Disney CEO concerned by early 'Star Wars: The Force Awakens' excitement months before film's release

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is still over six months from opening in theaters, but you wouldn’t know it based on the hype machine surrounding it. All that early excitement is actually concerning to Disney CEO Bob Iger, even though it proves that the $4 billion purchase was well worth it.

During a Q&A session with investors today, Iger said that the Disney marketing gurus will should think carefully about how they roll-out new products so the public isn’t tired of Star Wars by Dec. 18.

“We want to be careful that the demand does not create too much in the marketplace too soon,” Iger said, reports TheWrap.

He noted that the studio has already been careful about rolling new products out, adding, “We’ve already got some increased product in the marketplace but the real ramp-up in terms of consumers won’t come until a few months before the release.”

That falls in line with the recent announcement that The Force Awakens products won’t hit stores until Sept. 9. Disney could have put toys and other products out during the summer, but opted to wait until the fall.

“This is already a very strong franchise, but a film has not been released in 10 years,” Iger noted, adds The Hollywood Reporter. “We’re not treating this as something that is brand new. We’re mindful of the fact that there’s a whole generation of people out there that were not as steeped in the Star Wars lore and not as in love with the franchise as an older generation.”

Iger’s call came after the media conglomerate announced that its revenue in the second quarter of fiscal year 2015 was actually more than what analysts predicted. According to Variety, Disney reported revenue of $12.5 billion in the quarter.

Monday was also Star Wars Day, which was accompanied by a wealth of new information thanks to Vanity Fair’s cover story.

screenshot from Star Wars YouTube video

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