A new rumor claims that a foreign oil tycoon is interested in buying Lucasfilm and Star Wars from the Walt Disney Company.
Daisy Ridley as Rey in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), Lucasfilm
This new rumor comes from YouTuber Overlord DVD, who reveals that he received the following information from one of his Hollywood spies: So this rumor was told to us about three weeks ago, but we pretty much laughed about it and moved on. We have now confirmed this from multiple sources and are hearing that while Disney may not sell, offers are on the table. ”
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Overlord DVD said, “According to this, the potential buyer is a foreign oil tycoon.'' Reportedly, he grew up loving the Star Wars movies and has only recently seen the latest movies.'' , and they want to fix that.”
“The latest source to make this claim says this man is willing to pay $8 billion and has no intention of walking away from it,” Overlord DVD added. “And Disney can keep the rides and even make new ones, but they are never allowed to make another movie, show, cartoon, etc…”
(LR): Omega and Gungi in a scene from Season 2 “Star Wars: The Bad Batch” exclusive to Disney+. © 2023 Lucasfilm Ltd. & ™. All rights reserved.
This rumor comes as the Walt Disney Company is undergoing significant layoffs across the company.The company recently let go light year Directed by Angus McClain, produced by Gaelynn Sussman. McCland and Sussman were eliminated as part of a cut of 75 positions at Pixar, Reuters reported.
These job cuts at Pixar are part of the Walt Disney Company's previously announced plan to eliminate approximately 7,000 positions over the course of the year.
Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker (2019), Lucasfilm's Adam Driver as Kylo Ren and Daisy Ridley as Rey
RELATED: Disney CEO Bob Iger admits company “needs to do a better job of curating all of Disney, Pixar, Marvel and Star Wars”
Despite laying off a significant portion of his workforce amid a promise to raise $5.5 billion in costs, Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger said the company was The company expressed its intention to focus on large-scale IP.
During the company's first quarter 2023 financial results conference call, Iger said: We talked about curation in entertainment in general. We have to do a better job of curating all of Disney, Pixar, Marvel, and Star Wars. ”
Bob Iger attends Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 premiere on Thursday, April 27, 2023 at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood, California.
(Photo: Alex J. Berlina/ABImages)
But even as Mr. Iger made it clear that he would focus on franchises like Marvel and Star Wars, he vowed to cut costs on those titles. We are very proud of what we see on our screens, but the price has become prohibitive. We look for quality in everything. We want quality on screen, but we have to consider how much it costs. ”
“So we're going to continue to pursue that.” [subscriptions], but I'm going to be more cautious about how I do that. “We're going to be very careful about pricing,” Iger said. “We're going to reduce costs both in content and, of course, in infrastructure. We're achieving a lot there.”
“Marketing is also an area where we are trying to rebalance platform marketing and program marketing,” he added.
Mark Hamill to play Luke Skywalker in The Last Jedi (2017), Lucasfilm
RELATED: Walt Disney Company CEO Bob Iger on Disney+: “We realized that we had created a lot of content that was not driving sub-growth unnecessarily.''
Iger echoed many of these comments during the company's second-quarter 2023 earnings webcast, but also suggested that much of the content produced for Disney+ and Hulu isn't driving subscription growth. , we realized that we had been creating a lot of content that wasn't necessarily driving sub-growth, and we became more cautious about what we created. ”
“So when we try to cut content spend, we're trying to cut it in a way that doesn't impact our subscribers at all,” he argued. “We believe there is an opportunity to focus more on real secondary drivers.”
Bob Iger 2019 Disney Legends Awards Ceremony | D23 EXPO 2019 by Nagi Usano, via Wikimedia Commons
Iger went on to implicitly reveal that the real driving force behind these is the theatrical films they release and distribute to Disney+ after the box office is over. Tentpole movies in particular are a good sub-driver, but they spread their marketing costs so thin that they couldn't allocate enough money for marketing at launch. ”
He further added: Avatar, little mermaid, guardian of the galaxy, indiana jones, elemental, etc…, we actually believe there is an opportunity to lean more into them, put proper marketing dollars into it, and allocate more from shows that aren't driving subscriptions at all. ”
Mark Hamill plays Luke Skywalker in Disney's Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017)
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Based on Iger's comments, there appears to be no indication that the company will sell Lucasfilm or Star Wars, but rather embrace the series to not only increase box office revenue but also increase subscriber numbers for Disney+ and Hulu. That's what it means.
But with the PGA Tour's recent merger with LIV Golf after the PGA lampooned LIV Golf in the press for nearly a year and the two companies targeting each other in antitrust lawsuits, anything is possible.
Robert A. Iger, Executive Chairman and Chairman of the Board, at The Walt Disney Company's 2020 Investor Day.
What do you think about this new rumor that a foreign oil tycoon is interested in buying Lucasfilm and Star Wars?
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