'Star Wars Episode 7' Release Date: Disney to Release Franchise Installments With Same Strategy as Marvel Movies

The "Star Wars" franchise will follow the same model as the Marvel franchises according to reports.

The Walt Disney Company's Chief Financial Officer Jay Rasulo recently stated that his intention was to expand the new franchise in a similar manner as has been done with Marvel's superhero films.

"You can substitute the word Marvel for LucasFilm," Rasulo said of the company's strategy, according to The Wrap.

Here's Marvel's strategy. The company creates individual adventures for all of its major superheroes such as "Iron Man," "Thor," "Captain American: The First Avenger," and then makes sequels to each film. Then the company interweaves the stories into major epics like "The Avengers" and the forthcoming "The Avengers: Age of Ultron." Marvel divides up the stories into "phases" that are each broken up by a corresponding "Avengers" flick. The company is currently engaged in Phase 2 of the operation, which will climax with "Age of Ultron." Afterward, Marvel will make more sequels and add more solo hero films before "Avengers 3." The company is already planning an "Ant-Man" movie as well as a "Guardians of the Galaxy" film to use more of the Marvel superheroes that do not fit into the traditional "Avengers" movies.

The "Star Wars" franchise is filled with numerous characters and fan-fiction that will undoubtedly make it easy for Disney to multiply into a plethora of films. The company has already committed to releasing a "Star Wars" movie every year starting with "Episode VII" in 2015; the company has already stated that it will also create "spin-off" movies that feature solo adventures for franchise characters.