Lucasfilm

Lucasfilm headquarters at the Letterman Digital Arts Center

Lucasfilm was founded by filmmaker George Lucas in 1971,[7] and incorporated as Lucasfilm Ltd. on September 12, 1977.[8] In the mid-1970s, the company's offices were located on the Universal Studios Lot.[9] Lucas founded The Star Wars Corporation, Inc. as a subsidiary to control various legal and financial aspects of Star Wars (1977),[10] including copyright, and sequel and merchandising rights. It also produced the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special for 20th Century Fox Television.[11] That year, Lucas hired Los Angeles-based real-estate specialist Charles Weber to manage the company, telling him that he could keep the job as long as he made money.[12] Lucas wanted the focus of the company to be making independent films, but the company gradually became enlarged from five employees to almost 100, increasing in middle management and running up costs. In 1980, after Weber asked Lucas for $50 million to invest in other companies and suggested that they sell Skywalker Ranch to do so, Lucas fired Weber and had to let half of the Los Angeles staff go.[12] By the same year, the corporate subsidiary had been discontinued and its business was absorbed into the various divisions of Lucasfilm.[N 1]

In 2005, Lucasfilm opened a studio in Singapore.[13] In January 2012, Lucas announced his retirement from producing large-scale blockbuster films and instead re-focusing his career on smaller, independently budgeted features.[14][15] In June 2012, it was announced that 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 chairperson, which she did in June 2013.[16]

On July 8, 2012, 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.[17] Skywalker Sound remains the only Lucasfilm division based at Skywalker Ranch.[18]

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 would 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.[19]

Discussions relating to the possibility of The Walt Disney Company signing a distribution deal with Lucasfilm officially began in May 2011, after a meeting that George Lucas had with the then Disney CEO Bob Iger during the inauguration of the Star Tours – The Adventures Continue attraction.[20] Lucas told Iger he was considering retirement and planned to sell the company, as well as the Star Wars franchise.[21] On October 30, 2012, Disney announced a deal to acquire Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion,[22] with approximately half in cash and half in shares of Disney stock.[4] 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.[23]

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.[24] The company also announced the future release of new Star Wars films, starting with Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens in 2015.[23]

Under the deal, Disney acquired ownership of Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Lucasfilm's operating businesses in live-action film production, consumer products, video games, animation, visual effects, and audio post-production.[25] Disney also acquired Lucasfilm's portfolio of entertainment technologies. The intent was for Lucasfilm employees to remain in their current locations.[26] Star Wars merchandising would begin under Disney in the fiscal year 2014.[27] Starting with Star Wars Rebels, certain products will be co-branded with the Disney name,[28][29] akin to what Disney has done with Pixar.[30] 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.[31] On December 18, 2012, Lucasfilm Ltd. converted from a corporation to a limited liability company, changing its name to Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC in the process,.[32] On December 21, 2012, Disney completed the acquisition and Lucasfilm became a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney.[6]

Iger confirmed that Lucasfilm had plans to have standalone Star Wars films released sometime during the six-year period the sequel trilogy is being released, with Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg each developing a title.[33]

In April 2013, the development arm of the LucasArts division was closed down and most of its staff was laid off.[34][35] However, LucasArts remained open with a skeleton staff of fewer than ten employees so it could retain its function as a video game licensor.[36] 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.[37][38]

20th Century Fox, the original distributor of the first six Star Wars films, retained the physical and theatrical distribution rights to the original two Star Wars trilogies and permanent full distribution rights for the original 1977 film, until May 2020 according to the 2012 Lucasfilm acquisition deal.[39] On March 20, 2019, Disney officially acquired the studio after acquiring its owner, 21st Century Fox, thus combining all these rights under its umbrella. Lucasfilm retains the television and digital distribution rights to Star Wars Episodes I through VI with exception to Episode IV.[40] In December 2013, Walt Disney Studios purchased the distribution and marketing rights to future Indiana Jones films from Paramount Pictures, although the latter studio would retain the distribution rights to the first four films and would receive "financial participation" from any additional films.[41][42]

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.[43] On April 24, 2014, Lucasfilm announced that the Star Wars expanded universe would no longer be explicitly sub 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.[44] 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.[45]

On January 16, 2014, Lucasfilm opened its Sandcrawler building on Fusionopolis View in Singapore as its regional headquarters with all staff moved from Changi Business Park. The Walt Disney Company Southeast Asia and ESPN Asia Pacific were also moved into the building.[13]

In mid September 2018, Disney CEO Bob Iger stated in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter that there would be a "slow down" in the production of Star Wars films following the under-performance of Solo: A Star Wars Story at the box office. In addition, Iger also confirmed that several Star Wars films including The Rise of Skywalker and David Benioff and D. B. Weiss' films were in development.[46][47][48] In late September 2018, Kennedy's contract as president was renewed for three additional years.[49]

In June 2019, Michelle Rejwan was named as senior vice president of live-action development and production.[50]

• Kerner Optical – Practical effects division (model shop) and 3-D development team (spun off from ILM in 2006 and subsequently went bankrupt in 2011)[57]
• Pixar Animation Studios – Computer animation film production company that was sold to Steve Jobs in 1986. It became a subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company in 2006, six years prior to the Disney acquisition of Lucasfilm.
• THX – Theater sound system (spun off from Lucasfilm Ltd. in 2003)[58] Creative Technology owned 60% of THX,[59] and then sold to Razer Inc. in 2016.

Animated

• Star Wars: Droids (1985)
• Star Wars: Ewoks (1985–1986)
• Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003-2005)
• Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008-2014, 2020)
• Star Wars Rebels (2014-2018)
• Star Wars Forces of Destiny (2017-2018)
• Star Wars Resistance (2018-2020)

Live-action

• Maniac Mansion (1990–1993)
• The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992–1996)
• The Mandalorian (2019–present)[80]
• Untitled Cassian Andor series (2021)[80][81]
• Untitled Willow sequel series (TBA)[82]
• Untitled Obi-Wan Kenobi series (2022)[80][83]

• Star Wars Holiday Special (1978) (as The Star Wars Corporation)
• Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure (1984)
• Ewoks: The Battle for Endor (1985)
• The Great Heep (1986)
• Defenders of Dynatron City (1992) (produced by DIC Entertainment in association with LucasArts)
• Robot Chicken: Star Wars (2007)
• Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II (2008)
• Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode III (2010)