
Disney to Acquire Lucasfilm Ltd. - antr
http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/disney-news/press-releases/2012/10/disney-acquire-lucasfilm-ltd
======
robbiet480
This means that Disney now controls Marvel, Pixar, LucasArts, ABC, ESPN, A+E,
Disney Channel plus all their own original content and of course the parks and
merchandising rights for everything stated above. Those businesses most likely
control the top 10 film franchises of the last few years. This is a pretty
insane acquisition.

~~~
tectonic
Therefore, it should be noted that they directly, or via tacit gatekeeping,
have a huge amount of influence on our public dialog and cultural messaging.

~~~
tptacek
Marvel, Pixar, LucasArts, ABC, ESPN, A+E, Disney Channel, and associated
merchandising. I'm not sure how much "control" over our "public dialog" this
really implies. I'm the parent of two very normal middle aged children and,
while they're certainly exposed to some of this IP, I'd contest that it has
much "influence" over them.

Google has much more control over our public dialog than Disney does.

~~~
evolve2k
I was personally deeply shocked recently, when I sat with my children as they
were watching the animated Iron Man series at their grandpas house. This was
on Sunday morning TV. The episode was about other 'bad' characters stealing
Iron Mans suit. I was alarmed when the dialog turned explicitly to talk of
Patents and how evil it was that they were infringing Iron Mans designs. As I
continued to watch it dawned on me that the whole episode was just one big
propaganda piece.

Disneys dialog is present, right beneath our noses.

Best link to relevant episode:
<http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armor_Wars#section_5>

~~~
tptacek
Two responses.

(i) Millions of kids saw that episode and went on to pirate movies and music
anyways, because kids don't really derive their ethics from cartoon series,
just like you & I aren't secretly animated by "Knowing is Half The Battle"
from G.I. Joe. (<http://www.joeheadquarters.com/joeendings.shtml>)

(ii) The particular message you're suggesting Iron Man is "propagandizing" is
so anodyne that it was the subject of a whole episode of _Arthur_ on PBS.

~~~
a3_nm
> Millions of kids saw that episode and went on to pirate movies and music
> anyways, because kids don't really derive their ethics from cartoon series

The point of such propaganda would not be to ensure that people don't pirate,
but to plant the idea that doing so is morally bad, so that lobbying efforts
in favor of IP protection laws seem morally legitimate.

~~~
tptacek
Then the evil forces of Disney are in league with PBS to deliver that message.

~~~
smokeyj
"It's cool guys, Arthur supports IP too."

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padobson
Disney paid $4B for Lucasfilm.

Six years ago, they paid $7B for Pixar.[1]

Pixar used to be a subsidiary of Lucasfilm.

This means that John Lasseter is now going to have control of all of the
assets that allowed him to get into making movies in the first place.

[1]<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixar#Acquisition_by_Disney>

~~~
edgesrazor
Let's not forget they paid that 7 billion in 2006. I can almost see this as
Disney trying to replace the eye for talent and negotiating power they lost in
Steve Jobs' passing, along with an amazing IP acquisition.

Edit: Thought of better terms than "creative force".

~~~
bonzoesc
Steve Jobs wasn't ever really a "creative force" at Disney.

~~~
pooriaazimi
So true, but somehow a lot of people don't know it. He was just a facilitator
at Pixar. A _damn good facilitator_ , one who made it all happen, but still he
wasn't Pixar's visionary (like he was Apple's). Lasseter deserves all the
credit for that part.

~~~
taligent
Actually you're wrong on that part. Steve was the visionary.

He was the one who saw Pixar as being a brand (i.e. a modern day Disney)
rather than just an anonymous studio. Kids are buying and trusting the Pixar
brand not the Disney brand. So to be able to set that all up (e.g. equal
billing) required a vision for what the company could be.

Steve was responsible for Pixar. John was responsible for Pixar's movies.

~~~
joezydeco
Um, didn't the real history go slightly differently?

