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George Lucas Consolidates his Empire 210

Posted by chrisd from the step-one-star-wars-step-three-profit dept.
Shadowcat writes "George Lucas is consolidating his galaxy, merging LucasArts, Lucas Digital (ILM & Skywalker Sound), Lucas Licensing, and Lucasfilm into one mega-corporation to provide a single place to create all sorts of media. You can find the article on SF Chronicle Site."
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George Lucas Consolidates his Empire More

George Lucas Consolidates his Empire

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  • Just maybe (Score:3, Funny)

    by kdgibson ( 626349 ) on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @08:09PM (#5186155)
    Just maybe we'll see about 10 thousand more star wars games, cause there aren't enough....

    • Re:Just maybe (Score:5, Insightful)

      by reaper20 ( 23396 ) on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @08:35PM (#5186325) Homepage
      And in typical LucasArts fashion, only two of them would be good. Only Star Trek has had worse games. XWing and Tie Fighter (honorable mention to JK2) are the only good star wars games ....

      *stares at his Star Wars - Masters of Teras Kasi*

      Shit, I'd settle for remakes of the older games ....
      • Actually, Rogue Squadron and Rogue Leader were both good. So were Dark Forces, Jedi Knight and Jedi Knight II (though a good portion of the game was done by Raven, and not LucasArts).

        The Starfleet Command series hasn't been that bad, and neither was the Elite Force game for the ST series.

      • Star Wars games went down with Episode I.... (Score:5, Interesting)

        by Brian_Ellenberger ( 308720 ) on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @10:30PM (#5186870)
        Actually, I really liked the Star Wars games before Episode I. Games like XWing and Tie Fighter are classics. Dark Forces and JKI were right up there too. I even liked the old console games (even though they were hard as heck). They were even willing to take a few risks. XWing vs. Tie Fighter was simply ahead of its time in being a primarily "Internet Only" game.

        Around Episode I is when the games really started to suck. It was just too many games put together too quickly.

        However, Lucasarts seems to be turning around with some help from companies like Raven and Bioware. Jedi Knight 2 deserves better than an honorable mention. It is in my opinion the best Star Wars game ever. It is the only game I have bothered playing through twice in many many years. It wasn't afraid to give you the full power of a Jedi in the name of presenting a "challenge". I am also looking forward to the upcoming Knights of the Old Republic RPG from Bioware.

        Brian Ellenberger
        • X-Wing vs Tie Fighter needs remaking. With the poly counts and quality of current cards, truly galactic conflicts are possible. And with a little UI copying from people who've done it successfully, commanding a wing of fighters could be done better than ever. X-Wing vs Tie Fighter: Red Leader Tactical. Yum.

  • Interesting naming scheme. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Edgewize ( 262271 ) on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @08:10PM (#5186162)
    I wonder what the final company will be called? LucasEgo Intergalactic?

  • LucasUniverse... (Score:5, Informative)

    by dietlein ( 191439 ) <(dietlein) (at) (gmail.com)> on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @08:12PM (#5186180)
    Hollywood.com's story [hollywood.com]

    Bizjournal.com's story [bizjournals.com]

    Uemedia.com's story [uemedia.com]

    Anyway, it IS going to (still) be called Lucasfilm Ltd.

  • One Ring To Rule Them All (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @08:12PM (#5186183)
    One Ring to bind them all!!


    Wait shit ... wrong movie ...


    Anyways Lucas will try anything and everything to make as much money off of something that he can, this has been proven on many occassions, what makes it so unsettling for slashdot readers is that _WE_ really enjoy the star wars films and we all go and see them. SEE the problem? We hate it, but we love it, ack capitalism vs. socialism.


    Posting as AC because I'm too lazy to log in and I already an "Excellent"

    • not me (Score:4, Funny)

      by SHEENmaster ( 581283 ) <travis&utk,edu> on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @09:37PM (#5186626) Homepage Journal
      I didn't even bother going to Episode 2.

      Uh oh, I can see my karma falling now. One of us will keep our "excellent" karma.
      • That's too bad, as the action sequences were far better in EP2. The dialog still sucked Jar-Jar droppings, though...

