So when exactly did Bob Iger let George Lucas now that he was interested in acquiring Lucasfilm Ltd. ? It wasn’t ” … a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.” But — rather — last May in Orlando, when both Iger & Lucas were at Disney’s Hollywood Studios to take part in an elaborate opening ceremony for “Star Tours: The Adventures Continue.”
Bob Iger and George Lucas (center) pose for photographs as the opening ceremony
for “Star Tours: The Adventures Continue” at Disney’s Hollywood Studios concludes.
Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
According to what company insiders have told me, during the rehearsal process for this opening ceremony, George reportedly told Bob that he really appreciated all of the effort that the Imagineers had put into the new multi-branching version of the “Star Tours” attraction. Which would help keep the Star Wars characters evergreen and — more importantly — relevant for the next generation of theme park goers.
Lucas then allegedly let slip that he was giving some semi-serious thought about stepping away from Lucasfilm Ltd., or at least the day-to-day operations of that company. But the only problem with doing that was that George would then have to name a successor.
It was at this point that Iger supposedly revealed that he too had succession issues on the brain. With Bob reportedly confiding to George that — as part of the new employment agreement that he was at that time negotiating with Disney’s Board of Directors — that he didn’t want to repeat Michael Eisner’s mistake. Which was to stay on in the top job at Disney longer than he was actually effective. Which is why Iger was considering exiting the Company entirely by June of 2016.
Bob Iger and George Lucas sign the Lucasfilm Ltd. acquisition deal. Photo by Rick
Rowell. Copyright Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
So here you have two very powerful men in Hollywood who have built up and then maintained major media companies who now discover that they have something in common. In that both Bob or George are eyeballing the exit.
It was this piece of common turf, that there was more to life than just maintaining intellectual property, that reportedly opened the door to the Lucasfilm Ltd. acquisition.
Now you’d think that most everyone at the Mouse House would be happy that R2D2 & C3PO are about to become Disney characters. But the way I hear it, both Tom Staggs & Jay Rasulo aren’t entirely enthusiastic about this acquisition. But not for the reasons that you might think.
George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy, board co-chairs of Lucasfilm Ltd.
Photo by Toshifumi Kitamura / AFP / Getty Images
Why For? Well, it’s not the $4.05 billion that The Walt Disney Company is paying for Lucasfilm Ltd. (I’m told that George originally asked for a multiple of that amount. Something much closer to the $7.4 billion that Disney paid for Pixar Animation Studios back in January of 2006). But — rather — Kathleen Kennedy, the current Co-Chair of Lucasfilm. Who will soon become the President of Lucasfilm and report directly to Alan Horn, the Chairman of Walt Disney Studios once the Lucasfilm acquisition is complete.
“And why does Kathleen concern Jay and Tom?,” you ask. For the very same reason that Rasulo & Staggs have been nervously eyeing Alan Horn. The fact that Bob Iger has yet to name his successor.
To explain: It’s long been assumed that Bob would eventually officially designate either Jay or Tom as his No. 2. This is the main reason that Iger reportedly had Rasulo & Staggs swap jobs back in November of 2009, with Jay (who had previously been Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts) replacing Tom as the Company’s senior executive vice president and chief financial officer. While Staggs assumed Rasulo’s old position as head of Parks and Resorts.
Bob Iger, Tim Burton and Alan Horn at the Hollywood
premiere of Disney’s “Frankenweenie.” Photo by
Alberto E. Rodriguez / Getty Images
Company insiders had always assumed that Bob had made Jay & Tom switch jobs because he was looking to round out their resumes. Make sure that both men had the necessary on-the-job experience before he then named one of them his No. 2. But now that Alan Horn (who — prior to being named Chairman of Walt Disney Studios back in May — had previously been President and COO of Warner Bros. Entertainment) is on the lot and Kathleen Kennedy (Who was one of the co-founders of Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Entertainment as well as a partner in the Kennedy / Marshall Company) is about to enter the Mouse House … Well, Alan & Kathleen are both Hollywood heavyweights who have lots of experience when it comes to running major entertainment companies. And Jay & Tom’s concern is that — when it comes time for Disney’s Board of Director to name Bob Iger’s successor — the Board may opt to go with more experienced execs like Horn & Kennedy rather than reward loyal longtime Disney officials who’ve risen up through the ranks like Rasulo & Staggs.
Long story short, folks: There’s a lot more going on here than just Walt Disney Studios acquiring the rights to make “Star Wars 7.” Especially since March of this year (which is when John Pepper stepped down as the Chairman of The Walt Disney Company and Bob Iger became both Disney’s Chairman & CEO), there has been all sorts of rumors in-house about who Iger is going to tap to be his No. 2.
Mind you, I don’t expect that Bob will pull a Palpatine and have Jay, Tom, Alan & Kathleen go at it with light sabers. But while Star Wars fans will be waiting to see who Kathleen & George select to be the writer and/or director of Episode 7, Mouse House watchers (knowing that Bob Iger has already announced that he will be stepping down as Disney’s CEO in March of 2015 and then exiting the Company entirely by June of 2016) will spend the next few months sifting for clues as to who’s going to be named Iger’s successor.
Tom Staggs, Chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts (L)
and Jay Rasulo, executive vice president & chief financial
officer of The Walt Disney Company. Copyright Disney
Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved
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