OMG!!!!! DISNEY BUYS LUCASFILM; EPISODE VII IN 2015

Television, Movies Games and Books Star Wars
#1

I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened…

Actually I’m not even sure if this is good news or bad news… but it certainly is big news that will keep the geeks talking for years to come… probably till 2015! The Hollywood Reporter has just confirmed that not only has Disney purchased Lucasfilm, a new film is slated for 2015! For the complete story you can read the full article below…

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/disney-buy-lucasfilm-405-billion-384448

Kathleen Kennedy, current co-chair of Lucasfilm, will become Lucasfilm’s president, reporting to Walt Disney Studios chair Alan Horn as part of stock and cash transaction.

The Walt Disney Company has acquired Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion in cash and stock and announced a new Star Wars movie to be released in 2015.

Kathleen Kennedy, current co-chair of Lucasfilm, will become Lucasfilm’s president, reporting to Walt Disney Studios chair Alan Horn as part of the stock and cash transaction. Disney is paying approximately half the price in cash and will issue 40 million shares of stock on Tuesday, the company said in a statement.
Kennedy will serve as executive producer on new Star Wars feature films, with the franchise’s creator and Lucasfilm founder George Lucas serving as creative consultant.
“For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next,” said Lucas, chairman and CEO of Lucasfilm, in a statement. “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.”
The deal comes on the heels of Disney’s 2009 acquisition of Marvel Entertainment and its 2006 purchase of Pixar Animation Studios, two potent entertainment brands that appeal to families. The Disney board already has approved the Lucasfilm acquisition but it is subject to antitrust scrutiny by the U.S. government.
While Lucas and Disney have had a long relationship, it has been most visible at the company’s theme parks, where Star Tours and other attractions have been popular for more than two decades.
However, the Stars Wars movies have been distributed through Twentieth Century Fox, which will now be cut out of future Star Wars and other related business. (Though Fox already has been set to release 3-D versions of the past Star Wars movies, it is unclear if that relationship will be impacted by the sale. The acquisition also raises questions about the future of Stars Wars: Clone Wars, a highly popular series on the Cartoon Network, which is owned by Disney’s competitor, Turner Broadcasting, a division of Time Warner.)
Disney also is acquiring Lucasfilm’s hugely profitable consumer products and merchandising businesses, which should be a good fit for the buyer.
“Lucasfilm reflects the extraordinary passion, vision, and storytelling of its founder, George Lucas,” said Bob Iger, Disney chairman and CEO, in a statement. “This transaction combines a world-class portfolio of content including Star Wars, one of the greatest family entertainment franchises of all time, with Disney’s unique and unparalleled creativity across multiple platforms, businesses, and markets to generate sustained growth and drive significant long-term value.”e!

#2

Just when the moderators put this into the non-active Franchises. BAM!!! SEAN SCREAM!!!

#3

I’m not exactly sure how to feel about this.

One one hand we have the fact that we’ll be getting more full length Star Wars movies which is awesome.

And on the other while I know Lucas wasn’t exactly making ‘the best’ (let’s just leave it at that) movies he could anymore nor did he plan on making more…I just don’t know if Disney is the one to be taking it over?

I guess the question to ask to that is “okay if not Disney then who would you want to take it over?” which I’ll admit I really don’t know either and never really thought about.

In the end let’s just hope Disney puts the right people in charge of Star Wars and it turns out great.

#4

I hope so too…and what in the blazes happened to that TV series for between ep 3 and 4 we were supposed to have?

This could open the door for a LOT of Star Wars stuff in all sorts of eras too though…Disney does have the $$ for it… Galactic Empire…meet the Evil Empire…

#5

Y’know, I read this in the media and immediately thot “WTF? No Way!!!”

But then, a revelation occurred. Disney made Tron Legacy. I, for one, enjoyed that immensely, and paid respect to the original (yes I know that was Disney too, but it was a different time…) without dumbing it down or “kiddifying” it too much.

Let’s not be too disturbed by lack of faith. Let’s see what 7 is like and then sh!tcan Disney if, and only it, it’s deserved. I’m looking forward to seeing what they can do.

I mean, really, who was responsible for the abomination called Jar Jar…it wasn’t Disney now, was it?

#6

This is pretty much what I’m thinking. Lucas will be kept around as a creative consultant, so let him continue to weave the story and give it to good directors and screenwriters. Disney also hasn’t had the bright idea to go through Fantasia or Bambi and make a bunch of changes. As far as I know, they’ve treated their classics with some respect. As long as they don’t pull that “back in the vault” crap with Star Wars stuff.

#7

My reaction was more of a checking the calendar thing. Not sure how I feel about Episode 7 considering my investment in the post-RotJ Extended Universe.

But as to whether Disney could do justice to more Star Wars movies, I point you to a little indy film that a few people watched this summer called The Avengers. :stuck_out_tongue:

#8

Hmmm … wording of some of the press release and investor conf. call verbiage leaves me wondering about 2015 date. Nothing definite, but I have sinking feeling this tentative date is the shiny toy to distract and appease.

Not sure what over/under will be but I’ll hazard a guess that 7 will release July 2016 … and the villagers will rejoice. So we’ll have 4 years to brace ourselves

OB

#9

My heart beat is running faster than a podracer engine. I don’t care who’s buying who. I’m just happy there will be more Star Wars. This is what George sort of intended back in 1976. To open the Star Wars saga to other artists. He thot it would be with books since he didn’t think Star Wars would make as much money as it did or become the mythic phenomenon that it did.

Now all they have to do is hire me to re-do the prequels and everything will be golden.

waiting by the phone

#10

Does this make Leia a Disney Princess?!?! :open_mouth:

:stuck_out_tongue:

#11

^^^ You just won the internet!

#12

Heyyyy…maybe those Star Wars shows at Disneyland were not a coincidence!

Hmmm conspiracy theory overload…

#13

Ps I’m with you 'talos. I don’t think this can be a bad thing.

#14

Found this on Twitter

#15

Let’s see, she’s fair skinned, dark hair, and only has one living parent.

I think she’s ALWAYS been a Disney princess.

#16

Just got out of a three day media black out, and I see this!!! Holy Fraking Shit on a stick! If this is a huge prank on me it is one of the best executed in history.

#17

Yays!!! :smiley:

#18

courtesy of io9

OB

#19

If I pray hard enough, do you think there is any hope that it would be an adaptation of the Thrawn Trilogy?

#20

Signs point to no.

Though hopefully they’ll set it between the current novels and Legacy and at least find a way to not have characters they don’t want in the movies without killing them. It would possibly invalidate Legacy without doing too much damage to everything else.

Second best option would be to set them after Hand Of Thrawn, so they wouldn’t be overwriting as much of the past.