into “Ahsoka,” for example, audiences could in many cases tune into these shows without having to do any homework.