Lucasfilm

George Lucas established Lucasfilm in 1971 as an independent production firm. This decision was made to ensure he could maintain creative control over his films, particularly after his difficult experiences with Hollywood studios during the production of THX 1138. American Graffiti, distributed by Universal Pictures, was the company's inaugural production, earning US$55 million in rentals.

During the making of Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, Lucasfilm created a special effects company near Van Nuys Airport in Los Angeles. This company later evolved into Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), a Lucasfilm subsidiary. The first Star Wars film premiered on May 25, 1977, and became a major box office hit, grossing US$307,263,857. Additionally, Lucasfilm entered into merchandising agreements with companies like Kenner Products, Image Factory, and Marvel Comics for Star Wars-themed merchandise, including clothing, posters, toys, buttons, decals, and comics. With the revenue generated from these merchandising deals, Lucas, aided by Lucasfilm's first CEO, Charlie Weber, established an office called "The Egg Company" at a property on Lankershim Boulevard.

Originally, 20th Century Fox held the copyright for A New Hope, and merchandising rights were divided between Fox and Lucas at a 60/40 split. On September 1, 1981, Lucasfilm acquired all Star Wars IP and licensing rights from Fox, with the exception of the copyright for A New Hope. The copyright for A New Hope was eventually transferred to Lucasfilm on January 18, 1997.

In late 1977, Lucas established "The Chapter II Company," a subsidiary responsible for overseeing the production and funding of Star Wars: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back. Furthermore, Lucas relocated ILM from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Later, Lucas acquired a ranch in Marin County near San Francisco, which became known as Skywalker Ranch. While working on The Empire Strikes Back, Lucasfilm also produced The Star Wars Holiday Special, a Star Wars spinoff film, which was broadcast by CBS on November 17, 1978. The Empire Strikes Back premiered on May 21, 1980, and became a box office success, grossing nearly US$210 million during its initial release.

Charlie Weber, who served as Lucasfilm's first CEO, departed after the release of The Empire Strikes Back due to disagreements with Lucas. Lucas wanted to concentrate on constructing Skywalker Ranch, producing Star Wars: Episode VI Return of the Jedi, and establishing a community for filmmakers, while Weber aimed for Lucasfilm to diversify into other business areas. Lucas dismissed Weber and appointed Robert Greber as Lucasfilm's new CEO. Following the release of The Empire Strikes Back, Lucasfilm closed The Egg Company and moved all its operations to Skywalker Ranch.

Lucasfilm produced the third Star Wars film, Return of the Jedi, which was released on May 25, 1983 and grossed US$250 million by the end of the year. In addition to Return of the Jedi, Lucasfilm also produced Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984), which were distributed by Paramount Studios and also achieved considerable box office success.

During the 1980s, Lucas expanded ILM to offer special effects services for projects outside of Lucasfilm. The first of these was Dragonslayer, a joint venture between Paramount and Disney in 1981. Other notable films that ILM contributed to include Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, The Abyss (1989), Terminator, and Jurassic Park. ILM rose to prominence as the leading special effects company, earning thirteen Academy Awards for Best Visual Effects.

Lucas continued to expand Skywalker Ranch using the revenue generated from Star Wars merchandising. He envisioned Lucasfilm as a comprehensive "one-stop, full service" provider for filmmakers. These services encompassed writing retreats for screenwriters, editing equipment for film editors, and special effects services through ILM. In the 1980s, Lucas also invested in THX, another Lucasfilm start-up, which focused on enhancing the sound quality of cinema theaters using Lucas' THX sound system.

Lucas also established a computer game division at Lucasfilm, and with the assistance of Edwin Catmull, he recruited Peter Langston to lead the division. The Lucasfilm Games Group (later known as LucasArts) partnered with the video game company Atari to develop two non-Star Wars games, Ballblazer (1984) and Rescue on Fractalus!. After Atari faced financial difficulties, Lucasfilm reached an agreement with video game publisher Epyx to produce two games in 1985. In February 1986, Lucas sold Lucasfilm's computer graphics group and their Pixar computer to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, who transformed the division into a successful animated film studio called Pixar.