Steve Jobs invested in Pixar because of the _hardware_. When that didn't fly,
the shorts and commercials being done by Lasseter (that paid the bills) turned
into a gamble to make a full-length movie. This whole "branding" thing didn't
come until the first movie was a success.

~~~
lifeisstillgood
I would suggest that visionary is never having the prediction of exactly how
it will turn out but having the faith that this is the right direction and the
details will resolve in time

~~~
barrkel
You make "visionary" sound equivalent to "simpleton".

~~~
Swizec
The difference between visionary and simpleton is the scale of money involved.

------
ROFISH
> _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._

This is effectively Lucas' slow decent into retirement; he's not actively
directing Episode 7 but instead consulting. Say what you want about the movies
and franchises, ILM and Skywalker Sound are gold standards created by a tech
visionary.

~~~
2mur
I hope they are doing the Thrawn trilogy.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thrawn_trilogy>

~~~
theootz
My thoughts exactly when hearing of the news, but I doubt it'd actually happen
:( They'd probably have to get rights from Zahns publisher or Dark Horse or
whomever owns it, I'd think. I don't think this purchase counts as an umbrella
IP grab for all offshoots too?

~~~
dripton
If they can afford Lucasfilm, they can surely afford to license Zahn's books.
(Assuming Lucasfilm didn't already have the right to film them, which they
might, if they thought to insert the right language into the book contracts.)

Whether they want to is another question.

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robbiet480
Star Wars Episode 7 will come out in 2015. They also acquired all of the
assets including Indiana Jones, Star Wars, ILM, LucasArts and Skywalker Sound

~~~
antr
I'm no media/film expert, but this sounds like a great acquisition for Disney.
The current library/brands and Disney's distribution can squeeze any cash left
from past movies/brands. Going forward this can be a true money-printing
machine. Lets just hope they acknowledge the internet is the retail
distribution channel of today.

Also, funny how life works. Pixar, a spin-off of Lucasfilm back in the 90's
"acquires" Lucasfilm. Am I right in saying that Disney's movie division is
headed/managed by the Pixar guys?

~~~
stcredzero
What about a Pixar animated Star Wars movie?

~~~
rsync
1\. Get off my lawn

2\. Die in a Fire

~~~
stcredzero
_> 1\. Get off my lawn_

Hey that's my line. I've been coding for 32 years.

------
brudgers
For those fretting the future, it will be hard for Disney to fuck up the
franchise more than Lucas did with _The Phantom Menace._

[http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-wars/star-wars-
episo...](http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-wars/star-wars-
episode-1-the-phantom-menace/)

~~~
leeskye
Hope they chose an awesome director for episode 7:
[http://www.businessinsider.com/five-directors-disney-
should-...](http://www.businessinsider.com/five-directors-disney-should-ask-
to-make-star-wars-episode-7-2012-10)

~~~
MartinCron
That's a great list. Although I think that Brad Bird would be a natural choice
as well.

~~~
kin
Brad Bird would be amazing. He did great with MI4.

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MrFoof
This now means that Princess Leia is a Disney Princess.

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greedo
Maybe now we'll see a BluRay version of ANH where Han shoots first...

~~~
nemo1618
That brings up a good point. Die-hard Star Wars fans have been begging
Lucasfilm to release the "unspecial" editions of the original trilogy for many
years. IIRC Lucasfilm claims the original negatives were permanently altered
when the special editions were made...but certainly no editor could be so
careless? It's possible the original negatives still exist and Disney will
eventually release them.

Further watching: <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1325014/>

~~~
lmm
If nothing else there are still high-quality laserdisc copies of the original;
I believe there's a DVD-quality rip therof on the internets.

~~~
acuozzo
LFL released the original-unaltered-trilogy in 2006 as bonus DVDs to stand
alongside the 2004 releases of the Special Editions. They used the D1 Maser
Tapes created for the 1993 Definitive Collection laserdisc set, so they're
(technically) better than the aforementioned laserdiscs.

With that being said, the image quality suffers from horrible smearing caused
by 1993-era DVNR and colors are severely desaturated. Furthermore, the release
was rushed and reeks of an inexperienced restoration team. For more
information, see: <http://savestarwars.com/gout.html>

It is held by many to be the worst DVD release of all time.

------
joshmlewis
$4 Billion and it's 100% owned by George Lucas.

Does anyone know if that 100% is literal? That he didn't give away ANYTHING,
even for a pool for employees?

~~~
esurc
The 100% ownership is literal. From the press release: "The agreement has been
approved by the sole shareholder of Lucasfilm."

