For those of us who have been fans of both the Disney productions as well as the Star Wars franchise, here are some great news. Disney has now acquired Lucasfilm for a whopping sum of $4.05 billion. The company plans to create ‘Star Wars Episode 7’ by banking on this acquisition.
The deal has been rather neat and swift since Lucasfilm was formerly owned, in its entirety, by the founder of the company, George Lucas. Of the agreed $4.05 billion, Disney will be paying half the sum as cash and the rest of it as stock.
Lucasfilm is credited as the main company which was behind the creation of Star Wars, having released a number of Star Wars episodes over a long time.
According to George Lucas, “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. I’m confident that with Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy, and having a new home within the Disney organization, Star Wars will certainly live on and flourish for many generations to come. Disney’s reach and experience give Lucasfilm the opportunity to blaze new trails in film, television, interactive media, theme parks, live entertainment, and consumer products.”
Whereas Disney now have full ownership of Lucasfilm, the current co-chairman of Lucasfilm Kathleen Kennedy will continue to serve as president of the company and will report directly to Disney Chairman. It is under Kathleen’s lead that Disney hopes of creating the 7th episode of Star Wars, hoping to release it by 2015.
Source: Disney
Courtesy: All Things D
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Oh George, that is so kind of you to pass the franchise on to a new generation of hacks, err, I mean film makers.
Your altruism reflects in the fact that you took a meager 4.5 billion, not without, of course, having nearly destroyed the franchise with barely watchable sequels.
It was wise to take half in Disney stock, since the green paper involved in the cash part of the transaction is probably not worth the paper its printed on for much longer…