Kontraband Know It All

How much did Disney pay George Lucas for the Star Wars franchise? How much is he worth?
The news was ablaze recently with the fact that George Lucas had finally offloaded his Star Wars cash cow to another company to tinker with. Disney were the lucky customers who got to cough up a cash and stocks deal that was worth a galactic $4.05 billion. Not bad for a series that contains little furry jungle warriors and an evil guy in a shiny helmet. The news came with mixed feelings from Star Wars fans; Lucas had clearly done a hatchet job on his beloved story (Darth Vader rolling around in a meadow!). However, having some Mickey Mouse company remake the films is also disconcerting to many - less stormtroopers and more cuddly kid-friendly characters seem to be the inevitable.
Good old George has stated that he will donate billions of this new found wealth to charity, which seems wisely altruistic of him, considering he is believed to be already worth in the region of over $4 billion. Such a vast amount of wealth is hardly surprising considering the man created Star Wars, Indiana Jones and what will no doubt be seen by future generations as his masterpiece: Howard the Duck. Lucas lives on the 4,700 acre Skywalker Ranch in California, where he enjoys fishing, long walks and hunting little people dressed as Ewoks.

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What is Disney's schedule for future Star Wars productions?
After giving up a huge chunk of loot, it is unsurprising to discover that Disney have already put Star Wars into production. They have planned Episode 7 for release some time in 2015, with Episodes 8 & 9 to follow soon after (possibly 2017 and 2019). If that isn't enough to sate the unquenchable thirst held by Star Wars fans, Disney also plans to make a new Star Wars film every 2 or 3 years beyond the next trilogy. It is believed that Disney will also create television shows based on the Star Wars universe and of course roll out the obligatory videogames and theme park attractions. Expect to see Yoda with a French accent serving hamburgers at Disneyland Paris anytime soon: "French fries you will want with that, young padawan?"
The lucrative deal Disney has just made with George Lucas was for Lucasfilm Ltd, meaning Mickey Mouse Towers now own the rights to the Indiana Jones franchise too. However, no new Indiana Jones films are planned at the moment because of issues with distribution rights. There is also no news on whether Disney will resurrect that other Lucas classic: Willow. It was rumoured Lucas planned to incorporate some of his films into one blockbuster: "Star Willow: Indiana Jones Returns to Strike Howard the Duck". Probably would have been better than The Phantom Menace at least.

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Who is currently attached to the Star Wars films? Will the Ewoks be back?
With a project like Star Wars in production backed by Disney's heavyweight clout, it was never going to take long before people started being attached to the re-vamped franchise. There will be rumours and gossip, but there are already some confirmations. One of those is the hiring of Michael Arndt, writer of Toy Story 3 and the fantastic Little Miss Sunshine, to come up with a decent screenplay. Lucas is on board as creative consultant, which means Jar Jar Binks might be back but hopefully the screenplay won't have lines like "oops" and "yippee". The holy trilogy of Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill are expected to return as the older versions of their original characters, with Hamill possibly wielding a Zimmer frame/lightsaber hybrid.
As for the polarising characters, such as Ewoks, well this is Disney after all. How many action figures of Jabba the Hutt and Boss Nass can Disney realistically expect to flog to 5 year olds in their theme parks? However, with the news that Disney plans a whole series of films, no doubt some will be aimed at adults whilst others aimed at children, hopefully keeping the whole Star Wars fanbase content. They could also consider bringing Johnny Depp on board as the campest Sith Lord ever. A bit of indulgent eyeliner, a bottle of Weequay pirate brew and a slightly droopy lightsaber and Darth Dodo is born.

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How successful is the Star Wars film franchise? Is it the biggest film franchise ever?
The Star Wars film franchise is a globally recognised product, the films grossed over $4 billion at the box office. The series consists of 7 films, the original cherished trilogy, the second much-maligned prequels and an animated film called Star Wars: The Clone Wars, which was sadly a bit rubbish. The Star Wars series has grossed more than mega-blockbusters like the Pirates of the Caribbean series, The Lord of the Rings trilogy and the recent Batman films. Impressive indeed, especially when The Phantom Menace is revealed as the highest grossing Star Wars film, with over a billion dollars alone. In all fairness, after 16 years of waiting, Lucas could have served up a home video of him dressing his dog up in a cape and Star Wars fans would have made it a worldwide hit. He edited the dog video and later released it as Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones.
Such success puts the Star Wars franchise in third place in the list of the biggest film franchises ever. The James Bond films are in second place, but with 25 films grossing $5.5 billion that's a paltry $223 million each (Star Wars averages at $626 million a film). In the top spot is a certain young wizard known as Harry Potter, with his 8 films grossing a whopping $7.7 billion, or around $963 million each. One day, someone will make a film about a student wizard spaceship captain who spies at the weekend and it will make billions. Or it will end up being like Ewoks: The Battle for Endor and make grown Star Wars fans weep and burn their Boba Fett pyjamas in fury.

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