The Walt Disney Company has agreed to acquire George Lucas’ Lucasfilm Ltd, including the rights to the popular Star Wars franchise.
There is also talk of a 2015 release for Star Wars: Episode 7.
As readers of this blog already know, there have been rumors circulating about Disney-friendly Lucas okaying a Star Wars Land at Walt Disney World for many years, and now it looks like Disney is determined to make it happen—it would be silly not to!
The deal includes stock and cash, and is estimated at $4.05 billion. That’s a lot of Jedi Mickey t-shirts.
Fun fact: The purchase of LucasFilm increases Disney’s presence in the greater San Francisco area (Pixar is also there), making the once controversial Walt Disney Family Museum location fit right in. It’s always nice when that happens.
Photo Credit: Todd Anderson
Does portend a new Tomorrowland?
No! I really, truly, ooly, do not want to see Tomorrowland rethemed for Star Wars. It might make marginal sense in Anaheim, where “Star Tours” is smack-dab in the middle of Tomorrowland — but, really, I’d rather see it remain a much more generic future location (whether is glossy white plastic future or vaguely brass-gear steampunky future).
Instead, why not a “Star Wars Land” add-on to DHS in Orlando, and either an adjunct to Tomorrowland or part of DCA in Anaheim?
Heck, you could fund it by doing away with that non-starter “Avatar” expansion for DAK …
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