  • George Lucas + Athina!!!! (Score:5, Funny)

    by simetra ( 155655 ) on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @08:12PM (#5186187) Homepage Journal
    George will likely seek the hand of Athina, the grand-daughter of Aristotle Onassis, now that she's turned 18 and inherited all that money.

  • More efficient this way... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by kakos ( 610660 ) on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @08:12PM (#5186189)
    I doubt this will change the fact that the third Star Wars will probably suck.

    I always wondered why Lucas didn't do this before. He had all these disparate companies that did different things. It seems like he could do things a lot more efficiently if they combined everything into one mega-studio.
    • Well, that's possible, but the efficiency and competitiveness argument doesn't seem all that logical to me- recently, the successful players have been Pixar et al., who are small, dynamic, and adaptable. Also, is their ultimate goal really efficiency, or is it to create the best product? (or greatest profit...) "Efficient" production of movies/games/whatever could probably lead to less inventiveness and ingenuity on a personal level. This seems like the kind of move that could lower worker morale enough to result in lesser products...Just my thoughts.

      • Re:More efficient this way... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by The Only Druid ( 587299 ) on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @08:36PM (#5186328)
        There's also a parallel to be drawn to Sony (as discussed by the recent WiReD article, and as linked to here on /.) that keeping cooporating companies seperated (like the Lucas* units were) in order to prevent mutually exclusive or mutually confusing goals.

        Consider the artists at LucasArts who worked independently from LucasFilm and SkywalkerSound. While they may often have reason to work together, some people might find it easier (if they're from, say, Dreamworks) to work with ILM if its not attached directly to LucasFilm.
      • I could see the true reason for this being to compensate for losses. Regardless of the Star Wars name, there is still a chance they might end up with a lose from one of these pseudocompany's products. Putting them all together helps prevent the possibility one of them might go under in the same way that AOL [&] Time Warner is losing $100 Billion on AOL, but has big movies that even it out to $11.8 Billion revenue.

    • Re:More efficient this way... (Score:5, Interesting)

      by minion floop ( 615920 ) on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @09:00PM (#5186456)
      He did do this before. When I started at LFL in 1986, it was all one company.

      The reasons I read in the paper today for consolidation were exactly the same reasons they gave in about 1989 to separate.

      Oh, well...
  • Perhaps I'm missing something, but I don't really see what the purpose of this is. Doesn't Lucas already own all three of these companies and don't they all work together on his creative abomin^H^H^H^H^H^Hprojects? Someone please clue me in as to why Lucas would want to bother doing something like this.

  • Luke Ash (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Later, George was overheard muttering to himself:

    "Truth, fiction...I'm the guy with the lightsaber. Fzoom!"

  • Lucas-Mart (Score:5, Funny)

    by Agamous Child ( 538344 ) on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @08:15PM (#5186207) Homepage Journal
    George,

    "Don't be too proud of this technological terror you've constructed. The ability to destroy a planet [through rampant licensing] is insignificant next to the power of the Force."

    Formula for cinematic infamy:

    1. Write bad movies.
    2. Sell cool toys.
    3. ???
    4. Profit. (Oh, he's already done this.)
    • Write bad movies.
      WTF?? The Empire Strikes Back is still my favorite movie, and The Return of the Jedo and A New Hope are right behind it. Unless, of course, you're only referring to the newer episodes.

      • Re:Lucas-Mart (Score:5, Funny)

        by Anonvmous Coward ( 589068 ) on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @08:31PM (#5186307)
        "Unless, of course, you're only referring to the newer episodes."

        Those were movies?! I thought those were ILM demo reels!
        • "Those were movies?! I thought those were ILM demo reels! "

          HA!! I wonder if anybody'll get that. Both those movies had rather ambitious scenes that, if cut, nobody would miss.

      • Re:Lucas-Mart (Score:5, Interesting)

        by The Only Druid ( 587299 ) on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @08:42PM (#5186374)
        You'll note the following:

        Lucas wrote ANH on his own, but Empire (usually regarded as the best of the series) was primarily written by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan. Lucas only "wrote" a small story treatment (that was several dozen pages long), which was dramatically changed and fleshed out by the real writers. The only reason GL even got credit was because it was "his" film, so he wrote the credits. His contribution was similar to James Cameron's contribution to the recent Spider Man film (all that remained from JC's treatment was the organic webshooters, incidentally).

