Disney Buying Lucasfilm for $4 Billion

The Walt Disney Company, in a move that gives it a commanding position in the realm of fantasy movies, has agreed to acquire Lucasfilm Ltd. from its founder, George Lucas, for $4.05 billion in stock and cash.

The sale provides a corporate home for a private company that grew from Lucas’s hugely successful “Star Wars” series, and became an enduring force in creating effects-driven science fiction entertainment for large and small screens. Lucas, who is 68 years old, had already announced he would step down from day-to-day operation of the company. Disney plans to release a seventh “Star Wars” feature film in 2015, with new films in the series coming every two or three years after that. Lucas will be a consultant on the film projects.

Disney purchased Marvel Entertainment for $4 billion in 2009 and Pixar Animation Studios for $7.4 billion in 2006.