By George Glover
The Star Wars franchise has a new leader -- and Disney investors need the incoming boss to use all the powers of the Force to give the House of Mouse's shares a much-needed boost.
Lucasfilm, the Disney division that makes movies set a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, said on Thursday that Dave Filoni will replace Kathleen Kennedy as President.
Filoni has plenty of Star Wars experience, serving as showrunner of the popular animated series The Clone Wars and executive producing the franchise's first live-action series, The Mandalorian.
Investors need the appointment to be a success. Star Wars is one of a handful of big hitters that Disney relies on to bring in billions of dollars at movie theaters and maintain foot traffic at its theme parks.
Filoni's appointment comes at a time when the entertainment giant faces threats on both fronts.
Netflix has agreed to buy Warner Bros. Discovery in an $83 billion deal that would give the video-streamer control of beloved characters like Batman and Harry Potter, while Comcast moved in on Disney's home turf in May when it opened a new theme park, Epic Universe in Orlando.
Lucasfilm was hit-and-miss under Kennedy -- for every Star Wars success story like The Force Awakens, there were duds like Solo, a spinoff that focuses on original trilogy icon Han Solo.
More consistency at the box office could help get Disney shares moving again following a lost decade. Shares are up just 21% over the last 10 years, wobbling amid worries about the rise of streaming and declining revenue at Disney's sports cable network ESPN. The benchmark S&P 500 is up 269% over the same period.
If Filoni can get the Star Wars blasters firing again, that could help turn the stock's fortunes around.
Write to George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
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January 16, 2026 05:18 ET (10:18 GMT)
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