In 1987, Howard Roffman, the newly appointed Vice President of Lucas Licensing, was tasked with revitalizing Lucasfilm's toy line, which had declined to US$35 million by 1985. Under the leadership of Roffman and Lucas, Lucasfilm produced and collaborated on several non-Star Wars films, including Howard the Duck (1986), Labyrinth (1986), Willow (1988), Tucker: The Man and His Dream (1988), the third Indiana Jones film Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), Radioland Murders (1994), and The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (1992-1993).

In addition to cinematic films, Lucasfilm also collaborated with Disney to develop Star Tours, a Star Wars-themed simulated ride at Disney parks, and Captain EO, a 3-D movie featuring pop star Michael Jackson. During the 1990s, Lucas also partnered with Apple Inc., National Geographic, the Smithsonian Institution, and the National Audubon Society to produce various educational media, including GTV: A Geographic Perspective on American History, Life Story: The Race for the Double Helix, and Mystery of the Disappearing Ducks.

During the 1990s, Lucas expanded Skywalker Ranch to almost 5,000 acres to accommodate more office space at the adjacent Big Rock Ranch. However, Lucasfilm was unable to relocate ILM from San Rafael due to opposition from residents of Marin County. Hal Barwood joined LucasArts in 1990. Under Barwood's leadership, the subsidiary produced several computer games, including Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis, Monkey Island, and Grim Fandango.

Following the release of The Return of the Jedi, Lucasfilm worked on several Star Wars television projects, including the 1984 television movie Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure, the 1985 sequel film Ewoks: The Battle for Endor, and the cartoon series Star Wars: Droids: The Adventures of R2-D2 and C-3PO and Ewoks, which were distributed by ABC Television. Droids and Ewoks, produced by Nelvana animation studio, were intended to support a toy merchandising line. However, both animated series performed poorly commercially, with Ewoks being canceled after two seasons and Droids after one season.

In May 1987, Lucasfilm hosted the first Star Wars convention at a hotel near Los Angeles, which attracted 10,000 attendees. Lucas himself was present, along with the Star Wars characters R2-D2 and C-3PO and Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. In the same year, Lucasfilm launched a fan magazine called the Lucasfilm Fan Club magazine. In October 1987, Lucasfilm also licensed Star Wars role-playing games to the start-up West End Games, which helped expand the Star Wars Expanded Universe by introducing new alien species, ships, weapons, and droids. Until 1990, West End Games' Star Wars role-playing games were the only Star Wars stories being produced.

In 1988, Lou Aronica, then head of mass market publishing at Bantam Books, persuaded Lucas and Lucas Licensing Vice President Howard Roffman to license a series of Star Wars novels set after the events of Return of the Jedi. The first of these novels was Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire (1991), which became a bestseller and led to two sequels. The successful Thrawn Trilogy resulted in a series of Expanded Universe novels, which were published under the Bantam Spectra imprint.

During the 1990s, Lucasfilm entered into a licensing agreement with Dark Horse Comics, starting with the 1991 comic Star Wars: Dark Empire. Beginning in 1993, the company also entered into licensing agreements with Nintendo to produce Star Wars computer games, trading cards, and bendable figures. In 1995, Hasbro Inc. produced a new line of Star Wars toys under the "The Power of the Force" imprint. In 1997, Lucasfilm released The Star Wars Trilogy Special Edition, which inserted digitally added characters and creatures into existing scenes, to commercial success.

In 1998, Del Rey acquired the Lucasfilm publishing license from Bantam Spectra as part of a publishing agreement related to the upcoming Prequel trilogy. The following year, Del Rey launched a new line of Star Wars Expanded Universe novels known as the New Jedi Order series, which introduced the extragalactic Yuuzhan Vong as antagonists.