        Jedi, which uncoincidentally is usually rated between Empire and ANH, was done similarly although with only Lawrence Kasdan. Lucas basically phoned in a concept, and Kasdan pulled it off. Most importantly, it was Lucas who insisted on the introduction of the god-awful Ewoks [as opposed to Kasdan who wanted to have Kashyyk, the homeworld of the wookies - Lucas dind't think they were "cute" enough, given our experience with Chewbacca].

        Unsurprisingly, the "new" trilogy is written solely by Lucas. He no longer is tempered by good writing, and so we have the largely panned films "The Phantom Menace" and "Attack of the Clones".

        • "Original" cut of Jedi would have sucked.. (Score:5, Interesting)

          by Brian_Ellenberger ( 308720 ) on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @09:31PM (#5186596)
          From:

          http://cgi.theforce.net/theforce/tfn.cgi?storyID =2 624

          Gary Kurtz, the producer of ANH and ESB, spoke at the Sci-Fi Expo in Plano, TX this weekend along with his daughters Tiffany and Melissa (as children they played Jawas in ANH). He shared with the crowd about meeting Lucas, leaving the Star Wars films and the original plans for the entire saga.
          .
          .
          .
          EPISODE 1: Was to focus on the origins of the Jedi Knights and how they are initiated and trained
          EPISODE 2: Introduction and development of Obi-Wan Kenobi
          EPISODE 3: Introduction and life of Vader
          EPISODE 4: There were seven different drafts of the film. At one point, they pursued buying the rights to Hidden Fortress because of the strong similarities. At one point, Luke was a female, Han was Luke's brother, Luke's father was the one in prison (interesting point for some debates) and the film featured 40 wookies
          EPISODE 5: Once written, the screenplay of Empire is almost exactly what is seen on screen. The only cut scenes were those involving wampas in the rebel base (cut because of time and unsolved technical glitches) and about two minutes of Luke/Yoda Jedi training with no real dialog.
          EPISODE 6: Leia was to be elected "Queen of her people" leaving her isolated. Han was to die. Luke confronted Vader and went on with his life alone. Leia was not to be Luke's sister.
          EPISODE 7: Third trilogy was to focus on Luke's life as a Jedi, with very few details planned out.
          EPISODE 8: Luke's sister (not Leia) appears from another part of the galaxy.
          EPISODE 9: First appearance of the Emperor.

          Take a look at the "mythical" 7, 8, and 9. They don't take place after the fall of the Empire. They basically drag out everything that happened in Jedi over 4 movies instead of one, killing Han in the process. Can you imagine EPISODE 7, an entire Star Wars movie devoted solely to Mark Hamill!?!?

          From what I've read the reason why Kasdan left Jedi was because he wanted the episode 6 listed here instead of ending it at Jedi.

          Whatever Lucas's mistakes, ending it at Jedi was an excellent move (and one that cost Lucas a great deal of money). Ending it at Jedi helped save the original Star Wars movies from dragging out and getting stale. Whatever you say about the new movies, if you wish you can essentially ignore them and just enjoy the great story told in the original 3.

          Brian Ellenberger
        • Too bad they left the stupid organic webshooters in. That was a big mistake IMHO. I grew up watching Spider Man on cartoons, on the Electric Company (yeah you old guys probably remember that), and in other stuff. In all the comics, he was a genius that built his own web shooters. The movie took that for granted and just 'gave' him the shooters. Foolish. How can he prove what a science geek he is without building anything? Instead we're left with the impression that he's a fabuloussss costume designer.

          Gay.

