When Disney acquired Lucasfilm and the Star Wars brand for an estimated $4 billion, they wasted little time in announcing they would make the most out of their newly acquired franchise. As well as the forthcoming sequel trilogy - kicking off with J.J. Abrams’ Episode VII in 2015, with sequels to follow in 2017 and 2019 - the House of Mouse has also said they will release a series of Star Wars spin-off movies in the years between the full sequels.

Now, a Disney conference has revealed a hint about what form these spin-offs will take. As reported by Variety, the studio’s chief financial officer Jay Rasulo has said the bi-annual releases in the “evergreen property” will be “origin story [films]”. They are expected to focus on popular existing characters from the Star Wars universe, such as Boba Fett, Han Solo and Yoda.

While Disney can rest assured their massive spend on Star Wars will be met with a huge box office return, Rasulo also revealed that his company will be "capping" the spend on less familiar ‘tentpole’ blockbusters. This follows expensive box-office failures such as The Lone Ranger and John Carter. Both films are said to be among the most expensive films ever made, with Disney suffering major losses after they failed to perform as hoped.

The conference further revealed that a typical release year from 2015 onwards is expected to consist of a Star Wars film, two Marvel films, two Pixar films, a film from Disney’s animated studio and between one and three other major blockbusters.