By the early 21st century, the Expanded Universe had generated numerous licensed novels, comics, and computer games, including the Tales of the Jedi comics, BioWare's Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic computer game, and the online role-playing game Star Wars: The Old Republic. To maintain consistency between the various stories, Lucasfilm created an internal database called the Holocron continuity database, which lists the various Star Wars characters, planets, ships, and concepts. Leland Chee, a Lucasfilm employee, continues to maintain this database.

Lucas began writing the script for Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace on November 1, 1994. The film premiered on May 19, 1999, and grossed a total of US$926 million by the end of the year. Its sequel, Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones, was released on May 16, 2002, grossing US$649 million by the end of the year. The third film, Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith, was released on May 16, 2005, and grossed US$848 million worldwide. The prequel trilogy generated $2.4 billion at the box office, with a significant portion of the revenue returning to Lucasfilm.

Following the release of Attack of the Clones, Lucasfilm divested its theatre sound division, THX, as a separate private company in which Lucas retained a minority stake. Lucas also relocated most of the company's divisions to Red Rock Ranch, as they had outgrown the Skywalker Ranch premises. By this time, ILM had expanded to approximately 1,500 employees.

In June 1999, Lucas won a bid to construct a new digital complex on the site of the former Letterman Army Medical Center at the Presidio in San Francisco. Lucas envisioned this complex as the home for ILM, THX, LucasArts, and Lucasfilm's headquarters. The agreement with the Presidio Trust was signed in August 2001, and construction began on February 8, 2003. In June 2005, Lucasfilm's marketing, online, and licensing units moved into the new Letterman Digital Arts Center. The new Letterman complex also housed Lucasfilm's subsidiaries ILM, THX, LucasArts, and the George Lucas Educational Foundation.

Following the completion of the Prequel Trilogy, Lucas envisioned Lucasfilm as a "widget-driven" company. While it would continue to produce books, video games, music, and special effects, film production would be reduced, except for the next Indiana Jones film. ILM, THX, and Skywalker Ranch were the most productive components of the company, generating the majority of their revenue from projects not related to Star Wars. ILM provided special effects for several successful film franchises, including Iron Man, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Avatar. Meanwhile, Skywalker Sound worked on the sound for nearly 40 films and television series.

Inspired by the success of former Lucasfilm subsidiary Pixar, Lucas established a computer animation division called Lucasfilm Animation, which was based at Big Rock Ranch. In 2005, Lucasfilm Animation established a branch in Singapore at the "Sandcrawler Building," giving the company an international presence.

However, LucasArts was unprofitable because it had targeted its products at the PC game market and had difficulty developing its own original game concepts. The division had also focused more on creating software engines than on the games themselves. Following an internal audit in 2004, half of LucasArt's staff were laid off. In 2010, another third of the division's staff were laid off after the dismissal of LucasArt's chief Jim Ward. Some of LucasArts' notable projects included the canceled computer game Star Wars: 1313, the canceled live-action TV show Star Wars: Underworld, the Star Wars Battlefront computer game series, and several LEGO Star Wars computer games.

Following the release of Revenge of the Sith, Lucas and director, writer, and animator Dave Filoni produced Star Wars: The Clone Wars, a 3D computer-animated series. Cartoon Network distributed the series, with the first episodes combined into an animated movie called The Clone Wars. The first season of Clone Wars aired on Cartoon Network on October 3, 2008. Due to its success, the series was renewed for five additional seasons.

In addition to Star Wars, Lucasfilm also produced several non-Star Wars films, including Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls (2008), the World War II film Red Tails (2012), and the animated fantasy Strange Magic (2015). These films received mixed reviews and did not perform well commercially. The critical reception of Red Tails disappointed Lucas and led him to retire from filmmaking.

In May 2011, George Lucas met with Disney CEO Bob Iger at Walt Disney World to discuss the possibility of selling Lucasfilm. Following the meeting, Lucas appointed Kathleen Kennedy, former President of the Producers Guild of America, as his successor. Lucas and Kennedy began working on the Sequel trilogy and hired Michael Arndt as the screenwriter for what became Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens. In June 2012, Kennedy was promoted to co-chair of Lucasfilm.

