SHAPING WHAT’S NEXT IN MEDIA

Last chance to save on Digiday Publishing Summit passes is February 9

SECURE YOUR SEAT

Star Wars lightsabers are about to flood your Facebook

May the promotion be with you, Facebook.

Ahead of the Friday’s release of the latest “Star Wars” movie, the social network is adding a lightsaber filter for people to add on to their profile pictures. The tool offers two lightsaber options: an evil red one from Kylo Ren or a generic blue-shaded beam. There’s also an expiration feature in it, letting users revert back to their old pictures within an hour, day or week.

Screen Shot 2015-12-15 at 12.10.11 PM

Star Wars is the first major non-sporting brand to use the Snapchat-like filter. Until now, NCAA, MLB, NBA, and European soccer organizations, like the Premiere League were the only brands letting people place its logo on their faces.

Facebook didn’t immediately respond for comment about the terms of its agreement with Disney.

Filters have been a success for Facebook ever since its introduction in June for the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage when 26 million users draped a rainbow flag over their pictures. The company also had a French flag filter after last month’s terrorist attack in Paris.

More in Media

In Graphic Detail: The scale of the challenge facing publishers, politicians eager to damage Google’s adland dominance

Last year was a blowout ad revenue year for Google, despite challenges from several quarters.

Why Walmart is basically a tech company now

The retail giant joined the Nasdaq exchange, also home to technology companies like Amazon, in December.

The Athletic invests in live blogs, video to insulate sports coverage from AI scraping

As the Super Bowl and Winter Olympics collide, The Athletic is leaning into live blogs and video to keeps fans locked in, and AI bots at bay.