Disney Is Buying Lucasfilm for $4 Billion

Disney Buying Lucasfilm for $4 Billion

"Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive, said the company plans to release a seventh Star Wars feature film in 2015, with new films in the series coming every two or three years after that. Mr. Lucas will be a consultant."

"Jay Rasulo, the company’s chief financial officer, said Disney’s financial calculations in agreeing to the purchase Lucasfilm were driven almost entirely by the potential of the Star Wars series, which already has a place in the Disney theme parks. Mr. Rasulo said Lucasfilm’s licensing revenue comes mostly from toys and heavily from North America. Disney, he said, is positioned to extend the licensing business to other products and to strengthen it internationally."
Disney's acquisition of Star Wars, okay technically Lucasfilm (but really, how interested are they in Howard the Duck), has been on their to do list for at least fifteen years.

Reader comment:

Disney has an all consuming corporate identity. IBM and Mitsubishi can only stand in awe, of the devotion that the lowest Sanitation Cast Member at Disney Parks feels about how well he performs his job. To say nothing about the upper echelons manning the ramparts of Fort Mickey.

Pretty much the first thing on their minds every morning is, WWWD. And Walt loved Science Fiction. Absolutely loved it. Disney has been desperate for a science fiction franchise for years. 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea...big success. Everything else? Well...

The Flubber movies turned a modest profit, so did the Witch Mountain movies.

But the rest is a march of failure. Tron, Black Hole, The Rocketeer (it has the 1991 version of Jennifer Connelly, so go see it anyway), Flight of the Navigator, Stepsister from Planet Weird, the rest aren't even worth mentioning.

Then came the last eighteen months, Tron Legacy (in terms of boxoffice take, no question, it was), Mars Needs Moms (domestic gross 21 million, production costs 150 million, so not roaring success either) and topping out this trifecta of box office dynamite. John Carter... which, ur...'Under Performed,' and got the head of production fired.

Okay time for Plan B

Plan B was James Cameron's Pandora. Which means dealing with James Cameron. What fun!

But very necessary, Disney needs a Science Fiction franchise. They can't really do without one. Disney's all consuming corporate identity demands it. And there some secondary reasons. Merchandising is not a minor thing at Disney, they can hype, build it and move it, like nobody else.

Then there is there is Disney World.

Animal Kingdom at Disney World can only run for half a day, everyday because the Cast Members are animals and can't perform longer than that. Unlike a standard zoo, Animal Kingdom has designed everything to make the animals perform without any real coercion. The Komodo Dragons have heated rocks they lay on. The tigers take it in shifts, each shift over marking the other shifts territory. It works brilliantly and it's a real problem for Disney World. One they can't do much about. Unless you aren't using real animals. Cameron's Pandora filled the bill nicely. They had him touring Animal Kingdom at Disney World, planning Pandora on Earth. Barsoom would have worked better but, sadly...

However there was plan C. Disney Parks has developed a strong relationship with (no not George Lucas but with) Star Wars fans. (1, 2). Over the last twenty years Disney has developed a huge relationship with Star Wars fans, the real driving force behind the success of Star Wars.

Now however for the paltry sum of four billion, all of Disney's problems are solved. And they don't have to deal with James Cameron.