          I want Spidey with a vulnerability. What if he runs out of web juice? What if one breaks? Yeah, a real superhero vulnerability, one that's technological no less. That's what I expected, and the 'natural' web shooters were a mistake. If they really wanted to give him web shooters, make it a single one, and make his costume with a hole in the you-know-where so he can shoot it. :)
          • Spider-man got organic webshooters for a simple reason: the web-fluid constitutes one of the greatest industrial design breakthroughs in the last century, if not in all history. Its a compressed compound (hundreds of kilometers of the webs fit in a small box that fits on his wrist) that upon exposure to air dries instantly (or can remain partially sticky if desired) and becomes stronger than steel. Moreover, it dissolves into insignificant matter at about an hour's time.

            Now...do we really want to have the protagonist of a story - with no more science background than simple high school stuff and personal hobby interest - to develop such a compound when 3M cant?
            • He could've snuck into his best friend's father's lab one night and accidentally mixed two things and decided it'll work as a web. Shit like this happens constantly in movies, it wouldn't be out of place in a movie like Spider Man. Also, if you think this movie is based in a reality similar to the one we experience today, and therefore expect 3M to NOT have a compound like this, then I guess I need to see what the DoD has cooking. In your world, 3M doesn't have a spiderweb compound, but it's totally plausible that an airborne surfboard with rockets and machine guns has a crazed madman in armor blowing up parts of NYC.

              YEAH, RIGHT.

        • Re:Lucas-Mart (Score:3, Interesting)

          by galaga79 ( 307346 )
          ...it was Lucas who insisted on the introduction of the god-awful Ewoks [as opposed to Kasdan who wanted to have Kashyyk, the homeworld of the wookies - Lucas dind't think they were "cute" enough, given our experience with Chewbacca].

          I thought they introduced the Ewoks because it was more feasible to find a lot of kids to put in Ewok suits than to find 7 feet people suitable for Wookie outfits.
      • Exactly. "The Empire Strikes Back" is the only one of the Star Wars movies which was not written by George Lucas. Screenplay credits go to Lawrence Kasdan and Leigh Brackett (although Brackett's name deserves to be written in mile-high flaming letters).

        The one SW movie which doesn't suck, and the one movie that Lucas didn't write.

        Coincidence?
    • I always liked "The ability to control a movie genre for 20 years is insignifigant next to the power of a good chick flick."
    • "The more you tighten your grip, the more subsidiaries will slip through your fingers!"

  • As you can see, my young apprentice... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @08:15PM (#5186210)
    your friends have failed.
    Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational mega-corporation!
  • Is it me or do companies split off and merge at stock market whims? A companies stock goes up for merging, the all merge. When one company makes money from spinning off, they all start spinning off companies.

    ---------------------
    OnRoad [onlawn.net]: It gets you there and back again.

    • Re:The Stock Market Shuffle (Score:5, Insightful)

      by KKin8or ( 633073 ) on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @08:42PM (#5186373)
      Is it me or do companies split off and merge at stock market whims? A companies stock goes up for merging, the all merge. When one company makes money from spinning off, they all start spinning off companies.

      That may be true, but in this case, not so much so. According to the article, Lucasfilm is privately held, so doesn't have a stock price tracked on the market and millions of stockholders to make happy. They're not doing this to raise stock prices, because its stock isn't publicly traded. They're doing it so that all the companies can share resources without stepping on each others' toes as much. So if the games people want a bit of CG footage from a movie, they won't have to go through as much red tape, because it's already owned by their company. Or if they want to bring in the lead designer for a movie's special effects to talk to game artists, it'll be much easier. This might translate into more profits, but has nothing to do with stock price.

  • Also not mentioned... (Score:3, Funny)

    by DenOfEarth ( 162699 ) on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @08:20PM (#5186233) Homepage
    January 29th, 2003, AP Rumours of major re-organization in California today from Media Baron George Lucas' Lucasfilm company. Merging four distinct entertainment entities into one, this easily allows Lucas to command his armies of creative types into the future battlefield of the digital frontier. Also, in a related story, sales of white plastic one-size-fits-all suits has increased dramatically nation-wide.

  • Big Ego! (Score:2, Insightful)

    by ollie_ob ( 580756 )
    He is one egocentric guy, naming almost all those companies after himself...

    I personally liked the name 'Industrial Light and Magic' (ILM) - it sounds pretty cool.

