George Lucas sells Lucasfilm to Walt Disney, Star Wars 7 out in 2015

GEORGE Lucas has sold his film company to Walt Disney for $US4bn in a deal that will see a Star Wars 7 movie released in 2015.

DARTH Vader has a new master: Mickey Mouse.

Walt Disney Co said it is paying $US4.05 billion in cash and stock for Lucasfilm, the company that produced "Star Wars" and its many sequels and prequels, and added that three new films will join the lucrative franchise, starting in 2015.

Lucasfilm is wholly owned by producer George Lucas, who founded the studio in 1971 and is its chairman and chief executive. In a statement, the 68-years-old Mr Lucas cited Disney's vast network of theme parks and other entertainment outlets as one of the main attractions of the deal.

"I've always believed that 'Star Wars' could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime," Mr. Lucas said in a statement.

"Disney's reach and experience give Lucasfilm the opportunity to blaze new trails in film, television, interactive media, theme parks, live entertainment and consumer products," he said.

Lucasfilm includes the digital-effects house Industrial Light & Magic and divisions that focus on sound and other elements of the filmmaking process. The two companies said employees of those units will remain in place.

The deal, which makes Mr Lucas a major Disney shareholder, extends the acquisition strategy Disney CEO Robert Iger has pursued from the beginning of his tenure, when he paid $US7.4 billion for Pixar Animation in 2006. In 2009 Disney acquired Marvel Entertainment, the comics giant behind "The Avengers" and other superhero franchises, for more than $US4 billion.

Those acquisitions have given Disney more material as it seeks to appeal to a broader range of children and families, especially teenaged boys, a notoriously hard-to-reach audience.

"Lucasfilm fits perfectly with Disney's strategic priorities," Mr Iger said in a statement.

In addition to Marvel and Pixar movies, Disney also distributes films for DreamWorks Studios and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, leaving relatively little room in its release schedule for Disney-branded films.

Disney's theme parks in California and Florida already feature attractions based on "Star Wars." They include a 3-D flight-simulator ride called Star Tours and a live show in which some children are selected to participate in "Jedi training."

Between 1977 and 2008, Lucasfilm produced six "Star Wars" films, which fetched a total of $US4.4 billion at theatres world-wide, Disney said. Tuesday's announcement hinted that there would be more movies beyond No. 7, whose title and other details weren't disclosed.

In his statement, Mr Iger defended the price Disney is paying for the company. "We are confident we can earn a return on invested capital well in excess of our cost of capital," he said.

Lucasfilm co-chairman Kathleen Kennedy, a veteran film producer who joined the company in June 2011, is to be named president of Lucasfilm. A former business partner of DreamWorks co-founder Steven Spielberg, Ms. Kennedy is to report to Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn.

As part of the deal, Mr Lucas, who is to serve as a creative consultant on coming "Star Wars" films, will get 40 million Disney shares, making him the 10th largest shareholder, according to Factset Research. The Steven P. Jobs Trust is Disney's largest shareholder, with more than 137 million shares that the late Apple founder received as part of the company's Pixar deal. Mr Iger holds about 1.1 million Disney shares, according to Factset.