Disney announced today that it has acquired Lucasfilm in a $4.05 billion dollar deal. Also mentioned in the press release is the intent to release Star Wars Episode VII in 2015, with Episodes VIII and IX following. Here are a few important quotes from the press release.
“For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next,” said George Lucas, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lucasfilm. “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.”
Based on that quote from George Lucas, we can expect to see a huge amount of new Star Wars material in the future. Of particular interest is the mention of theme parks. Disney parks already have the Star Tours ride, could this acquisition lead to entire Star Wars sections of parks?
From Robert A. Iger, chairman and CEO of the Walt Disney Company:
In 2015, we’re planning to release Star Wars Episode 7 – the first feature film under the “Disney-Lucasfilm” brand. That will be followed by Episodes 8 and 9 – and our long term plan is to release a new Star Wars feature film every two to three years. We’re very happy that George Lucas will be creative consultant on our new Star Wars films and that Kathleen Kennedy, the current Co-Chair of Lucasfilm, will executive produce.
We already mentioned the announcement of Episodes 7 – 9, and here we see the beginnings of Lucas’ involvement in this new trilogy. In addition to this statement, StarWars.com has posted a video to YouTube of George Lucas discussing the future of Star Wars films. He says, “I have story treatments of 7, 8 and 9, and a bunch of other movies.” This could mean that the long term plans of a new Star Wars film every two to three years doesn’t just mean Episodes 7 – 9, but plans for films going on much further than that. Pablo Hidalgo of Lucasfilm has a post on the Star Wars Blog discussing when he heard the news of this new trilogy that is definitely worth a read.
This is very big news for Star Wars and there are currently a lot of unknowns. What does this mean for the Expanded Universe? Will Del Rey and Dark Horse Comics keep the licenses, or for example, could Marvel soon be producing Star Wars comics again? Will The Clone Wars continue on Cartoon Network or move over to a Disney network such as Disney XD? What about the live-action television show that has been in the works? Answers to these questions will likely arise in the coming weeks and months and EUCantina.net will work hard to keep everyone informed. It’s also important to remember, while there are many unknowns at the moment, there is a lot to be excited about. Lucas making sure that Star Wars will be able to continue into future generations can only be described as a good thing.
[Walt Disney Company Press Release]
Brian joined EUCantina in 2012 as a news reporter. He saw the Original Trilogy when he was so young that he can’t even remember the first time he saw them. His earliest EU memory is listening to audio books of the Jedi Academy trilogy with his family, and since then he has gotten his hands on as much EU material as he can, loving the novels, comics and video games. 
Although new blood at the helm of Star Wars is a good thing. I do have two fears; one is that the EU could be in jeopardy. The second being the risk that Disney could run our beloved galaxy far, far away into the ground for the sake of a buck ( i.e. Pirates of the Caribbean IV). Granted that Disney & Marvel have had success; keep in mind how the original works were “tweaked” for the big screen.
I feel like it’s extremely likely that the EU is going to end up hit pretty hard by this. I’m planning on writing up a column on my thoughts about how this is going to affect the EU once I’ve had some time to let things settle in my brain.
The overall smoothness of the Marvel acquisition is what gives me a lot of hope that this can go well. Back when that happened I was worried that Marvel comics would end up with crazy Disney oversight and editing and it doesn’t look like that’s happened. As long as Disney keeps letting Lucasfilm do it’s thing, and from the press release it sounds like that’s the plan at the moment, then I think we can look forward to some exciting new films and other things.
The EU has been set free! First all the admitting of it being it’s own universe, now this- it all makes sense to me. YAY!
Well, I’m personally disappointed. I had kind of hoped that Lucasfilm would mature into a privately owned company with the kind of patience, money, and commitment to preserve and stoke the EU into a sophisticated and fun universe in multiple media without the existential pressure to squeeze every last living cent out of it… So much for that.
I’m pretty sure now that “our” EU as we know it has just become “history,” both as a living entity and as an artistic product. We probably won’t see much more (any?) development past what’s already been announced for the next 1-2 years and I’m hopeful that the existing EU can be used as a historical base for what comes next. Pablo Hidalgo’s recently released compilation thus unintentionally has become a beautiful memorial to this almost 3 decade universe.
While speculation will be rampant, I’m hoping they start new trilogy work after FOTJ. It’s perfect. You have the upcoming novel wrapping up the “Big Three,” lots of progency with famous names (Skywalker, Solo, etc), and at least a century or so before established work in the Legacy comics. So my hope is that this blank century becomes their playground. Of course, they’ll probably just put it right after the movies, “reboot” the franchise, and blow up the whole EU (sigh). Again, let’s hope.