After being recently named the world’s most powerful brand, Disney has continued to excel, using its Star Wars muscle to drive the company to record earnings in its latest financial report.

In the last quarter, Disney reported earnings totalling US$2.9bn (€2.6bn, £2bn) for the period ended 2 January, exceeding analyst estimates and largely being driven by the Star Wars franchise.

Led by overall revenues of US$15.24bn (€13.5bn, £10.5bn), Disney reported a surge in growth at its theme parks, with operating income up 22 per cent from US$805m (€714.7m, £555.5m) in the first quarter of 2015 to US$981m (€871m, £676.9m) in 2016.

Last year Disney was the first park to break the US$100 ticket price barrier. The company attributed the higher revenues to the inflated gate receipts, in addition to "increased food, beverage and merchandise spending, and higher average hotel room rates."

At the box-office, Disney cited earnings of more than US$2bn (€1.7bn, £1.4bn) worldwide for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which sent studio income skyrocketing by 86 per cent and boosted consumer products by 23 per cent.

“Driven by the phenomenal success of Star Wars, we delivered the highest quarterly earnings in the history of our company, marking our 10th consecutive quarter of double-digit EPS growth,” said Disney chair and CEO, Bob Iger.

“We’re very pleased with our results, which continue to validate our strategic focus and investments in brands and franchises to drive long-term growth across the entire company.”

Disney’s growth trend is expected to continue in 2016, with a raft of big film releases from subsidiaries Pixar, Marvel and Lucasfilm to come out later this year. In addition, Disney is expecting big income from its newest theme park, which opens in Shanghai in June, while the company is planning new attractions at its US parks including new Star Wars, Avatar and Toy Story lands.