The Walt Disney Company acquires Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion, Episode VII to come in 2015

The biggest news this year so far came today. The Walt Disney Company, after acquiring Pixar and Marvel in previous years has now acquired Lucasfilm Ltd. Disney paid $4.05 Billion for the company which also includes Industrial Light and Magic, and other Lucasfilm companies. Lucasfilm Ltd. owner George Lucas wanted to hand over the reigns to the Star Wars franchise to someone else and Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy, Steven Spielberg's longtime producer will be running the company with Lucas' consultation. Lucas and Disney have had history together with a theme park attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios and several toys appearing at Walt Disney World along with the annual Star Wars weekends. Disney President Bob Iger has said that they will focus on theme park attractions, television shows, toys and more. Lucasfilm Ltd. has very few restrictions unlike the deal with Marvel. The Indiana Jones franchise is also a Lucasfilm property, but Iger stated that they had no plans for that.

The biggest news that came from Iger and Lucas was the plans for Star Wars: Episode VII in 2015 (ten years after Episode III) along with Episodes VIII and IX, followed by Star Wars films every two to three years. This news was majorly shocking after Lucas has denied any interest in making or helping to develop Star Wars films anymore. Some fans have been angry at the film series being turned over to Disney but others are happy to see the franchise continue on. Anyways, I will have more analysis of this story later but for now this is the biggest news around town.