Disney buys Lucasfilm (and ILM and Skywalker Sound)

Disney buys Lucasfilm (and ILM and Skywalker Sound)

Really? I didn't see this coming. From Wired, ((In a move sure to shock fans of the Mouse House and George Lucas, the Walt Disney Company said Tuesday it has agreed to acquire Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion in cash and stock. The company also announced that it is prepping Star Wars: Episode 7 for release in 2015. ))

Why does it look like Lucas just sold his soul to the Devil?  (or Lucas:  "Now, I will never get to make that Willow 2 movie or Howard the Duck 2.")

While this is a total shock to me, it actually makes sense too. Lucas owned Pixar way back when it was a small FX company that did the FX shots for Genesis Planet computer stuff in Star Trek II.  It was sort of branch of ILM. Lucas sold it to Steve Jobs and Jobs sold it to Disney.  Now Disney owns Pixar and ILM.  And, they own all of Marvel Comics too.  Now that they own ILM, other studios have to pay ILM for their work. 

This is a shock because Lucas seemed to really be invested in ILM.  And, now he just gave it up.  Sure it was over 4 billion, but Lucas always felt he needed to make his own movies without studio interference, now he’s given it up to one of the biggest studios.  I guess Lucas was ready to walk away from it all.  Keep in mind that Star Wars is still a strong franchise.  The videogames still sell well and the TV show is amazing creatively. 

I remember reading that he was done with the Star Wars franchise, but this is taking it too far. Granted, Disney does have hands off approach when it comes to its other companies. And, this is NOT Fox he's selling his companies to. Disney has some deep pockets and it might help bring some good talent to the franchises under Disney's rule.

From EW Insider, ((Veteran producer Kathleen Kennedy, who recently became co-chairman of Lucasfilm, will become the studio’s president, reporting to Disney studios chairman Alan Horn. She will executive produce the future Star Wars films, with Lucas serving as a creative consultant. In a video released by Disney (and embedded below), Lucas says he and Kennedy have already been working on future Star Wars films with unspecified writers. ))

Basically, Lucas will be taking a backseat to the new SW movies. I hope. When he isn't involved as much, we get Empire Strikes Back, Clone Wars and the Old Republic VGs. When he does interfere, we get IJ4. And, it's probably a good idea for Lucas to take up charity work.

But, you have to give Disney credit for dropping the bombshell that they're making another Star Wars movie.

Now, does this mean Jar-Jar will be in the next Kingdom Hearts movie?

Sora, Messa going to help you.  Okay-Day?