~~~
esurc
I suppose that, in theory, he could have given away non-voting shares to some
of his employees over time. But then I would have expected the press release
to specify that he was the sole voting shareholder, rather than "the sole
shareholder."

~~~
pmjordan
I don't really know much about the movie business, but my understanding is
that new companies are incorporated for each individual movie project. The
investors (of cash, franchise IP, or time) receive shares in _that movie's_
corporation. Presumably the profits are then paid out as dividends, or the
company is dissolved, and assets are distributed. That would explain why
George Lucas never suffered any dilution on Lucasfilm, which presumably is
just a shell whose main purpose is ownership of the various franchises and
holding shares in the various sub-companies.

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mixmastamyk
Wow, didn't see it coming, but this old comic comes to mind:

[http://www.condenaststore.com/-sp/The-Final-Merger-New-
Yorke...](http://www.condenaststore.com/-sp/The-Final-Merger-New-Yorker-
Cartoon-Prints_i8479117_.htm)

On the scripting-side, this should create one of the bigger if not biggest
Python house(s). Disney was converting to it when I left (many years ago) and
ILM is a known proponent... their whole pipeline from front to back is
accessible from it.

Episode 7? First I've heard of it. _crosses fingers_.

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mariusmg
It means they bought LucasArts too. Not that LucasArts were great in the last
decade or so but Disney sucks as a "parent" for game dev companies (RIP
Blackrock).

~~~
rsync
On the other hand, a pixar-enhanced reboot of DOTT ... now you're talking ...

~~~
MartinCron
Or Grim-Fandango HD for iOS. A man can dream, right?

~~~
zachinglis
Look what I just read:
[http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2012/04/pixar-d%C3%AD...](http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/movies/2012/04/pixar-d%C3%ADa-
de-los-muertos-film.html)

Grim Fandango the movie, anyone?

~~~
MartinCron
That is so cool. Thank you for sharing.

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unwiredben
Three words that scare me: "Disney's Star Wars"

(for context, note that they've been explicitly tagging their name on all
their kids fare, especially stuff based on public domain or historical
sources)

~~~
bobwise
Like with "Disney's The Avengers"?

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demione
Wonder if they'll get a seasoned director for Star Wars 7, or if they'll go
with a controllable newcomer like Sony did with Amazing Spider Man.

~~~
m_d
As much as the idea of Ep. 7 pains me, I wouldn't mind seeing Brad Bird direct
it. He took another classic franchise that I had grown to hate (Mission:
Impossible), and made it fun again. He also has close ties to Disney/Pixar.

~~~
macspoofing
I thought M:I Ghost Protocol was pretty mediocre. To each his own.

~~~
MartinCron
M:I Ghost Protocol was probably the most cartoonish thing that Brad Bird has
done. I recently re-watched The Incredibles and... yeah, I can totally see him
making a redemptive Episode VII.

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tobiasbischoff
George lucas sells Pixar to Jobs. He sells it to Disney and becomes largest
single shareholder. Jobs fam now owns a part of Lucasfilm. Crazy.

------
chiph
When to cash-out, a Jedi knows.

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ekianjo
Robot Chicken was right. We ARE going to get Star Wars Musicals. Oh Dear.

~~~
cincinnatus
Already happened in Japan.

~~~
ekianjo
Where/when ? I'd be curious to see something about that :)

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apgwoz
All I wanna know is whether or not Lucas signed first.

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wslh
I want a remake of the first three episodes.

They were a shame for fans. The best one was "the empire strikes back" and it
was not directed by George Lucas.

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ISL
Perhaps now, Han can go back to shooting first?

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kruk
It's hard to understand body language without knowing the person well but on
all pictures I've seen it looks like Lucas's left hand is trying to stop his
right hand from signing the contract. It would seem he might have been
hesitant about the deal.

------
talmand
All I want to know is if this means the possibility of a Tie Fighter remake
from LucasArts.

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stevewilhelm
A Donald and Howard buddy flick can now be finally realized. Well worth four
billion ducks.

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kappaknight
...for the price of 4 Instagrams.

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dllthomas
Makes good sense to me. Who knows more about milking overstretched and
outdated IP?

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jemeshsu
This must have something to do with the upcoming Angry Birds Star Wars.

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OWaz
I'd be happy if Disney released LucasArts games on some distribution platform.
Being able to own those games without having to resort to torrents would be
great.

------
AutoCorrect
Monopoly & Anti-Trust concerns, anyone?

