As a Disney stockholder, I have great hopes for the merger of Star Wars and Walt Disney. However as a bonafide
The picture below probably explains it well:
Geoge Lucas goes to the Dark Side.
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There was a fascinating post on this at Instapundit of all places. I hadn't realized that Lucas didn't like directing or writing movies. Perhaps now he can pursue his dream of giving his land in Mill Valley to a developer to build low income housing since the neighbors refused to let him build what he wanted. Priceless!
Instapundit writes nothing fascinating.
The real reason he did it, taxes. By cashing out now, he spared his family the need to pick up the pieces of his empire after he’s gone. The strategy will save his heirs the the responsibility of managing their inheritance. Long-term capital gains tax from the sale of assets held more than one year are taxed at a rate of 15% for investors in the 25% income tax bracket or above (Lucas’s level), and zero for investors in the 10% or 15% bracket. Those rates are set to jump to 20% and 10%, respectively in January. He probably wanted to take advantage of the lower rate on long-term capital gain while it’s certain,
Bottom line, it's all about the money.
But for the fan-its all about the content. I could care less about how much George Lucas makes( however I would appreciate a big bump in Disney stock price). But it will be imporant to make sure that the Star Wars story remains intact.
It will be interesting to see what happens with this. I think Lucas was spoiled by the success of the first three movies he made in the 70s and 80s. The later movies have great special effects but the plots were pretty useless. Clearly nobody could tell Lucas he was screwing up.
Who knows, Disney could actually improve things.
Perhaps-but where do you go with the story line? Luke Skywalker is played by an older actor perhaps-who has become the "Yoda " of the New Republic. Who becomes the villian? There is only one Darth Vader-and remember that in all six movies, that was the primary story Lucas had to tell.