Following Kennedy's promotion, lawyers and accountants conducted due diligence on Lucasfilm's intellectual property in July and August 2012 to confirm that Lucas owned the rights to the Star Wars universe characters. After negotiations between Lucas and Iger, Lucas agreed to sell Lucasfilm in exchange for Disney's commitment to use his story treatments for the Sequel Trilogy in future stories. According to Iger, this was agreed upon with the understanding that Disney would not be contractually obligated to adhere to Lucas' plot lines. Additionally, Iger agreed to grant Lucasfilm the same level of limited autonomy enjoyed by Disney's other subsidiaries, Pixar and Marvel. On October 30, 2012, Lucas and Iger signed an agreement to sell Lucasfilm to Disney for $4.05 billion in stock and cash. The Walt Disney Company officially completed its acquisition of Lucasfilm on December 21, 2012.

After being acquired by Disney, Lucasfilm experienced restructuring and reorientation. Under Kathleen Kennedy's direction, the Lucasfilm Story Group was established in 2012, led by Kiri Hart, to coordinate the production of new Star Wars films and stories in Lucas' absence. Lucasfilm canceled The Clone Wars television series in 2013. However, Kennedy retained the show's animation supervisor, Filoni, and his team, who produced a new animated television series called Star Wars Rebels. The series aired for four seasons between 2014 and 2018 and received four Emmy Awards nominations.

In March 2014, Lucasfilm confirmed that Episode VII would be set 30 years after the events of Return of the Jedi. In addition to introducing three new lead actors, Lucasfilm also confirmed that several stars from the Original Trilogy, including Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Anthony Daniels, Kenny Baker, and Peter Mayhew, would reprise their roles. J.J. Abrams was selected as the director, and Lawrence Kasdan replaced Arndt as the screenwriter.

The Force Awakens was released in December 2015 and grossed US$2 billion worldwide. Following the release of The Force Awakens, Lucasfilm produced four Star Wars cinematic films: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars: Episode VIII The Last Jedi (2017), Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018), and Star Wars: Episode IX The Rise of Skywalker (2019). While The Force Awakens, Rogue One, and The Last Jedi were commercially and critically successful, Solo received mixed reviews and underperformed at the box office. Rise of Skywalker, while commercially successful, garnered mixed reactions from critics and fans.

In addition to Star Wars Rebels, Lucasfilm Animation also produced the animated shows Star Wars Forces of Destiny (2017–2018) and Star Wars Resistance (2018–2020). Furthermore, Lucasfilm collaborated with Disney, the LEGO Group, and Wil Film to produce several LEGO-themed Star Wars animated shows, including LEGO Star Wars: The Yoda Chronicles, LEGO Star Wars: Droid Tales (2015), LEGO Star Wars: The Resistance Rises, LEGO Star Wars: The Freemaker Adventures (2017-2018), and LEGO Star Wars: All-Stars.

In September 2018, Kennedy's contract as President of Lucasfilm was extended until 2021. Michelle Rejwan was appointed as the company's senior vice president of live-action development and production in June 2019.

In the month of October of 2018, Lucasfilm initiated the making of The Mandalorian, a Star Wars series brought to life with real actors. Jon Favreau took on the role of showrunner, working alongside directors like Filoni, Deborah Chow, Rick Famuyiwa, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Taika Waititi. This series premiered on Disney+ on November 12, 2019, and garnered positive feedback from both critics and its audience. Subsequently, it was picked up for a second season, which was broadcast on Disney+ on October 30, 2020.