~~~
pla3rhat3r
If it were some other industry other than movies I would be concerned. Disney
is building themselves up to be a competitor to Universal.

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Uchikoma
Jar Jar Binks and Donald Duck. How fitting.

~~~
ginko
How is this fitting? Donald Duck is a great character. Duck comics still go
strong over here in Europe.

~~~
malandrew
How about Howard the Duck? How did he do in Europe?

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cjrandolph
Wonder if this might have any effect on Google/Motorola's licensing of the
Droid trademark from Lucasfilm?

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snikch
I have a bad feeling about this.

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pla3rhat3r
Awesome! Finally a way to mash my two favorite things, musical numbers and
Star Wars!

------
beebs93
Wow, flannel George..really? I hope he's wearing flip-flops, too ;)

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jamesjguthrie
Awesome, Episode 7. Think I might watch 5 and 6 again soon.

~~~
xvolter
I think the point is that Disney will be behind the movies now. As a fan, I am
more in fear of horrible, time wasting movies, Disney is known for making
sequels to just try and make some extra money out of a series. Star Wars is a
jackpot for that. While some more honorable fans will not see the movies, most
fans will regardless because they have to at least see the new movies
otherwise they wouldn't be fans anymore.

~~~
jamesjguthrie
I'm hopeful that through Disney the series will get an awesome reboot. Look
how good the Marvel Comics movies have been since the Disney acquisition in
2009.

(Iron Man 2, Captain America, The Avengers all awesome)

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bhanks
Are they really going to be making other star wars movies?

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adis1_ch
hope they don't lead STAR WARS the 'JOHN CARTER ' way. Let John Lasseter and
the rest of PIXAR team handle LUCASFILMS

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bcks
Rise of the Planet of the Binks

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psycho
Wow, got gooseflesh on reading this news.

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CoachRufus87
Monopoly?

------
speedyrev
Jar Jar Disney Christmas

~~~
illuminate
Hey, it's happened before.

<http://www.rifftrax.com/rifftrax/star-wars-holiday-special>

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Zenst
I would of thought more people on this planet know more about star wars than
they do facebook. Yet Facebook valued at 100bn (initialy) and Lucasfilm valued
at 4bn and like many people the response was thats low.

Lets look at it another way - do a google search for star wars and then
facebook and notice the number of results:

star wars: About 420,000,000 results (0.21 seconds)

facebook: About 20,570,000,000 results (0.17 seconds)

Now if you get (100/fb results)* star wars results you get a value of around 2

So with that you could say if facebook was overvalued at twice its value then
you can say that lucasfilm is worth 4bn, or at least argue that as a price.

Personaly I would of thought that had Lucasfilm ran a share sale, then the
value would of been alot more, just from fans collecting a share certificate
for there star wars collection alone. Now they can own a Disney share and feel
all dirty I suppose somehow.

Either way when you sell a company directly, I tend to see low ball prices in
consumer valuations of the company. Now if you sell it as shares or are
flavour of the month and can get silly offers, the prices seems to be over
consumer valuations. Though even after this news, the share price has not
changed much and still values Disney at around 90bn.

~~~
msprague
Since when does popularity substantially determine share valuation?

~~~
Zenst
Supply and demand and fashion have there cross overs. RIM share price has
certainly been influenced by public opinion, depite some good sales/figures at
times that counter the drops. Self forfilling prophecy that one.

Facebook being another classic, share price based more upon popularity. New
startups all the time get snapped up on initial fashion popularity. Nothing is
clear cut, should be but it is not. If some stars suddendly endorse a product
does it make the product better, may help sales may not but the share price
will rise before those sales based upon expectations. So in many ways
popularity be it directly or indirectly effects all share price valuations,
markets are so volatile by being so twitch dynamicly fast that it is more a
direct factor upon share price than it was in years past.

