Disney posted quarterly earnings and revenue that beat Wall Street's expectations on Tuesday amid strong revenue growth in its media networks business and its theme parks. But earnings slipped from a year ago, given higher programming costs at ESPN. 
 
 And, big news "Star Wars" fans: Disney, which announced it would buy Lucasfilm last year, plans to make spinoff movies based on characters in addition to the three sequels it had previously announced, CEO Bob Iger told CNBC in an interview after the earnings report. 
 
 After the announcement, the company's shares rose in extended-hours trading. (Click here to get the latest quotes for the company's shares.) 

 CTRL-C or CMD-C, then press Enter. Click/tap elsewhere to exit, or press ESC. 
 
 Lucasfilms 
 
 Ready for some brand-new lore? 
 
 A new hope became a reality today when Disney CEO Robert Iger confirmed that the studio is going to be making a number of Star Wars spinoff films in addition to the planned trilogy that will pick up after the action of Return of the Jedi. 
 
 "We are working on a few stand-alone films, derived from great Star Wars characters that are not part of the overall saga," the chief executive said in a sit-down with CNBC. 
 
 Star Wars responds to White House Death Star rejection letter 
 
 Lawrence Kasdan, who penned Jedi and The Empire Strikes Back, and Simon Kinberg are working on the new projects as well as consulting with J.J. Abrams, who, after giving fans the slick run-around about his intentions, recently confirmed that he is directing Episode VII. 
 
 "The implications for Star Wars fans will be great," Iger promised—though he would not divulge details about which characters would be getting the feature treatment, saying he would leave the creative process to executive producer Kathleen Kennedy and Lucasfilm. 
 
 "We have these great opportunities," he said, "because there are these good ideas out there and good creators interested in fleshing out these ideas, and we're going for it." 
 
 Share 
 
 Share 
 
 Tweet 
 
 Email 
 
 <> Embed CTRL-C or CMD-C, then press Enter. 
 
 Click/tap elsewhere to exit, or press ESC. 
 
 
 
 Is your favorite Star Wars moment one of our favorites? 
 
 FROM AROUND THE WEB MORE ON EONLINE 
 
 RELATED VIDEOS:
– It's a Star Wars avalanche: In addition to the coming Episodes VII, VIII, and IX, Disney plans to produce a number of spinoff movies that revolve around certain characters, CEO Robert Iger tells CNBC. No word yet on which characters will be featured in the standalone films (rumor is Yoda is up first), but Iger says they are "great ... characters that are not part of the overall saga." Lawrence Kasdan (who wrote Return of the Jedi, The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, The Big Chill, The Bodyguard, the list goes on...) is working on the new films with Simon Kinberg (Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Sherlock Holmes), and JJ Abrams recently confirmed he will in fact be directing Episode VII, E! notes. "The implications for Star Wars fans will be great," Iger promised. "There are these good ideas out there and good creators interested in fleshing out these ideas, and we're going for it."