Disney And Lucasfilms Unite

I waited a few days to comment on the acquisition of Lucasfilm by Disney. It is surely appropriate and it places Disney in an enviable position. But then Disney has always show the rest how to do it.

My own experiences were hardly unique, but that during the sixties and seventies I was an avid reader of science fiction and was completely aware of the visual potential of the genre and particularly the material of Tolkein and EE Doc Smith. I had lost faith even that I would ever see it on screen.

At the same time, Hollywood culture was decisively anti science fiction itself. The exceptions merely proved the rule. Kubrick's 2001 was the only bright light in decades of crummy attempts to apply the art.

In the months before Star Wars was released, I read in the specialist media that this was worth it and that got me out to the early morning preview showing. You have no idea how unusual that was in the time and place.

With the first scene it was obvious that Lucas had succeeded in capturing our imaginations. From that day on I knew that the whole body of science fiction and ultimately fantasy could be put on the screen. There would be to end to quality content either. This evolving emergence has now culminated in the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Today it may be history, but with the top grossing forty or so films of all time been out of this genre and with the dominant franchise been Star Wars, the combination of Disney and Lucasfilm is inevitable almost and it certainly means a stream of great product forever.

Disney buys Star Wars Film Franchise and will make More Episodes and George Lucas will consult

OCTOBER 30, 2012

http://nextbigfuture.com/2012/10/disney-buys-star-wars-film-franchise.html

Disney is buying Lucasfilm for $4 billion, adding the legendary Star Wars franchise to the entertainment giant's stable of characters. The latest part of the Star Wars saga, Star Wars Episode 7 is targeted for a 2015 release. 

"For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next," said George Lucas, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lucasfilm, in a statement. "It's now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers."

The statement about passing onto a new generation of filmmakers seems to imply that George will not be involved in Episode 7. Disney buying the franchise means that they will produce far more episodes and more will be produced so long as they are profitable. If they are ever unprofitable then they will reboot the universe and keep going.

LA Times - Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger said today that the long-range plan would be to release a new “Star Wars” film every two to three years.

Lucasfilm founder George Lucas will act as a creative consultant for the next film.

Disney will take ownership of Lucasfilm and acquire the entire portfolio of Lucasfilm technologies, as well as its franchises like Indiana Jones.

The Lucasfilm tech includes products like THX sound and divisions like Industrial Light and Magic and Skywalker Sound, and a bunch of other cool toys that Disney will also acquire. Digital artist Joe Rosensteel notes that this is a reunion of sorts because ILM got the Renderman animation software from Pixar back when it was a division of ILM, now they’re back under one roof at the Mouse House.

Jay Rasule, Senior EVP and CFO of Walt Disney, says that the $4.05B valuation focused “almost entirely on the financial potential of the Star Wars franchise, which we expect to provide us with a stream of storytelling opportunities for years to come delivered via all relevant platforms on a global basis.”

Rasule says that Star Wars is currently very North America-centric and focused on toys. He says that they plan to extend the franchise into ‘other categories’ and grow it internationally. He notes that the licensing revenue of Star Wars alone in 2012 was comparable to the $214M in product revenue Marvel generated in 2009.

In an interview with The Times in 2008, George Lucas said that his personal connection to the “Star Wars” saga ended with the Ewoks on Endor.

Star Wars’: Three new movies, Lucas won’t write or direct

Oct. 30, 2012

http://herocomplex.latimes.com/2012/10/30/star-wars-three-new-movies-lucas-wont-write-or-direct/

“There really isn’t any story to tell there,” the filmmaker said at the time of prospects for his participation in the movie life of the franchise beyond the tale-concluding events in “Return of the Jedi.”

“I get asked all the time, ‘What happens after “Return of the Jedi”?,’ and there really is no answer for that,” Lucas continued. “The movies were the story of Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker, and when Luke saves the galaxy and redeems his father, that’s where that story ends.”

The Walt Disney Co. announced today that it’s agreed to acquire Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion, and word quickly followed that there are plans in place for not one but three new “Star Wars” movies, the first of which will arrive in theaters in 2015. Lucas, however, will only serve as a “creative consultant” and will not write or direct.

“It’s true, I’m not going to do any more,” Lucas said today in a video released with the Disney Co. announcement of the deal, which will give Disney ownership of the “Star Wars” franchise and Lucas’ special effects, sound and animation companies.

In the video, Lucas said that he has story treatments for Episodes Seven, Eight and Nine in the space opera and that he was going to hand that “treasure trove” of intellectual property over to Lucasfilm’s Kathleen Kennedy, who will serve as executive producer on the upcoming seventh live-action movie in the blockbuster franchise.

“We are absolutely going to make ‘Star Wars’ movies,” Kennedy said, using the plural, in the video.