Short answers, pulled from the story.
The three films were released on the 18th of December 2015 (The Force Awakens), the 15th of December 2017 (The Last Jedi), and the 20th of December 2019 (The Rise of Skywalker). Each film was released in December, unlike the original and prequel trilogies, which opened around Memorial Day weekend.
The sequel trilogy grossed over $4.4 billion worldwide, with each individual film surpassing $1 billion. The Force Awakens is the sixth-highest-grossing film of all time and set a record by reaching $1 billion in just twelve days.
Lucas had begun considering retirement by 2011 and was approached by Disney CEO Bob Iger at breakfast during a May 2011 visit to Walt Disney World in Orlando. He agreed to the sale in June 2012, with the condition that Kathleen Kennedy would replace him as president of Lucasfilm. The sale was finalized in October 2012.
Lucas planned a sequel trilogy as early as 1976, describing a nine-part saga to Jim Steranko in a late 1980 Prevue magazine interview. His treatments featured Darth Maul and a female Sith named Darth Talon as the main villains, an older Luke rebuilding the Jedi Order from scratch, and Leia eventually becoming Supreme Chancellor. Disney discarded these treatments and asked J. J. Abrams to start from scratch.
J. J. Abrams directed The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker, co-writing both screenplays with Lawrence Kasdan and Michael Arndt for the first, and with Chris Terrio for the third. Rian Johnson wrote and directed The Last Jedi. Colin Trevorrow was originally announced as director of Episode IX but stepped down in September 2017.
At Star Wars Celebration Europe in 2023, a new film directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy was announced. The film follows Rey as she attempts to rebuild the Jedi Order fifteen years after the events of The Rise of Skywalker, with Daisy Ridley reprising the role of Rey.