It’s been a wild few months for George Lucas. First he sells his beloved Star Wars franchise to Disney and now the director is getting married to him longtime girlfriend and DreamWorks Animation chairwoman Mellody Hobson.

This will be the second marriage for Lucas, who has been dating Hobson since 2006 and the first for his fiancée. Lucas was previously married to Marcia Lou Griffin and the two have an adopted daughter together. Hobson is a successful business woman and aside from her role with DreamWorks she is also a regular contributor to “Good Morning America” and was included on Esquire’s list of “Best and Brightest” back in 2002.

Lucas has decided to donate much of his proceeds from the Star Wars sale to charity including $4 billion to an education foundation. Lucas said at the time of the announcement, “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.”

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If you haven’t been following the news about Hurricane Sandy this week, then you’ve probably been following the second biggest story; Disney’s acquisition of George Lucas’ Lucasfilm for $4 billion.

According to Lucas, who discussed the purchase in a YouTube video this week, writers are already getting started on the seventh installment of the Star Wars franchise, which is slated for 2015, with two more films planned to follow.  Lucas explained to fans that he had been considering retiring for some time now and that it seemed like a good time to sell the Lucas dynasty. “Obviously I’ve been talking about retiring for several years now. I wanted to get into sort of another stage of life where I’m not in film business anymore, where I don’t have to run a corporation,” he said. “It occurred to me one day that the perfect person to run the company was Kathy [co-chair for Lucasfilm]. It’s just such a perfect fit, and I felt that I really wanted to put the company somewhere in a larger entity that would protect it. Disney is a huge corporation; they have all kinds of capabilities and facilities. There’s a lot of strength to be gained by this.”

While Lucas will not be involved in any of the upcoming movies, as writer or director, his vision for the series will remain intact, he already has treatments prepared for movies 7, 8 and 9. This deal will not only launch a new Star Wars trilogy in film but will also set into motion a new TV show, games and attractions at Disney theme parks. Over the years Lucas has created some 17,000 characters for his Star Wars universe that inhabit thousands of planets with a history spanning 20,000 years. It is a huge responsibility for his successors to honor the vision that he has created.

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In a move that no one saw coming, the Walt Disney Co. announced that they were buying George Lucas’s legendary Lucasfilm Ltd. film company for $4.05 billion. Disney also acquired Lucasfilm’s production comapnies, Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound, in the new deal. The new deal calls for Disney to pay for half the company in cash and the rest in newly issued stock, giving Lucas about about 40 million shares of Walt Disney Co.

Disney already has big plans for the Lucasfilm brand, with talks of three new Star Wars  films already in the works. The new Star Wars trilogy kicks off with Episode 7, the new movie that’s set to be released in 2015. Episode 8 and Episode 9 will be released shortly after. Disney’s Star Wars movies will revisit the story of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia after “Return of the Jedi,” the third film released. George Lucas will serve as a creative consultant for all the new movies.

In an interview posted on YouTube George Lucas, who is sole owner of Lucasfilm, said “I’m doing this so that the films will have a longer life. I get to be a fan now … I sort of look forward to it. It’s a lot more fun actually, than actually having to go out into the mud and snow.” Lucasfilm Ltd. will continue to make San Francisco it’s headquarters, and employees will be able to keep their old jobs and titles. This new deal adds Lucasfilms to Disney’s growing list of brands that include Pixar, the Muppets, Marvel, ESPN and ABC just to name a few.

Kathleen Kennedy, the current co-chairman of Lucasfilm, will become the division’s president at Disney and report to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn. She will serve as executive producer for the new movies.

Signed, Isidori Mtabo

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