• Disney to Buy Lucasfilm for $4.05 Billion

    // Gradly // Acquisition, blog, Disney, Movies, News, Pixar No Responses

    Disney to Buy Lucasfilm for $4.05 Billion

    Disney to Buy Lucasfilm for $4.05 Billion

    It seems like Darth Vader and Micky Mouse will soon become colleagues, after Disney’s $4.05 billion purchase of Lucasfilm deal is finalized.

    Disney will acquire Lucasfilm from its founder George Lucas for $4.05 billion, the company announced on Tuesday, Oct. 30. Disney will pay about half of the deal in cash and issue about 40 million shares.

    Disney also announced plans to make a new Star Wars movie called “Episode 7” to be released in 2015, probably followed by Episode 8 and 9. In a statement regarding the matter, George Lucas, chairman and CEO of Lucasfilm, said:

    “For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next, it’s now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I’ve always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime. I’m confident that with Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy, and having a new home within the Disney organization, Star Wars will certainly live on and flourish for many generations to come. Disney’s reach and experience give Lucasfilm the opportunity to blaze new trails in film, television, interactive media, theme parks, live entertainment and consumer products.”

    George Lucas owns 100 percent of Lucasfilm, the company behind the Star Wars franchise and the Indiana Jones movies. After the deal is finalized, he will become Disney’s second largest shareholder and will remain on board as a creative consultant.

    Lucasfilm purchase is Disney fourth largest purchase. Disney purchased Capital Cities/ABC in 1995 for $19.7 billion, Pixar in 2006 for $7.6 billion, and Fox Family in 2001 for $5.2 billion.

  • George Lucas really believes the World will End in 2012!

    // Gradly // blog, Conspiracies, Gossips, Rants & Raves 1 Response

    If you’re a celebrity who owns a fantastical ranch full of spaceship paraphernalia, chances are you have a passing relationship with reality, anyway. Unfortunately, it turns out George Lucas and reality are barely even acquaintances, as Seth Rogen just revealed that Mr. Lucas allegedly holds a sincere belief in Mayan apocalypse lore. Funnier yet: Steven Spielberg is pretty annoyed about it.

    In a new Toronto Sun article, Rogen explains that a meeting with Lucas and Spielberg soured once the subject turned to Mayan calendar drama.

    “George Lucas sits down and seriously proceeds to talk for around 25 minutes about how he thinks the world is gonna end in the year 2012, like, for real. He thinks it.

    “He’s going on about the tectonic plates and all the time Spielberg is, like, rolling his eyes, like, ‘My nerdy friend won’t shut up, I’m sorry…’

    “I first thought he (Lucas) was joking… and then I totally realized he was serious and then I started thinking, ‘If you’re George Lucas and you actually think the world is gonna end in a year, there’s no way you haven’t built a spaceship for yourself… So I asked him… ‘Can I have a seat on it?’

    “He claimed he didn’t have a spaceship, but there’s no doubt there’s a Millennium Falcon in a garage somewhere with a pilot just waiting to go… It’s gonna be him and Steven Spielberg and I’ll be blown up like the rest of us.”

    Jar-jarring stuff. But, not so surprising, right? I’m sure he sleeps in a Brian Wilson sandbox full of moon rocks, too. Authenticity is important in a sci-fi auteur!

    [via: torontosun]