Lucasfilm (Colony Crisis Averted)

Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) is an American film production company founded by George Lucas in 1971, based in Marin County, California. Lucas is its current chairman, and Micheline Chau is its president/chief operating officer.

The company is best known for producing the Star Wars and Indiana Jones films, but it has produced other box office hits, including American Graffiti. It has also been a leader in developing new film technology in special effects, sound, and computer animation, and because of their expertise its subsidiaries often help produce non-Lucasfilm pictures.

History
Lucasfilm was founded by filmmaker George Lucas in 1971.

On July 8, 2005, Lucasfilm's marketing, online, and licensing units moved into the new Letterman Digital Arts Center located in the Presidio in San Francisco. It shares the complex with Industrial Light & Magic and LucasArts. Lucasfilm had planned an expansion at Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, California, but shelved the plan due to opposition from neighbors. However, it still plans to expand elsewhere.

In January 2012, Lucas announced his retirement from producing large-scale blockbuster films and instead re-focusing his career on smaller, independently budgeted features.

In June 2012, it was announced that producer Kathleen Kennedy, a long-term collaborator with Steven Spielberg and a producer of the Indiana Jones films, had been appointed as co-chair of Lucasfilm Ltd. It was reported that Kennedy would work alongside Lucas, who would remain chief executive and serve as co-chairman for at least one year, after which she would succeed him as the company's sole leader.

On September 5, 2012, Micheline Chau, who served as president and COO of Lucasfilm for two-decades, announced that she was retiring. With her departure, senior executives for each of the Lucasfilm divisions will report directly to Kathleen Kennedy. Chau was credited with keeping the Lucasfilm and Star Wars brands strong, especially through animation spin-offs and licensing initiatives.

Announcing a new Star Wars trilogy
Discussions relating to the possibility of the making of new Star Wars films officially began in May 2011, after a meeting that George Lucas had with then co-chairman Kathleen Kennedy during the inauguration of the Star Tours: The Adventures Continue attraction.

Kathleen Kennedy became president of Lucasfilm. Additionally she serves as the brand manager for Star Wars, working directly with Lucasfilm global lines of business to build, further integrate, and maximize the value of this global franchise. Kennedy serves as producer on new Star Wars feature films, with George Lucas serving as creative consultant. The company also announced the future release of new Star Wars films, starting with Episode VII (later titled Star Wars: The Force Awakens) in 2015. Disney's CEO Bob Iger confirmed that Lucasfilm had plans to have stand-alone Star Wars movies with Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg lined up to develop the movies that would be released sometime during the six-year period the sequel trilogy will be released.

On April 24, 2012, Lucasfilm announced that the Expanded Universe would not become canon (but may be drawn upon for future works) and that The Clone Wars and later the Rebels animated series would be considered canon and future Star Wars projects would be overseen by a new story group to keep to that canon. Additionally, the Star Wars Legends banner would be used for those Expanded Universe materials that are in print. Disney Publishing Worldwide also announced that Del Rey would publish a new line of canon Star Wars books under the Lucasfilm Story Group being released starting in September on a bi-monthly schedule.

On January 3, 2014, Lucasfilm announced that Dark Horse Comics' license for Star Wars comics would end in 2015, and return to fellow Marvel Comics.

Lucasfilm announced that Star Wars: The Clone Wars would be put on hold to focus on the Star Wars sequel trilogy and Star Wars Rebels. On February 13, 2014, Netflix announced that starting on March 7, 2014 they will begin distribution of all five seasons of the TV series, including some previously unreleased director's cut episode versions. They will also premiere the sixth (Lost Missions) and seventh seasons (Legacy) of The Clone Wars.