The Walt Disney Company made a major acquisition this week, purchasing Lucasfilm from George Lucas in a $4.05 billion deal. Along with Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound, this puts the Star Wars brand in the control of Disney, which has already announced its intention to release a new Star Wars film trilogy, the first entry of which is scheduled to arrive in 2015. LucasArts, Lucasfilm’s videogame subsidiary best known these days for its Star Wars games, also now finds itself under the Disney banner, a move which could turn out to have a profound effect on the videogames we see coming out of it in the future.
As far as Star Wars itself goes, I find it difficult not to be at least somewhat optimistic. Most people would agree the series’ high points have come when creator George Lucas has been less hands-on — just look at The Empire Strikes Back as compared with the prequel trilogy. This new deal reduces Lucas’ role in the new films to that of a “creative consultant,” which reminds me of the honorary chairman role that the ‘Father of PlayStation,’ Ken Kutaragi, once filled. Without knowing what the new movies will be about or who will direct them, it’s impossible to say with any degree of certainty how they will turn out. It’s been noted that Disney’s acquisition of Marvel resulted in this year’s excellent Joss Whedon film The Avengers, which bodes well for the future of the Star Wars films. And, as the Penny Arcade Report points out, “We have nothing to lose by Disney making more Star Wars films, and it’s not like they can get any worse.” The prequels really put the film series in a position where things can only get better from here.