  • This didn't bother me... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonvmous Coward ( 589068 ) on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @08:25PM (#5186270)
    ... until a ship landed a few miles south of my house and unloaded a bunch of droids.

  • It's a monopoly! SUE SUE! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Dysan2k ( 126022 ) on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @08:25PM (#5186271) Homepage
    Dang George.. he's trying to build a monopoly and destroy other movie businesses! Darn him!

    We must now start an open-movie force! We'll build movies for free, and all the scripts will be written (and sanity-checked) by students. We can include a free sound-crunching system and rendering farm. We'll call it ShowForge.. and we can have a solid business.. let's see.. Movix.. then we can have some of the Movix people drop out and call themselves the FMF (Free Movie Foundation).

    Oo oo... and then we'll need a mascot. We'll take a Red Rhone Cow... (So no infriging on any possible movie system that Gateway could come up with), and we'll call 'em Mux!! Yeah.. that's the ticket. Then we'll make movies for free, with volunteer actors, and make movies a-plenty. Taco and Hemos in Rob & Jeff's Excellent Adventure!

    Then we could make a Star Wars movie.. maybe call it Distro Wars! YEAH!

    Ok.. now, I'll bet that 3rd Star Wars movie is sounding not-so-bad, eh? Hehehehe...

  • The more you tighten your grip.... (Score:4, Funny)

    by wwwgregcom ( 313240 ) on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @08:26PM (#5186281) Journal
    The more companies will slip through your fingers.

  • Natalie Portman (Score:5, Funny)

    by SnuSnu ( 630537 ) on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @08:34PM (#5186320) Homepage
    I can't wait for the robotic Senator Amidala with realistic hand and mouth action...

  • Humpf. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Black Parrot ( 19622 ) on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @08:38PM (#5186335)


    I guess we're about to find out whether crap has a critical mass.

  • The best work experience I ever had... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @08:41PM (#5186366)
    I was working for a cheap-ass closeout bookstore just north of Marin when Star Wars Episode II was coming out. A gentleman wearing a shitload of Lucas swag (jacket, shirt, hat) came in to the store with his family about a week before the movie came out.

    I helped him find the book he was looking for (miracle of miracles, we had a copy), and I asked him if he worked at Lucas or just had friends/family there.

    Turned out, he worked for LucasArts, and he had just come from a screening for employees of all of the Lucas companies. He said that it was worth seeing, but not really the best of the series.

    Then there was a pause.

    "You know what my next question is," I said.

    "Yes. He's on screen for all of about five minutes, and they toned him down."

    That was a fun experience, to get an honest appraisal of the movie before it came out and to find out the most important thing about the movie without even mentioning the "J-J-word".
    • I saw Mr. Lucus several times at the Borders bookstore in San Rafael.

      Once, in the pre-Episode 1 days I was looking for a new book by Greg Bear and this fellow came up behind me to look at the Star Wars books shelved at the top of the book case in the new release Sci-Fi section. It was him. I figured he'd know all he needed about Star Wars, but hey, who knows.

      Another time I was behind him in the check out line and he had a pile of Abbott & Costello videos. They best part was the check out girl freaking out when she saw the name on his credit card.

    • Re:The best work experience I ever had... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by Twirlip of the Mists ( 615030 ) <twirlipofthemists@yahoo.com> on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @10:24PM (#5186833)
      Far be it from me to accuse you of lying, but...

      I know one of the compositors who worked for Lucas Digital on Episode II. (This is no big thing. There were hundreds and hundreds of them.) There was no employee screener a week before the movie came out. The employee screener wasn't until after the official premiere of the picture. George was working on the movie right up until the end, even to the point where the film print that went to duplication was slightly different from the digital "print" that went to DLP distribution.

      At best, it sounds like you were deceived.
  • And he did it without killing off the Jedi Council, something even Palpatine couldn't do!
  • ARKIN: The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us. I've just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away.
    TAGGE: That's impossible! How will the Emperor maintain control without the bureaucracy?
    TARKIN: The regional governors now have direct control over territories. Fear will keep the local systems in line. Fear of this battle station.

