Lucasfilm

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Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC
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Subsidiary of The Walt Disney Studios
Industry Film
Founded 1971; 54 years ago (1971)
Founder George Lucas
Headquarters Letterman Digital Arts Center (Presidio of San Francisco), California, U.S.
Key people
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Howard Roffman
(EVP, Franchise Management)
Products Motion pictures and television
Number of employees
 2,000 (2015)[2]
Parent The Walt Disney Studios
(The Walt Disney Company)
Website No URL found. Please specify a URL here or add one to Wikidata.

Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC[3] is an American film and television production company based in the Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco, California. The studio is best known for creating the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises, as well as its leadership in developing special effects, sound and computer animation for film. Lucasfilm was founded by filmmaker George Lucas in 1971 in San Rafael, California; most of the company's operations were moved to San Francisco in 2005.[4] The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm in 2012 at a valuation of $4.06 billion.[5]

History

Independent era

Lucasfilm headquarters at the Letterman Digital Arts Center

Lucasfilm was founded by filmmaker George Lucas in 1971.[6]

On July 8, 2005, Lucasfilm's marketing, online, and licensing units moved into the new Letterman Digital Arts Center located in the Presidio in San Francisco. It shares the complex with Industrial Light & Magic. Lucasfilm had planned an expansion at Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, California, but shelved the plan in 2012 due to opposition from neighbors. However, it still plans to expand elsewhere.[7] Skywalker Sound remains the only Lucasfilm division based at Skywalker Ranch.[8]

In January 2012, Lucas announced his retirement from producing large-scale blockbuster films and instead re-focusing his career on smaller, independently budgeted features.[9][10]

In June 2012, it was announced that producer Kathleen Kennedy, a long-term collaborator with Steven Spielberg and a producer of the Indiana Jones films, had been appointed as co-chair of Lucasfilm Ltd. It was reported that Kennedy would work alongside Lucas, who would remain chief executive and serve as co-chairman for at least one year, after which she would succeed him as the company's sole leader.[11]

On September 5, 2012, Micheline Chau, who served as president and COO of Lucasfilm for two decades, announced that she was retiring. With her departure, senior executives for each of the Lucasfilm divisions will report directly to Kathleen Kennedy. Chau was credited with keeping the Lucasfilm and Star Wars brands strong, especially through animation spin-offs and licensing initiatives.[12]

Disney subsidiary

Discussions relating to the possibility of The Walt Disney Company purchasing Lucasfilm officially began in May 2011, after a meeting that George Lucas had with Disney CEO Bob Iger during the inauguration of the Star Tours–The Adventures Continue attraction.[13] Lucas told Iger he was considering retirement and planned to sell the company, as well as the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises.[14] On October 30, 2012, Disney announced a deal to acquire Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion,[15] with approximately half in cash and half in shares of Disney stock.[16] Lucasfilm had previously collaborated with the company's Walt Disney Imagineering division to create theme park attractions centered on Star Wars and Indiana Jones for various Walt Disney Parks and Resorts worldwide.[17]

Kathleen Kennedy, co-chairman of Lucasfilm, became president of Lucasfilm, reporting to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn. Additionally she serves as the brand manager for Star Wars, working directly with Disney's global lines of business to build, further integrate, and maximize the value of this global franchise. Kennedy serves as producer on new Star Wars feature films, with George Lucas originally announced as serving as creative consultant.[18] The company also announced the future release of new Star Wars films, starting with Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015.[17]

Under the deal, Disney acquired ownership of Lucasfilm and its operating businesses in live-action film production, consumer products, video games, animation, visual effects, and audio post-production. Disney also acquired Lucasfilm's portfolio of entertainment technologies. The intent was for Lucasfilm employees to remain in their current locations.[19] Star Wars merchandising would begin under Disney in the fiscal year 2014.[20] Starting with Star Wars Rebels, certain products will be co-branded with the Disney name,[21][22] akin to what Disney has done with Pixar.[23] On December 4, 2012, the Disney-Lucasfilm merger was approved by the Federal Trade Commission, allowing the acquisition to be finalized without dealing with antitrust problems.[24] On December 21, 2012, the deal was completed, and Lucasfilm became a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney.[5]

Disney's CEO Bob Iger confirmed that Lucasfilm had plans to have stand-alone Star Wars films with Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg lined up to develop the movies that would be released sometime during the six-year period the sequel trilogy will be released.[25]

In April 2013, the development arm of the LucasArts division was closed down and most of its staff was laid off.[26][27] However, LucasArts remained open with a skeleton staff of fewer than ten employees so it could retain its function as a video game licensor.[28] On May 6, 2013, Disney announced an exclusive deal with Electronic Arts to produce Star Wars games for the core gaming market. LucasArts retained the ability to license, and Disney Interactive Studios retained the ability to develop, Star Wars games for the casual gaming market.[29][30]

20th Century Fox, the original distributors of the first six Star Wars films, still retain the distribution rights to the original two Star Wars trilogies, currently owning permanent full distribution rights for the 1977 Star Wars film, while also holding the theatrical and home video distribution rights to Episodes I–III, V, and VI until May 2020.[31] Lucasfilm retains the television and digital distribution rights to all the Star Wars films except the original.[32] In December 2013, The Walt Disney Studios purchased the distribution and marketing rights to future Indiana Jones films from Paramount Pictures, although the latter studio will continue to distribute the first four films and will receive "financial participation" from any additional films.[33][34]

