Harrison Ellenshaw comments on sale of Lucasfilm

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I wasn't at all shocked by the announcement.   When I visited Skywalker Ranch and the Lucasfilm Archives a few months ago, I asked what would happen after George goes to that galaxy (far far away) in the sky.  I think we all agreed there that George was not going to just let his estate go to his kids who might not really want to deal with it and then sell it to Walmart or Google or Apple???  So the deal with Disney is George saying this is the best choice he can make at this time.  Who better to manage the ongoing revenue stream from a massive merchandising machine?

But here are some points (all just my opinion, of course):

- Disney got a firggin' bargain (think of the real estate alone). They paid almost twice as much for Pixar and THAT was a bargain.  {If INSTAGRAM is worth 1 billion then Lucasfilm is worth at least 10 billion,  if not more.}  But my guess is that Iger knows that there are no more blockbusters coming from Lucasfilm.  The press release that says more SW films are on the way starting in 2015 is just to make Wall Street happy.  They may make them, they may not.  Regardless they won’t look anything like the “original” SW films, they will be directed by some video game director with an English accent who’s never done a feature before and star teenagers who suck blood from C3PO.  The effects will be in 3D or more (!) and produced in Sri-Lanka.  By the way isn’t Iger supposed retire by then?   It's a crap shoot who the next Disney CEO will be.  Larry Ellison??? Hoodie Zuckerman??? David Stern????   Don't laugh it could happen. Remember Fay Vincent, Coca Cola and Columbia.  Let’s not forget the bigger the company the more likely the board will make bad CEO choices., it's the nature of the beast.

- George is bored.  His only real joy anymore is choosing the moulding and paint colors for the remodel of the cafeteria (seriously).  I don't mean that unkindly, by the way.  He is also a very sensitive man.  He feels very hurt by the vitriolic hatred of fans who feel betrayed, not to mention Marin County who would not let him build sound stages at Skywalker Ranch; so George said fine, I'll build low cost housing instead to which the county then said "No, we don't want poor people in here, it's bad for the neighborhood!"  For George the Disney deal is a way to further distance himself from the resentment and hate.  He will try to withdraw further, but I don't think he will ever be able to ‘let go’ completely... like I said, he's a sensitive man.

- Here is the REAL point.  Few people know how generous George is.  He established many years ago an educational foundation funded at over a billion dollars. George will get 2 bil in cash from Disney.  Then he will give another bil to his foundation and with the other 1 bil give it to charities and perhaps the arts.  But it won't make the news (WELL IT JUST DID).  So far of all the "breaking news" articles in the last 24 hours, I've only seen one article that mentions he's one of a number of very wealthy people who signed the Gates/Buffett declaration to be philanthropic with his wealth and not leave more than a few million to their kids.  "Little Jimmy, how many Ferraris do you really need?" [STOP THE PRESSES!  MUCH OF THIS HAS JUST BEEN CONFIRMED BY A LUCAS SPOKESPERSON... NOT THE FERRARI THING THOUGH.]

-It's too bad that now Kathy Kennedy has to report to Alan Horn, that's humiliating. She should be reporting directly to Iger, it's only fair"

~ Harrison Ellenshaw