Disney Buys Lucas Films for over $4 Billion
Plans for new Star Wars in 2015
Disney has bought LucasFilm, the company owned by Star Wars creator and filmmaker George Lucas, for just over $4 billion in cash and stock, according to a press release issued by Disney on Tuesday (October 30th). The announcement also revealed that a new Star Wars movie, Episode VII, will be released in 2015, with more sequels to come "every two or three years." The deal apparently does not include the rights to the Indiana Jones movies, which are also produced by LucasFilm but through a separate arrangement with Paramount Pictures.
Disney's purchase of LucasFilm follows just three years after it bought Marvel, which has scored with hits like Iron Man and the Number Three box office champ of all time, The Avengers. Disney also owns animation powerhouse Pixar.
- Lucas, who launched LucasFilm in the mid-Seventies and achieved massive success with the first Star Wars film in 1977, plans to retire from the company and has turned it over to new president Kathleen Kennedy, previously Steven Spielberg's longtime producing partner.
- Lucas will not write or direct the new Star Wars movies but will serve as a creative consultant. The last one, Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith, came out in 2005.
- Lucas said in a statement, "For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next. It's now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I've always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime."