Hasta La Gadget!

It’s time for the directors and writers to chime in on the idea that Star Wars Episode 7, that taking place in the storyline after the first 6, will be made and released in 2015. This news came this week concurrently with the fact that George Lucas had sold the entirety of LucasFilm (his own production company) to Disney along with the rights to Star Wars itself. Lucas will remain part of the universe as a creative consultant, and the 7th, 8th, and 9th movies have been confirmed all at once – several big names in the film industry have commented in the short time since this announcement was made.

It was none other than Robert Rodriguez who made the comment about how quickly the film needed to be made. The excitement that many current big-names in directing and writing are feeling is a direct result of them having been draw into the industry originally by the first trilogy of Star Wars films. Rodriguez is certainly of age to remember the explosive nature of the first time Star Wars came into our universe.

“What an amazing world and legacy George Lucas has created — and it needs to continue in capable hands. I do think Disney is the best studio for the job and the fact that they brought in Kathleen Kennedy? I can’t imagine a better scenario. And 2015 can’t get here fast enough.” – Rodriguez

Kathleen Kennedy was up until now second in command at LucasFilm, and she’ll be in charge of operations now once the company is owned by Disney. Director J.J. Abrams had similar feelings about the situation, having once noted that it was difficult to pull Star Trek out into a major motion picture now in the present while Star Wars was still big, saying now that he’s pumped: “Part of me? Thrilled. Part of me? Terrified. Most of me? Thrillified.”

Disney also acquired Marvel Comics back in 2008, and since its acquisition made several films possible: Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Incredible Hulk, Captain America, Thor, and The Avengers. Director of Iron Man Jon Favreau spoke up about the situation as well, noting that “The idea of another trilogy that further shrouds the Force in mystery as its secrets are lost to time – that’s extremely compelling. “I want so bad for it to be good. Can you imagine?”

We’ll be waiting too – and SlashGear will be running with no lack of insight on the goings-on inside LucasFilm and Disney as the next three years pass before Star Wars Episode 7 – prepare yourselves, readers!

NOTE: The image at the head of this post is a section of the cover art for Heir to the Empire, one of many possible next-episode storylines that will be followed by the ongoing Star Wars saga. Read it today!

[via Entertainment Weekly]

Star Wars Episode 7 “can’t get here fast enough” is written by Chris Burns & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

What a day for Star Wars fans – not only was it revealed that Disney had purchased LucasFilm Limited, but we also found out that Star Wars Episode VII is currently in the works for release in 2015. Those are both major announcements, especially the one about Episode VII since George Lucas said constantly that he was done making movies in the series after Episode III was released. It turns out that he was telling the truth, as he won’t be making Star Wars Episode VII, instead only acting as a consultant.

So, what now? What’s in store for the Star Wars franchise now that it’s part of Disney‘s portfolio? There are undoubtedly a ton of questions bouncing around in the heads of Star Wars fans after today, but luckily, we’re getting some explanation from the man himself, George Lucas. He and Kathleen Kennedy, who has been named the new president of LucasFilm, have taken some time to talk about the future of the franchise in a brand new YouTube video, which you can check out below.

Concerning the buyout, Lucas says, “There’s lots and lots of opportunities at Disney we wouldn’t have at any other studio.” Kennedy agreed with that notion, pointing to Disney’s success with Marvel and Pixar and adding, “In many ways, it’s the best company possible to take Star Wars into the future.” Lucas is turning over the Star Wars universe to Kennedy, saying that he’s already got treatments of the seventh, eighth, and ninth movies ready to be turned into films.

It sounds like there’s more beyond another trilogy in the pipeline too, as Lucas says there are even more movie ideas in the LucasFilm vault. Kennedy seems eager to get right to work on these new Star Wars movies, saying that LucasFilm is in the beginning stages of developing Episode VII. We have to say that we’re pretty excited to see what Disney can do with the Star Wars franchise – are you?

George Lucas speaks on Star Wars Episode 7 and Disney deal is written by Eric Abent & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

In what may be considered as the acquisition of all acquisitions, the Walt Disney Company has bought Lucasfilm Ltd. for just over $4 billion. The production company is responsible for all six Star Wars movies, as well as the Indiana Jones series, The Land Before Time, and American Graffiti.

The deal is a stock and cash transaction, with Lucasfilm founder George Lucas receiving around half of the $4.05 billion in cash, plus approximately 40 million stock shares. Lucas says that “it’s now time for [him] to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers.” Lucas always believed that the Star Wars name would live on well past his death, so Lucas “thought it was important to set up the transition during [his] lifetime.”

The deal also includes Industrial Light & Magic, Skywalker Sound, and LucasArts, meaning that all the Star Wars video games are also now owned by Disney. Kathleen Kennedy, Co-Chairman of Lucasfilm, will take over as President of the new Lucasfilm division and will report to Walt Disney Studios chairman Alan Horn. George Lucas himself will stay on as creative consultant for the new Star Wars films, with Kennedy serving as executive producer.

It’s obviously unknown what the transaction will mean for the future of Lucasfilm and its many movies that it produced, but going from being completely owned by just one person (George Lucas) to now being owned by a huge corporation will surely spark some changes in the company, and possibly even some changes to upcoming films.

Disney acquires Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.

This is still breaking, but massive media conglomerate Disney has bought Lucasfilm, the company behind Star Wars. Disney bought Pixar in 2006 and Marvel in 2009, so they’re no strangers to massive purchases. However, the worst (or best, if you loved Attack of the Clones) news is that they’re rebooting the Star Wars franchise and making a seventh film to hit theaters in 2015. From the press release:

Continuing its strategy of delivering exceptional creative content to audiences around the world, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) has agreed to acquire Lucasfilm Ltd. in a stock and cash transaction. Lucasfilm is 100% owned by Lucasfilm Chairman and Founder, George Lucas…  [With] George Lucas serving as creative consultant, Star Wars Episode 7 is targeted for release in 2015, with more feature films expected to continue the Star Wars saga and grow the franchise well into the future.

The conference call for investors starts at 4:30 EST, so we’ll be getting more details then. The purchase includes notable special effects studio Industrial Light and Magic, which produces special effects for a whole bunch of Hollywood blockbusters. This year, it worked on The Hunger Games and The Avengers. We’ll update more as the whole internet shudders.

Image courtesy of Witney Seibold, and it’s not the real logo.

By Ubergizmo. Related articles: Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray, Man embarks on full-scale Millennium Falcon replica project,

We’ve been hearing from Rovio a lot lately due to their upcoming Angry Birds and Star Wars mash-up title. Several teaser trailers have already been released to the public, but today we’re getting our first glimpse at the gameplay of Angry Birds Star Wars. We don’t get to see a lot, but we finally get to see what it will look like.

We’ll call out a warning for spoilers right now if you’re not wanting to see any gameplay until the game’s release. Otherwise, continue on if you’re curious. The video is about a minute long, and it first features a cute scene with Angry Birds versions of Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia. We then get to see approximately 15 seconds of gameplay.

One of the levels takes place on Tatooine, which is Luke Skywalker’s home planet. The video demonstrates using the Luke Skywalker Angry Bird, and shows that it comes packing with a lightsaber to destroy anything in its path. Another level takes place on the ice planet Hoth, where AT-ATs make an appearance, and yes, you can destroy them in this game.

The Princess Leia Angry Bird is fairly interesting because it looks like you can shoot lasers out of its eyes to destroy structures and blocks. It almost looks too easy, but I’m sure Rovio will give gamers plenty of a challenge. Angry Birds Star Wars is set to arrive on November 8 on iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows.

Angry Birds Star Wars unveils first gameplay video is written by Craig Lloyd & originally posted on SlashGear.
© 2005 – 2012, SlashGear. All right reserved.