Disney buys out LucasFilm LTD; George Lucas proves he somehow still had integrity left to sell

If anyone knows me, they might know that I've become a little tired with the Star Wars saga's place in pop-culture as of now. And while I was really apathetic about the prequels, the way that the franchise has been handled during the CLONE WARS carton era has been terrible. The marketing and merchandising side of things has gone out of their way to mash up Star Wars with everything from Angry Birds to putting Chewie, Yoda and Boba Fett on just about every piece of merchandise possible for a quick buck. Darth Vader has into a rapping buffoon (remember when he was one of the most fearsome villains in movies?), and the original trilogy is being remade into something completely different thanks to CGI "enhancements." But that's a rant for another day.

Thanks to Business Wire, it seems that George Lucas has decided that his precious Star Wars is worth $4.05 B which what the Walt Disney Company will be paying for the rights to one of the biggest franchises in the world. There are lots of other of other details such as the stock options and what not, but the big shock here is that despite what we have all heard before, there will be a sequel trilogy starting with Episode 7 in 2015 at some point with Episodes 8 and 9 coming in later years.

This is very interesting in the sense that George Lucas has always had his fingers in the franchise for better and for worse. Despite what any press release says, I am curious to see exactly what his role will be in the direction of the franchise from this point forward. On a very good note, I wonder how or if we will be able to have access to the original trilogy without the Special Edition enhancements on Blu Ray now. This also means that between the acquisition of Marvel, Disney is poised to have some of the biggest properties in the world and properties in the world. For the grizzly details, please follow the links to Business Wire above for the full press release.

EDIT: We have a video from YouTube where Lucas discusses the future of the franchise.

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