On January 3, 2014, Lucasfilm announced that Dark Horse Comics' license for Star Wars comics would end in 2015, and return to fellow Disney subsidiary Marvel Comics.[35] On April 24, 2014, Lucasfilm announced that the Star Wars expanded universe would no longer be explicitly canon (but may be drawn upon for future works) and that The Clone Wars and Rebels animated series would be considered canon and future Star Wars projects would be overseen by a new story group to keep to that canon. Additionally, the Star Wars Legends banner would be used for those Expanded Universe materials that are in print.[36] Disney Publishing Worldwide also announced that Del Rey would publish a new line of canon Star Wars books under the Lucasfilm Story Group being released starting in September on a bi-monthly schedule.[37]

Company structure

Former divisions

Filmography

Year Film Director(s) Story by Screenwriter(s) Distributor(s) Budget Gross
1973 American Graffiti George Lucas George Lucas, Gloria Katz and Willard Huyck Universal Studios $777,000 $140 million
1977 Star Wars George Lucas 20th Century Fox $11 million $775.4 million
1979 More American Graffiti Bill L. Norton Universal Studios $3 million $15 million
1980 The Empire Strikes Back Irvin Kershner George Lucas Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan 20th Century Fox1 $33 million $538.4 million
1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark Steven Spielberg George Lucas and Philip Kaufman Lawrence Kasdan Paramount Pictures $18 million $389.9 million
1983 Return of the Jedi Richard Marquand George Lucas George Lucas and Lawrence Kasdan 20th Century Fox1 $42.7 million $572.1 million
Twice Upon a Time John Korty and Charles Swenson John Korty, Charles Swenson, Suella Kennedy and Bill Couturié Warner Bros. Unknown
1984 Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom Steven Spielberg George Lucas Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz Paramount Pictures $28.2 million $333.1 million
1985 Latino Haskell Wexler Cinecom Pictures Unknown
Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters Paul Schrader Leonard Schrader, Paul Schrader and Chieko Schrader Warner Bros. $5 million $502,758
1986 Labyrinth Jim Henson Dennis Lee and Jim Henson Terry Jones TriStar Pictures $27.68 million $11.6 million
Howard the Duck Willard Huyck Willard Huyck and Gloria Katz Universal Studios $37 million $38 million
1988 Willow Ron Howard George Lucas Bob Dolman Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer $35 million $57.3 million
Tucker: The Man and His Dream Francis Ford Coppola Arnold Schulman and David Seidler Paramount Pictures
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer		 $24 million $19.7 million
The Land Before Time Don Bluth Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss Stu Krieger Universal Studios $12.5 million $84.4 million
1989 Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Steven Spielberg George Lucas and Menno Meyjes Jeffrey Boam Paramount Pictures $48 million $474.2 million
1994 Radioland Murders Mel Smith George Lucas Willard Huyck, Gloria Katz, Jeff Reno and Ron Osborn Universal Studios $15 million $1.3 million
1999 Star Wars Episode I:
The Phantom Menace		 George Lucas 20th Century Fox1 $115 million $1.027 billion
2002 Star Wars Episode II:
Attack of the Clones		 George Lucas George Lucas and Jonathan Hales $115 million $649.4 million
2005 Star Wars Episode III:
Revenge of the Sith		 George Lucas $113 million $848.8 million
2008 Indiana Jones
and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull		 Steven Spielberg George Lucas and Jeff Nathanson David Koepp Paramount Pictures $185 million $786.6 million
Star Wars: The Clone Wars Dave Filoni George Lucas Henry Gilroy, Steven Melching and Scott Murphy Warner Bros. $8.5 million $68.3 million
2012 Red Tails Anthony Hemingway John Ridley John Ridley and Aaron McGruder 20th Century Fox $58 million $50.4 million
2015 Strange Magic Gary Rydstrom George Lucas David Berenbaum, Irene Mecchi and Gary Rydstrom Walt Disney Studios
Motion Pictures		 Unknown $13.6 million
Star Wars: The Force Awakens J. J. Abrams Lawrence Kasdan, J. J. Abrams and Michael Arndt $200 million $1.751 billion
2016 Rogue One:
A Star Wars Story		 Gareth Edwards John Knoll Gary Whitta and Chris Weitz TBA

Planned

 Status
2017 Star Wars Episode VIII Rian Johnson Walt Disney Studios
Motion Pictures		 Pre-production
2018 Untitled Han Solo Anthology film Phil Lord and Christopher Miller Lawrence Kasdan & Jon Kasdan[46]
2019 Star Wars Episode IX Colin Trevorrow Rian Johnson Development[47]
TBA Untitled Star Wars Anthology film TBA Simon Kinberg Development
TBA * Untitled Indiana Jones film TBA Development[48][49]

Television series

Television films and specials

Other productions

See also

Footnotes

  1. ^ Physical distribution rights will be transferred from 20th Century Fox to the Walt Disney Studios in May 2020.[31] The digital distribution rights are held by Disney, as Lucasfilm had retained the digital distribution rights to all Star Wars films produced after the original.[32][50]

References

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External links

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  11. ↑ Richard Verrier and Ben Fritz, "Kathleen Kennedy to helm Lucasfilm as George Lucas phases out", Los Angeles Times, June 2, 2012. Retrieved September 27, 2012.
  12. ↑ Gregg Kilday, "Longtime Lucasfilm President and COO Micheline Chau Retiring", The Hollywood Reporter, September 5, 2012, Retrieved December 25, 2012.
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