Disney Is Working on Standalone 'Star Wars' Films: Hot Trends

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Popular searches on the Internet include Walt Disney (DIS) after CEO Bob Iger revealed that the company is working on standalone "Star Wars" films.

Iger told CNBC that Disney is working on standalone films that are not part of the new upcoming trilogy. Disney confirmed last month that director J.J. Abrams is directing the seventh installment of the "Star Wars" saga. That new trilogy begins in 2015 with "Star Wars: Episode VII."

Iger said the individual films would be based on "Star Wars" characters "that are not part of the overall saga." They will be released during the same period as the new trilogy.

Disney purchased Lucasfilm, the maker of the "Star Wars" movies, for over $4 billion in 2012.

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Virgin Media (VMED) is trending as telecommunications billionaire John Malone's Liberty Global (LBTYA) has agreed to acquire the cable-television and Internet provider for $16 billion in cash and stock.

The deal equates to $47.87 a share of Virgin Media, a slight premium to the stock's closing price of $45.61 on Tuesday.

The companies said they expect annual cost savings of about $180 million once the deal is complete and the companies are fully integrated. Liberty plans to repurchase $3.5 billion in shares over two years upon the deal's completion as well.

The deal will make the combined company a bigger rival of Rupert Murdoch's British Sky Broadcasting Group in the U.K.

Virgin Media is Britain's second-biggest pay-TV company.

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Nasdaq OMX Group is another popular search. The exchange group is reportedly in settlement talks with the Securities and Exchange Commission over its mishandling of Facebook's (FB)'s initial public offering last May.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Nasdaq may pay about $5 million to resolve the SEC's eight-months investigation. The Journal said brokers and investors lost an estimated $500 million due to Nasdaq's technological mistakes.

Nasdaq is said to be in other talks with customers about potential reimbursement for their losses during the IPO. But, as the newspaper mentioned, securities laws and Nasdaq's rules help cap the exchange group's expenses from the errors.

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The chatter on Main Street (a.k.a. Google, Yahoo! and other search sites) is always of interest to investors on Wall Street. Thus, each day, TheStreet compiles the stories that are trending on the Web, and highlights the news that could make stocks move.

-- Written by Brittany Umar.

Brittany joined TheStreet.com TV in November 2006 after completing a degree in Journalism and Media Studies at Rutgers College. Previously, Brittany interned at the local ABC affiliate in New York City WABC-TV 7 where she helped research and produce On Your Side, a popular consumer advocacy segment.