  • George Lucas quoted as saying.. (Score:5, Funny)

    by Tar-Palantir ( 590548 ) on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @08:45PM (#5186390)
    "This company is now the ultimate power in the movie industry. I suggest we use it."

  • George Lucas Inc.... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Suchetha ( 609968 ) <suchetha@@@gmail...com> on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @09:41PM (#5186648) Homepage Journal
    ... You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy.. we must be cautious"

    But hell, no matter what i gotta give him props what must be one of the greatest space fantasies i have seen (episodes iv - vi anyway)

    Suchetha

  • Start Wars Humor (Score:4, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @10:08PM (#5186754)
    I forgot where I grabbed this from, if anyone knows please reply...

    25 Lines From Star Wars that can be improved if you substitute the word "Pants"

    1. A tremor in the pants. The last time I felt this was in the presence of my old master.

    2. You are unwise to lower your pants.

    3. We've got to be able to get some reading on those pants, up or down.

    4. She must have hidden the plans in her pants. Send a detachment down to retrieve them. See to it personally Commander.

    5. These pants may not look like much, kid, but they've got it where it counts.

    6. I find your lack of pants disturbing.

    7. These pants contain the ultimate power in the Universe. I suggest we use it.

    8. Han will have those pants down. We've got to give him more time!

    9. General Veers, prepare your pants for a surface assault.

    10. I used to bulls-eye womp-rats in my pants back home.

    11. TK-421. . . Why aren't you in your pants?

    12. Lock the door. And hope they don't have pants.

    13. Governor Tarkin. I recognized your foul pants when I was brought on board.

    14. You look strong enough to pull the pants off of a Gundark.

    15. Luke. . . Help me take...these pants off.

    16. Great, Chewie, great. Always thinking with your pants.

    17. That blast came from those pants. That thing's operational!

    18. Don't worry. Chewie and I have gotten into a lot of pants more heavily guarded than this.

    19. Maybe you'd like it back in your pants, your highness.

    20. Your pants betray you. Your feelings for them are strong. Especially for your sister!

    21. Jabba doesn't have time for smugglers who drop their pants at the first sign of an Imperial Cruiser.

    22. Yeah, well short pants is better than no pants at all, Chewie.

    23. Attention. This is Lando Calrissean. The Empire has taken control of my pants, I advise everyone to leave before more troops arrive.

    24. I cannot teach him. The boy has no pants.

    25. You came in those pants? You're braver than I thought.

  • I doubt this will help Lucas (Score:5, Insightful)

    by DavidinAla ( 639952 ) on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @10:24PM (#5186832)
    To be honest, if I were a competitor of one of Lucas' companies, I would be happy to see this consolidation, assuming that they're truly going to put one management team in charge of the whole thing. Here's why.

    1) As independent operations, each of those companies has a clear focus. The management team at the sound company knows that its goal is to provide the best sound work possible in order to get business from other production companies making films. The video game unit is focusing on making money on its games. The ILM people are focused on effects and selling those effects to other studios. From a business point of view, combining will tend to make those units lose focus, because they're now going to be looking at what the new "big boss" wants instead of focusing on individual goals. See Al Ries' book, "Focus," for a good discussion of why focus is essential to a company. (Actually, see almost any of the work from Ries and Jack Trout for more support of this point, going back to their work in the '70s on positioning.)

    2) This is going to potentially create sales problems for the divisions that sell to other movie studios. As it has been, a studio that bought its special effects from ILM was dealing with a specialist company, NOT a competing studio. ILM's specialist competitors are now going to be saying (to other studios), "Why would you want to use LucasFilm? They're your competitor." You might say that it was that way already, but there's a very real difference when you're dealing with a company with a different name and different management team. If a studio is angry at LucasFilm for some action that it's taken in one area, they'll hold it against the whole company since they'll be one combined operation.

    I know this is being pitched as something to streamline operations and reasons like that, but I would bet that the original idea originated with the bean counters for reasons involving taxes or other accounting reasons. My bet is that the decision was made for accounting reasons and is being sold as something to help operations.

    I honestly don't see any operational advantage and I see multiple disadvantages. It will be interesting to see how the combined company does in the future (as compared to how its doing in its current structure), but since the numbers are private, we might never know.

