Adding another marquee pop-culture property to its roster,
Walt Disney Co. has agreed to pay $4.05 billion to acquire the company that controls the blockbuster
"Star Wars" franchise — allowing Disney to exploit the brand through film, television, consumer products and theme parks.
With the purchase of Lucasfilm Ltd., Disney plans to churn out new "Star Wars" movies every two or three years beginning in 2015 with "Star Wars Episode 7," Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger said in conference call with analysts late Tuesday.
The acquisition surprised rival studios, especially
20th Century Fox, which has released all of the live-
action "Star Wars" movies since the 1977 original. Executives at Fox and other studios said they weren't even offered a chance to bid for Lucasfilm, the San Francisco company founded and owned by filmmaker
George Lucas.
But it's unlikely anyone else would have paid more than Disney, which can make use of "Star Wars" characters throughout its sprawling media and consumer empire, analysts said. Disney already has "Star Wars"-related attractions at four theme parks.
"No other company is as well positioned to take advantage of this opportunity as Disney is," said RBC Capital Markets analyst David Bank.
The acquisition is another high-stakes gamble for Iger. Since taking the helm in 2005, he has transformed Disney from a company that developed and produced its intellectual property in-house to one that spends billions to buy popular characters. The Burbank company purchased
Pixar Animation Studios in 2006 for $7.4 billion and
Marvel Entertainment in 2009 for $4 billion.
