No, you did not misread that. Nor is it an early April Fool’s joke. As told by various news outlets, Disney has acquired Lucasfilm Limited for $4.05 billion dollars in stock and cash. Disney has also announced that a trilogy of new Star Wars films will be released, starting in 2015, with George Lucas serving as creative consultant.
Where to begin? To be honest, I had no idea this was even on anyone’s agenda. You’d figure with news like this that there would have been rumors months prior to the announcement. But I didn’t hear or read anything. Do I think that this is a good idea? I’m not so sure. It’s good for Disney because they have another important IP under their belt, but I wonder why George Lucas decided to sell his production company. If you read about George Lucas, then you know that he values his freedom from Hollywood and the Hollywood system. (for reference, check out Skywalking, The Empire of Dreams, and The Cinema of George Lucas) In fact, he’s sort-of famous for stating that the reason that he never brought Lucasfilm public was because he didn’t want stockholders making the decisions about what Lucasfilm should produce. Considering he’s always fought for his freedom to make the films that he wants to make, it seems somewhat odd that he would give the reigns to someone else, let alone a big corporation. However, things change. My assumption is now that he’s older, maybe he wants to move on to other endeavors. It reminds me of when Bill Gates left Microsoft (day-to-day anyway) to pursue other interest (Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation). Though George Lucas is not leaving, I’m assuming that he won’t have a big of a role as he did in the past. Whatever the case, I wish him well.
I wonder where the Star Wars franchise will go from here? If Disney gives the same attention to Lucasfilm as they did to Marvel, then I’m sure there will be great things to come. Though I wonder what Episode 7 will be about because most fans consider Timothy Zahn’s excellent Thrawn trilogy to be Episodes 7,8 and 9. Disney has said that the upcoming movies will continue Luke Skywalker’s adventures. But I question where in the Star Wars canon this new trilogy could take place (with the multitude of books, comics and video games). There’s also a question of casting. Will Mark Hamil, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher reprise their iconic roles? (The better question would if they could reprise their roles) Or, will new actors need to be cast? Will we, the audience, accept new actors/actresses to play these roles? (Especially since the likeness of all the main characters is used in every Star Wars-related product) Only time will tell.
Anyway, that’s my two cents.
Disney press release: http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/disney-news/press-releases/2012/10/disney-acquire-lucasfilm-ltd
Call Conference: http://edge.media-server.com/m/p/c2nj5j33/lan/en
The Game Babbler 