Disney and Lucasfilm: The Magic Empire?

By James Guil

Last week, fans of the epic Star Wars franchise were shocked to discover that George Lucas and Disney had come to an agreement that saw Disney buy LucasFilm Ltd for $4.05 Billion. The terms of the deal saw Disney pay half of that amount in cash and the other half in stock purchased at the October 26th share price.

In addition to the announcement of the purchase of LucasFilm Ltd., Disney also announced that it would release a new Star Wars film in 2015. According to reports, Episode VII will be released in 2015 with Episodes VIII and IX to follow every two to three years.

As you may remember, the last Star Wars movie to be released was Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith. The film was the final of the prequel trilogy. The upcoming films by Disney will be sequels to the classic trilogy, known as Episode IV, V, and VI.

Disney also discuss the potential of the Star Wars franchise on television. Disney CEO Bob Iger said that “We really like Star Wars’ potential on TV, and Disney XD would be a great home for that.” No further details have been released about the film.

Now that Episode VII is officially a go, now begins the speculation as to whether any of the original cast will take part in the film. Also, nothing has been released on how the storyline will proceed.

Many books that dealt with the aftermath of Return of the Jedi saw Luke go forward and train a new generation of Jedi. George Lucas has his own vision for the films and has said that Episodes VII, VIII, and IX were supposed to be the best of the franchise. Whether that vision will be used is unknown.

Speculation is also rampant on who will direct the films. Just about every famous director has been floated for the project, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon.

Whedon has a track record with iconic films. At one time he was tied to the rumored upcoming Wonder Woman live action film. He left the project and went on to direct The Avengers, a film that became the third highest-grossing film of all time.

Over the next few months, we should get more information who will direct the film, who will star in the film, and likely some type of storyline. You can already pencil in Star Wars Episode VII as the most anticipated movie of 2015. Now we will have to wait to see if it lives up to what will surely be epic hype.