“Walt Disney Co has agreed to buy filmmaker George Lucas’s Lucasfilm Ltd and the ‘Star Wars’ franchise for $4.05 billion in cash and stock, a blockbuster deal that adds one of the most beloved franchises in entertainment history to Disney’s lineup,” Lisa Richwine and Ronald Grover report for Reuters.
“Disney said there would be a new series of ‘Star Wars’ feature films as part of the deal, with the first movie expected in 2015,” Richwine and Grover report. “Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger, in prepared remarks for analysts, said the plan was to release a new movie in the series every two to three years thereafter.”
Richwine and Grover report, “Lucas, a Hollywood icon known for exercising control over the most minute details of the fictional universe he created, will remain as a creative consultant. ‘It`s now time for me to pass ‘Star Wars’ on to a new generation of filmmakers,’ he said in a statement.”
MacDailyNews Note: Steve Jobs’ widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, is the largest individual holder of Disney shares.
Richwine and Grover report, “This deal marks the third time in less than seven years that Disney has signed a massive deal to take over a beloved studio or character portfolio, part of its strategy to acquire brands that can be stretched across TV, movies, theme parks and the Internet. In early 2006, Disney struck a deal to acquire ‘Toy Story’ creator Pixar, and in the summer of 2009 it bought the comic book powerhouse Marvel Entertainment.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Thank God for beards or George Lucas would have no discernible chin.
Oh, come on, you were thinking it, too.
The good news is that any future “Star Wars” movies can’t be much worse than the last three.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
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MDN, yes, bad.
Furthermore it was bought by Disney. Expect the 2015 movies to be just as wonky. Shit, if Elton is around, expect more singing of hope and wonder a Luke finds his aunt and uncle fried.
Too bad it won’t be directed by Scorsese. Now THAT would be an awesome Star Wars.
I would like Jaques Tati if he were alive, to direct one along the lines of … “Les Vacances de Monsieur Hulot.”
Crazy.
How long before Disney tries to close the Bay Area ops and force it to LA/Burbank? Doubt Iger would do it, but he’s not around forever.
WOO-HOO!
Whatever Disney does with Star Wars will probably suck, but it can’t suck *as much* as what George Lucas did to it in his later careeer. Seriously, after the original trilogy and for god only knows what reason he turned into the biggest hack in cinema history. And I’m including Uwe Boll and Ed Wood in that assessment.
Also, this likely means the unaltered original trilogy will FINALLY be restored and released on DVD and BluRay. Hell yes. If nothing else good comes of this at least there’s that.
Now that Lucas is not in control. Maybe Disney can hire this guy that made this short animation. Not an anime fan per se but this short clip beats the pants off episodes 1-3. Rumor has it Lucas saw it an immediately sent a Cease and Desist to keep him from completing it.
http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=XmhdCRW2zPU
I just hope Disney does not lower the star wars any further than they have gotten.
This is highly illogical.
Hey and now maybe Star Wars will come to iTunes
They had already licensed some of Star Wars properties. They have a Star Wars ride and you could by Star Wars toys and nick knacks for a long time. This will only expand.
why is this Mac news?
This is great new for fans, in theory at least. John Carter was a bit of a misstep.
There will be more films than just EP 7,8 and 9 and I really hope Knights of the Old Republic gets made in parallel or soon afterward.
As someone who as at times worked at all of the enterprises in question, my heart goes out to my friends at Lucasfilm and ILM who are soon to get the cold bitch-slap of ruthless corporate life. Good luck, guys.
Star Wars and Disney???
You got to be kidding me… They should not mention Disney in the same sentence as Star Wars. This is insane and I have a very bad feeling about this.