9. Don't Persevere With The Wrong Director
If there is one over-riding lesson from the prequel trilogy that Disney need to heed quickly it's not to stick with the same director, regardless of diminishing returns in quality. George Lucas may have created the Star Wars universe himself, and written some of the most compelling characters, but his directing work on the Prequel trilogy was limited at best, and comically woeful at worst. Lucas was protected by his status as creator, and by the handy fact that it was only he who really had any say on who should be handed the reigns for Episodes I-III. To be fair to him, Episode IV was a great film, and Lucas proved himself worthy of tackling the considerable requirements of an unprecedented space opera, but by the end of Episode I, it was clear that the director had over-achieved. Or perhaps it is fairer to say that Episode IV's successes lead to Lucas' ego inflating to such a degree that self-importance replaced restraint, discipline and intelligent writing. Either way, Disney must heed the precedent, and make sure they move on to other directors if JJ Abrams proves to be the wrong choice after Episode VII.