Disney shares feel the force of new Star Wars film trailer

Shares in Walt Disney Co felt the force of subsidiary Lucasfilm's new video teaser for the much anticipated Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the seventh film of the intergalactic saga.

The two-minute clip had more than 16m visits in its first 24 hours and helped add roughly $2bn to Walt Disney's value.

"The Force is strong in my family," says Luke Skywalker in the trailer, echoing a line he first said in 1983's Return of the Jedi.

Director J.J. Abrams' new film is set approximately 30 years after the events of Return of the Jedi, and features many cast members from original films, such as Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher, as well as newcomers like the Kenyan Oscar-awarded Lupita Nyong'o, John Boyega or Daisy Ridley.

In addition to the trailer, The Force Unleashed crew, a 2008 multimedia project created by LucasArts, rolled BB-8 out on stage during a panel of the event.

The buzz was increased on social media as the company worked with Twitter heighten the Star Wars euphoria with the launch of specific emojis of the film.

“In anticipation of the theatrical release of ‘Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens, we partnered with Disney and Lucasfilm to create custom Twitter emojis (...) giving Twitter users the ability to show their enthusiasm for the ever-evolving Star Wars universe,” Twitter said.

Users will have to enter custom hashtags #C3PO, #Stormtrooper, and #BB8 to add these emojis into their tweets.

Disney closed up 1.1% at $108.1 on Thursday.

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