And it cost $4 billion.
The buyout ranks among one of the largest ever made by Disney. It’s fourth behind the $19.7 billion, $7.6 billion and $5.2 billion buyouts of Capital Cities/ABC in 1995, Pixar in 2006 and Fox Family in 2001, respectively, says S&P Capital IQ. It tops the $3.96 billion Disney paid for Marvel in August 2009. . . .
“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.”
Kathleen Kennedy, co-chairman of LucasFilm, will report to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn.
The latest part of the Star Wars saga, Star Wars Episode 7 is targeted for a 2015 release.
So Episode 7 would take place after Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi are reconciled in Force Heaven, and Luke and Princess Leia realize they’re really siblings, etc., etc.?
Will we see an aged Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, and Mark Hamill in Episode 7, assuming they’re not dead or in rehab? What will be the nature of the new conflict? Who is the enemy? Will the empire strike back yet again? Did the emperor have a son, who will now assume command of the Empire given that Pops was tossed into that atomic garbage disposal? Or will a new threat to freedom arise, like a really bad American presidency?
We shall see May 25, 2015, when this wonderful 1970s white-hats-and-black-hats space western will once again be driven into the ground like a pile driver on crystal meth.
Josh Radke
October 30, 2012 at 5:12 PM
Hopefully they will base it on the Thrawn trilogy, which even Lucas himself said would have been a tremendous trilogy sequel to Ep6. Why didn’t he make it? Because he didn’t think of it first? (I don’t know reall.) But it is considered arguably the best trilogy of books in the vast library of post-ROJ canon
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Thrawn_Trilogy
As for actors.. I have a hard time watching Star Trek (2009) without seeing Chris Pine as a post-ROJ Jedi Master Luke Skywalker far easier than a younger Captain Kirk. So why not him to start
mike and brandy
October 30, 2012 at 5:13 PM
so, would it be wrong to ask why the ‘creative’ geniuses on Disney can’t screw up thier ‘own’ original ideas but, along with the rest of Hollywood and Movie makers these days, have to muck around with someone else’s? less about ‘furthering the story’ and more about ‘exploiting a proven winner’ to the safe-bet enrichment of their own pocketbooks.
pathetic. -mike
Anthony Sacramone
October 30, 2012 at 5:24 PM
“The trilogy follows the campaigns of Imperial Grand Admiral Thrawn, from the Destruction of the Elomin task force to the Battle of Bilbringi. It also recounts the efforts of the Dark Jedi Joruus C’baoth, and his efforts to claim Luke Skywalker, Leia Organa Solo, and her children as his apprentices.”
Two things to note:
1. These names are unpronounceable. “Dark Jedi Joruus C’baoth”? Is no one in the future just named Dan? (Also, in Scottish Gaelic, “baoth” means foolish or silly. Who’s going to be afraid of Dark Silly? Sounds like a Pee Wee Herman character.)
2. So Princess Leia took Han Solo’s name? Does NOW know about this?
ahnyerkeester
October 30, 2012 at 8:35 PM
Nope, the entire thing is Jar Jar Binks back story. Nothing but Jar Jar and the Binks family. Apparently it was in the contract. Lucas could be heard snickering manically as he signed it. Disney, as usual, was clueless.
Lars Walker
October 31, 2012 at 9:45 AM
Disney can’t screw the franchise up any more than Lucas himself has. Money has changed hands; jobs have been created. I’m OK with it.