Lucasfilm

History

Independent era (1971–2012)

Lucasfilm was founded by filmmaker George Lucas on December 10, 1971, in Marin County, California, in the city of San Rafael. Some scenes in Lucasfilm's first production, American Graffiti (1973), were filmed in downtown San Rafael under Lucas's direction. It was released to critical and commercial success. By the mid-1970s, the company's offices were located on the Universal Studios Lot. Pre-production of the film that would become Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope (1977) began during production of American Graffiti. After funding of Star Wars was rejected by Universal, and after the success of American Graffiti, Lucas successfully pitched Star Wars to 20th Century-Fox. Star Wars, Lucasfilm's second production, underwent a limited release on May 25, 1977 to critical acclaim and box-office success. The company was incorporated as Lucasfilm Ltd. on September 12, 1977. Lucas founded the Star Wars Corporation, Inc. as a subsidiary to control various legal and financial aspects of A New Hope, including copyright, and sequel and merchandising rights. It also produced the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special for 20th Century Fox Television. 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. Lucas wanted to focus on making independent films for the company, but the company gradually grew 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 the Skywalker Ranch to do so, Lucas fired Weber and had to let half of the Los Angeles staff go. By the same year, the corporate subsidiary had been discontinued and its business was absorbed into the various divisions of Lucasfilm. That same year, the second Star Wars film Star Wars: Episode V — The Empire Strikes Back was released in cinemas.

Between 1981 and 1989, three Indiana Jones films, stories by Lucas and directed by Steven Spielberg, were released. While Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi (1983) was in production, Lucas decided not to pursue further Star Wars films. Despite the third film achieving similar classic status to its two predecessors, George was unhappy with the cinema presentation of Return of the Jedi, so he created the company THX, which was unveiled on May 20, 1983. Lucasfilm produced the John Korty-directed animated film Twice Upon a Time (1983). 1985 saw the release of Paul Schrader's Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters. The next year, Jim Henson's Labyrinth and an adaptation of Marvel Comics' Howard the Duck were released. Ron Howard directed the fantasy film Willow in 1988 (story by Lucas); the same year the children's animated film The Land Before Time was released. From 1992 to 1993, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (created by Lucas) television series was produced. In 1992, after viewing an early computer-generated imagery test created by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) for Jurassic Park, Lucas announced his intentions to produce a Star Wars Prequel Trilogy. In 1994, the long-delayed Radioland Murders (story by Lucas) was released. In 1995, Lucas began pre-production on the prequel trilogy. The trilogy took ten years to make, ending with the release of the third prequel film Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith in 2005. In addition to the prequels, Lucas created the Special Editions of the Original Trilogy in 1997, released theatrically, and on VHS and Laserdisc. Further changes were made in 2004 and 2011, for DVD and Blu-ray.

Subsidiary of The Walt Disney Studios (2012–present)

Discussions relating to the possibility of the Walt Disney Company signing a distribution deal with Lucasfilm officially began in May 2011, after George Lucas met with Disney CEO Bob Iger during the re-opening of the Star Tours – The Adventures Continue attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios. Lucas told Iger that he was considering retirement and planned to sell Lucasfilm, as well as the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises. On October 30, 2012, Disney announced a deal to acquire Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion, with approximately half in cash and half in shares of Disney stock. Lucasfilm had previously collaborated with Disney'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.

Kathleen Kennedy, co-chairwoman of Lucasfilm, became president of Lucasfilm, reporting to the then-Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn. Additionally, she served 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 the franchise. Kennedy served as a producer on new Star Wars feature films, with George Lucas originally announced as serving as a creative consultant. The company also announced the future release of new Star Wars films, starting with Episode VII: The Force Awakens in 2015.

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. Disney also acquired Lucasfilm's portfolio of entertainment technologies. The intent was for Lucasfilm employees to remain in their current locations. Star Wars merchandising would begin under Disney in the fiscal year 2014. Starting with Star Wars Rebels, certain products will be co-branded with the Disney name, akin to what Disney has done with Pixar. On December 4, 2012, the Disney-Lucasfilm merger was approved by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), allowing the acquisition to be finalized without dealing with antitrust problems. On December 18, 2012, Lucasfilm converted from a corporation to a limited liability company (LLC), changing its name to Lucasfilm Ltd. LLC in the process. On December 21, 2012, Disney completed the acquisition and Lucasfilm became a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney.

At the time of Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm, 20th Century Fox, the original distributor of the first six Star Wars films, were to retain the physical and theatrical distribution rights to both the prequel trilogy and Episodes V and VI of the original trilogy until May 2020, along with full distribution rights for the original 1977 film in perpetuity. Lucasfilm retained the television and digital distribution rights to Star Wars Episodes I through VI with exception to Episode IV. On March 20, 2019, Disney officially acquired 20th Century Fox after acquiring its owner, 21st Century Fox, thus consolidating all the distribution and ownership rights to all the films under its umbrella. 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. This would make the fifth installment, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, become the first film in the franchise and Lucasfilm's first film overall to be co-produced by Walt Disney Pictures.

Company structure

Industrial Light & Magic – visual effects

Lucas Studio – visual effects

ILM Vancouver, ILM London, ILM Mumbai, ILM Sydney

ILM Immersive

Skywalker Sound – post-production sound design

Lucasfilm Games – video games

Lucasfilm Animation – animation

Lucas Licensing – licensing and merchandising

Lucas Books – book publishing imprint of Del Rey Books, licensed from Lucasfilm.

Lucasfilm Story Group (2012–) The first two revealed members were Pablo Hidalgo and Leland Chee, headed by Kiri Hart as Lucasfilm's SVP, Development.

Former divisions

Former subsidiaries of Lucasfilm are:

Filmography