In December of 2020, Kennedy made it known that Lucasfilm had a minimum of ten Star Wars productions in the pipeline, spanning both movies and TV shows. These included Rogue Squadron by Patty Jenkins, an as-yet-unnamed film by Taika Waititi, and a number of Disney+ series and films such as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka, Rangers of the New Republic, a series centered on Lando Calrissian, Andor, The Acolyte, the animated series Star Wars: The Bad Batch, the anime Star Wars: Visions, and A Droid Story. Furthermore, Kennedy verified that the company was also developing at least two projects outside of the Star Wars universe, specifically a sequel to the 1988 fantasy film Willow and an adaptation of Tomi Adeyemi's young adult book Children of Blood and Bone.

Lucasfilm verified in September of 2022 that they were actively developing several new productions, including the animated series Star Wars: Tales of the Jedi, Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures, and the live-action series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew. Moreover, the company announced the release dates for its Willow TV series and the fifth Indiana Jones movie.

At Celebration Europe in April of 2023, Kennedy confirmed that the studio was in the process of creating three live-action movies, with James Mangold, Dave Filoni, and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy each directing one. Mangold's movie will delve into the origins of the Jedi Order, while Filoni's movie will take place during the New Republic era and tie together several Disney+ shows, including The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, and Ahsoka. Obaid-Chinoy's movie will be set after the events of The Rise of Skywalker, with Daisy Ridley reprising her role as Rey Skywalker. Additionally, Lucasfilm announced that Ahsoka would be released in August 2023 and The Acolyte in 2024.

The LucasArts division was shut down in February of 2013, which resulted in 200 employees losing their jobs. A team of ten employees was kept on to manage the production of authorized Star Wars video games.

Lucasfilm and Disney Interactive entered into an exclusive, multi-year agreement with Electronic Arts in May of 2013 for the development of Star Wars video games. EA was tasked with concentrating on producing high-quality games, while Disney Interactive kept the rights to develop games aimed at a more "casual" gaming demographic. Among the notable Star Wars games released under the EA license are Star Wars Battlefront (2015), Star Wars Battlefront II (2017), Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, and Star Wars: Squadrons (2020).

Lucasfilm granted Marvel Comics the sole authority to create new Star Wars comics starting in 2015 in January of 2014. On April 25, 2014, the Lucasfilm Story Group clarified that only Lucas' six Star Wars films and The Clone Wars TV series were considered part of the official Canon. The Expanded Universe was rebranded as Star Wars Legends and would serve as inspiration for future narratives. All Star Wars books and other media released after this point would be part of a single, coherent storyline. Soon after Lucasfilm's Canon was rebooted, Disney Publishing Worldwide announced that Del Rey would be publishing a new series of Canon Star Wars novels every two months, beginning with John Jackson Miller's novel A New Dawn in 2014.

IDW Publishing was granted a license by Lucasfilm in April of 2017 to produce Star Wars comics suitable for all age groups, starting with Star Wars Adventures.

In February of 2020, Lucasfilm revealed Star Wars: The High Republic, a new project involving multiple types of media and set 200 years before the events of The Phantom Menace. Claudia Gray, Daniel José Older, Charles Soule, Cavan Scott, and Justina Ireland were some of the key authors involved in the project. Several publishers, including Del Rey, Disney–Lucasfilm Press, IDW Publishing, and Marvel Comics, were involved in The High Republic.

To support the company's licensed publishers and developers, Lucasfilm announced a new video game division called Lucasfilm Games in January 2021. In that same month, Lucasfilm Games formed partnerships with Ubisoft and Bethesda Softworks to develop new Star Wars and Indian Jones video games. Lucasfilm Games confirmed in February 2021 that it was working with game developer Zynga to create Star Wars: Hunters, a competitive arena combat game.

Dark Horse Comics revealed in November 2021 that it would be working with Lucasfilm and Disney Publishing Worldwide to produce a new line of comics and graphic novels for all ages, spanning from the High Republic to the First Order era.