    David
    • Well there are a couple of subtle differences, and the article makes a few things confusing.

      1) Lucasfilm is a movie producing company, say like Imagine from Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. They develop film projects. They are not a movie studio or media conglomarate ike Sony or AOL/TimeWarner. The fact is that Lucasfilm will continue to work with any studio and actualy needs them to distribute the product. Fox for Ep. 3 and Paramount for Indiana Jones 4. If they develop any projects in the future they will still need to take it to the studios for distribution.

      2) Seems to me this is about simplifying the top level management and operations. I doubt if ILM, Skywalker Sound and the other will fill much impact in day to day operations.

      3) As far as the ILM example, they'll still continue to operate the same way and different studios will bring them projects, perhaps except Sony since they have their own division, Imageworks. Lucasfilm will not compete with the movie studios. If anything it's the producers and the filmdevelopment companies that might have the problem. Will Imagine like to deal with Lucasfilm just to use Skywalker Sound or ILM. Who knows. But as I mentioned before operations will probably stay the same and someone like Imagine can contact ILM direct and work with them independently.

      I do think you have some valid points but I don't think it'll get that extreme.

  • Shorter Credits (Score:4, Insightful)

    by bigfatlamer ( 149907 ) on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @10:39PM (#5186923)
    So does this mean that Ep. III will have credits that don't last as long as the film itself since all the CGI, model and other work will be done "in house?" I thought that shit was never going to end in Ep. II (the credits...not the movie).

    On a more serious note, this isn't really that surprising. 3-7 years ago, everyone and their dog was doing the diversification thing. Spin off divisions into completely separate companies that have "licensing agreements" with the parent company that allow for sweetheart deals that bulk up both company's "earnings" without any money actually changing hands.

    In light of the current spotlight on corporate buttfuckery, now all these companies are bringing these spin off corps back in-house and making like nothing ever happened.

    It doesn't hurt that Commandant GW Bush wants to make it so that the bigger your corporation is the less taxes you have to pay so that one $3 billion (annual revenue) corporation will pay about 1/4 the taxes of 3000 $1 million corporations.

    I'm just sayin'...

    BFL

  • Diversification, not consolidation (Score:3, Insightful)

    by Comrade Pikachu ( 467844 ) on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @10:40PM (#5186928) Homepage
    That's my advice to George. He'd better work on getting some new creative properties going instead of spreading Star Wars around. That crap is wearing pretty thin.

    Take away Star Wars and what has he got? Grim Fandango?

  • George Lucas merged four companies into a megacorporation? Shouldn't that be a quadcorporation? You don't often see a fusion of a million businesses into one corporate structure, unless you are talking about Enron subsidiaries.

    Get your prefixes straight!

  • name suggestion... (Score:3, Funny)

    by bje2 ( 533276 ) on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @11:21PM (#5187147)
    oooohhh...one company that has a monopoly over a certain sector, and is all powerful...

    can i suggest "Lucassoft"????

    if they ever went public, the symbol could be "LSFT"...fits perfectly...

  • But that's impossible! (Score:5, Funny)

    by bill_mcgonigle ( 4333 ) on Wednesday January 29, 2003 @11:46PM (#5187268) Homepage Journal
    How will Lucas maintain control without the bureaucracy?

    I'm sorry.

  • getting all the facts (Score:2, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    People are overlooking that GWL is building a brand new facility in San Francisco's Presido, which when completed (approx 2008) will house all his businesses, with the exception of Skywalker Sound (still at Skywalker Ranch) and LucasFilm, which is housed at a new facility just up the road from Skywalker Ranch. With all of his production busineses in one place, why have redundant HR or IT departments? Think of the benefits of having all your expertise centered in one spot, where they can easily advise and coordinate with each other.

    GWL's a smart guy, and deserves the success he's achieved. I've worked for GWL, and let me tell you, it doesn't suck. Skywalker Ranch and Big Rock ranch are beautiful examples of what a work space can be. He puts his money where his mouth his, and when things goes well, he reaps the reward, and when things don't work out, he pays the tab.

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