Entertainment giant Walt Disney Co is to buy director George Lucas's world-renowned Lucasfilm Ltd, including his legendary "Star Wars" franchise, for some $3.85 billion, it has announced.

A new movie in the series, "Star Wars 7" is set for release in 2015, said a Disney statement.

"That will be followed by Episodes 8 and 9 – and our long term plan is to release a new Star Wars feature film every two to three years."

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The deal "combines a world-class portfolio of content including Star Wars, one of the greatest family entertainment franchises of all time, with Disney's unique and unparalleled creativity," said Disney chief Robert Iger.

The transaction is valued at $3.76 billion, based on current stock value, with Disney paying about half in cash and issuing approximately 40 million shares at closing.

"Lucasfilm reflects the extraordinary passion, vision, and storytelling of its founder, George Lucas," said Iger, head of global entertainment giant Disney, which is headquarted in Burbank, just outside Los Angeles.

Lucas himself, chairman and chief executive officer of Lucasfilm, added: "For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next.

"It's now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I've always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime."

"I'm confident that with Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy, and having a new home within the Disney organization, Star Wars will certainly live on and flourish for many generations to come."

I love that everyone's saying the movie's will be garbage etc. etc. Who knows, they might actually be good.

I'd like to see a movie bridging the two trilogies, detailing the further fall of the Republic, execution of the Jedi's and chronicling the rise of the Empire. I'm not sure what to make of this as I hope they aren't butchered but Lucas has created a very diverse universe and seems like the sort of bloke who knows what he's doing leaving this in the hands of a new generation.

This is simply fantastic, sure the second trilogy was different to the first but that doesn't mean it wasn't good. I hope they keep the trilogy theme happening with each new story progression as it really allows for character and story development.

I'm fairly worried about this.

Although, can they really ruin it any more than George Lucas himself has? Maybe a fresh set of hands could be good. Just dont make it a "Disney" movie.

I'd like to see a movie bridging the two trilogies, detailing the further fall of the Republic, execution of the Jedi's and chronicling the rise of the Empire.

Disney made Pirate of the Caribbean didn't they?

-PB

The proposed live action SW TV series is supposed to bridge this gap. Lucas has already got the stories lined up and ready to go apparently, but it will simply cost too much to film or something.
It was going to concentrate on "minor" characters at a more lower level than viewed from the top (ie from plebs, smugglers etc rather than the Emperor, senators etc)

This will now mean 2015 will have Avengers 2, Justice League and a new Star Wars movie. :lol: That's pretty epic.

The knights of the old republic video games were epic. I liked the setting 4000 years before the movies.

Ive read a few books before and after the movies which were quite good.

They also had this little movie called The Avengers, which didn't work out to bad from memory :lol: :p

Disney made Pirate of the Caribbean didn't they?

-PB