Lucasfilm underwent a restructuring to bring all of its businesses under one roof. Lucasfilm is currently divided into six divisions:

• Lucasfilm – Responsible for the creation, production, and marketing of films and television shows.
• Lucas Digital – Encompasses Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) and Skywalker Sound. It is possible that this company no longer exists as a result of The Walt Disney Company's reorganization. Industrial Light & Magic – Specializes in digital and visual effects for the entertainment sector. Skywalker Sound – Delivers post-production sound editing services to the entertainment sector. ILM Immersive – Focuses on virtual reality, mixed reality, real-time cinema, theme-park entertainment, and narrative-based entertainment for emerging platforms.
• Lucasfilm Animation and Lucasfilm Animation Singapore – A digital animation studio involved in the production of films, television shows, and games.
• Lucasfilm Games is a division of Lucasfilm that is committed to helping partner video game publishers and developers.
• Lucas Licensing – Manages the licensing and merchandising of Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and other Lucasfilm properties. Lucas Learning – Dedicated to developing technology-driven educational resources for students in kindergarten through 12th grade. Its official website now directs users to Edutopia, the nonprofit George Lucas Educational Foundation. LucasBooks – Lucasfilm's publishing division, which is a part of Lucas Licensing.
• Lucas Online – Functions as an online hub for entertainment, reference materials, educational content, and e-commerce related to Lucasfilm projects.

A number of other businesses were initially part of the Lucasfilm group:

• LucasArts – A developer and publisher of interactive entertainment software. After The Walt Disney Company acquired Lucasfilm, the company was eventually restructured to operate under a licensing model.
• Black Falcon – Managed Lucasfilm's merchandising activities for a short time before being fully integrated into Lucasfilm in December 1979.
• Pixar – A computer animation film-production company (sold to Steve Jobs in 1986).
• THX – A theater sound system (spun off from Lucasfilm in 2002).
• Star Wars Corporation – Established as a separate entity in 1973 and later absorbed into Lucasfilm by 1980.

• Kathleen Kennedy : President [62]
• Lynwen Brennan : Executive Vice President and General Manager [62]
• Momita SenGupta : Executive Vice President, Physical Production [62]
• Rob Bedrow : Senior Vice President, Chief Creative Officer, Industry Light & Magic (ILM) [62]
• Rhonda Hjort : Senior Vice President, business affairs & legal counsel [62]
• Janet Lewin : Senior Vice President, ILM [62]
• Michelle Rejwan : Senior Vice President, Life Action Development & Production [62]
• Paul Southern : Senior Vice President, licensing [62]
• Pippa Anderson : Vice President, post-production [62]
• Lori Aultman : Vice President, finance & planning [62]
• Carrie Beck : Vice President, animation & life action series development [62]
• Vicki Dobbs Beck : Executive in charge, ILMxLAB [62]
• Candice Campos : Vice President, physical production [62]
• Michael Capoferri : Senior director, online content & programming [62]
• Blaire Chaput : Vice President, human resources [62]
• Francois Chardavoine : Vice President, technology [62]
• Doug Chiang : Vice President & Executive Creative Director, Star Wars [62]
• Joseph Cho : Vice President, production finance [62]
• Megan Crumpacker : Vice President, franchise marketing & integrated planning [62]
• Michael A. Garcia : Vice President, live action series development [62]
• Lynne Hale : Vice President, publicity & communications [62]
• John Hampian : Vice President, physical production [62]
• Kensie Kim : Vice President, business affairs & legal counsel [62]
• John Knoll : Executive creative director, senior visual effects supervisor, ILM [62]
• Jacqui Lopez : Vice President, franchise production [62]
• Josh Lowden : Vice President & General Manager, Skywalker Sound [62]
• Athena Yvette Portillo : Vice President, animation production [62]
• Douglas Reilly : Lucasfilm Games [62]
• Rayne Roberts : Vice President, film development [62]
• Max Taylor : Vice President, film development [62]
• James Waugh : Vice President, franchise content & strategy [62]
• Raymond Wu : Vice President, business affairs & legal counsel [62]
• Anna Yeager : Vice President, marketing and franchise creative [62]

• Main page on Lucasfilm.com (backup link)
• Lucasfilm on Wikipedia