While the details won’t be known for a bit, there’s a thrill in knowing there’ll be more movies and more to write and talk about in the next couple of years when it comes to Star Wars. With the bombshell revelation yesterday, Lucas and Disney CEO Bob Iger are out and about chatting up people about things. There’s a very good 3 minute video below with Lucas and new Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy talking about their thoughts on it that is well worth watching.
When it comes to Iger, he makes things clear that they definitely have plans and are going to maximize it. Similar to what Lucas says in the video below, they “have a pretty extensive treatment of the next three movies,” chairman and CEO Bob Iger said. “Episode 7 will be released in 2015, the first under the Disney/Lucas banner,” he said, with Episode 8 and Episode 9 to follow. Disney plans to release a new Star Wars movie “every two to three years.”
“Being that there hasn’t been a Star Wars film since 2005, a lot of the value we attribute to the deal is to come,” added Rasulo. ”This gives us a great footprint in the consumer market, and we already had a good one,” said Iger of the licensing possibilities that the Star Wars franchise could represent for Disney.
“We love the fact that this will take its place in our live-action strategy as a known and loved brand,” said Iger of his newest property. “We really like Star Wars’ potential on TV, and Disney XD would be a great home for that.” He did not provide any more details about future Stars Wars TV shows. He added that that the deal “combines two of the strongest family entertainment brands in the world.”
Disney announced today that it would be purchasing LucasFilms for $4.05 billion. Half the consideration is in cash; the other half is in issuing approximately 40 million shares based on the company’s October 26 stock price. The company said it intends to buy back all the shares in the next two years. This purchase includes rights to the entire Star Wars franchise, Industrial Light + Magic and LucasSound. Unlike Disney’s $4 billion acquisition of Marvel in 2009, this deal comes with few limitations on the company’s use of the purchased properties like the Star Wars characters. “There are some encumbrances with the first Stars Wars films with Fox and some encumbrances with Indiana Jones with Paramount,” said Rasulo. Iger said that, while he “loves the franchise,” the Indiana Jones films were not a big factor in the deal because of Paramount’s rights to the franchise. Fox has no future distribution rights to any further Star Wars films, the execs said. [Via Deadline]
