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People are still trying to work out whether Disney's $4 billion purchase of Lucasfilm was a good or bad idea for "Star Wars," but thanks to George Lucas it will certainly prove to have been a good thing for the world.
The legendary "Star Wars" creator has apparently decided to donate the vast majority of that money to charity.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Lucas plans to put the money into a foundation that focuses on educational issues, a cause close to his heart. A spokesperson said that “George Lucas has expressed his intention, in the event the deal closes, to donate the majority of the proceeds to his philanthropic endeavors.”
In a statement on Wednesday, Lucas himself commented: “For 41 years, the majority of my time and money has been put into the company. As I start a new chapter in my life, it is gratifying that I have the opportunity to devote more time and resources to philanthropy.”
This holds up with Lucas’ generous behavior over the last few years. In 2010 he signed The Giving Pledge, Bill Gates and Warren Buffett’s effort to get America’s wealthiest to donate the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. Around the same time, he declared that he would be “dedicating the majority of my wealth to improving education,” which he described as “the key to the survival of the human race.”
With Hasbro producing toys for two of Disney's huge properties, do you think the Mouse House would ever look at buying a toy company to pull under their umbrella? Who makes the Pixar toys now?
Historically, Disney has always split things between toy companies in sort of a "don't put all your eggs in one basket" type approach. They've got Marvel (and now Star Wars) with Hasbro, they let newbie Zizzle pick up the PotC license; TRON went to Spin Masters; Pixar stuff is with Mattel; Pixar, Marvel, and Disney Princess stuff with LEGO; Diney Princess stuff with Fisher Price; some Disney games with Hasbro, etc. Anything is possible though I suppose. Back in 2009 there were a lot of rumors that Disney would rip Marvel out of Hasbro's hands and give it to Mattel and then buy Mattel, but that hasn't happened.
On the topic of 'who's going to lose their license', I really think Hasbro is safe for now. If the discussions between LFL and Disney have been going on for over a year and Hasbro only recently extended their license to 2020, I would think that meant they had to know about plans for 7-8-9 on some level at least. If Disney was planning to rip Star Wars away from Hasbro, why allow LFL to extend the license? Or do folks think that was that George tossing Hasbro one last bone before Disney stomps them?
That shouldn't be surprising. I'm sure this deal has been in the works for the better part of a year at least
Star Wars 7, 8 and 9: During 20th Century Fox's recent unveiling of the , Mark Hamill stopped in to talk about the set with the press. During his rant he briefly talked to the crowd about George Lucas and his original plan to create 4 trilogies of Star Wars films. Here's a clip...
“He talked about doing a VII, VIII, IX,” Hamill began. “You know when I first did this, it was four trilogies. 12 movies! And out on the desert, any time between setups… lots of free time. And George was talking about this whole thing. I said, ‘Why are you starting with IV, V and VI? It’s crazy.’ [Imitating Lucas grumble,] ‘It’s the most commercial section of the movie.’ He said the first trilogy’s darker, more serious. And the impression I got, he said, ‘Um, how’d you like to be in Episode IX?’ This is 1976. ‘When is that going to be?’ ‘2011.’ I defy anyone to add 36 years to their lives and not be stunned. Even an eight year old is like, ‘No, I’ll never be 47.’ So I did the math and figured out how old I’d be. I said, ‘Well, what do you want me to do?’ He said, ‘You’ll just be like a cameo. You’ll be like Obi Wan handing the lightsaber down to the next new hope.’ And I’m thinking, ‘I love the guy. If he wanted me to do light yard work at his house, I’d be out clipping the hedges.’ So I went, ‘Sure.’ But I thought he just realized that he’s going to be doing it the rest of his life and he’d rather not do that.”
When the prospect of a TV series was brought up, Hamill went into outright denial. “See, the thing is, on one hand, the way I look at it is there was a beginning, a middle and an end and it’s over. Even though it’s never over. But for me it’s over. But what’ll happen is these fans will come over, ‘But you just became a Jedi. Now what happens? It’s like doing the story of how 007 got his license to kill and then not telling any stories.’ So I said, ‘I wish my agent had this much passion.’ They really want me to do these stories. I loved it all, I really did, but I never in my mind ever thought it would be something I’d be talking about this long.”
Yes, absolutely me too. I still think of the Fox theme as the prelude to the SW theme, and I've always associated the spotlights with lightsabers. If they don't have that at the top, it will be REALLY weird. But I guess that's not going to happen, will it?
Yeah, most of the stuff I've read make it sounds like George has been working on 7/8/9 story treatments. Here was a quote from Sansweet at the SW.com blog:
"George had started to come up with some storylines for at least three new movies set in a period sometime after Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. I think the fact that George found so much enjoyment coming up with new ideas for The Clone Wars series spurred him on."
To that end I even really like ROTS... I watched TPM and AOTC though recently, and those become harder to watch every time they're on, and I find myself turning the channel. Never thought it would happen but it has.
I'm kind of into how into it some of you guys are though (Rob, Scott). It's nice to see.
