Is Disney selling Star Wars? Viral rumors of Lucasfilm being sold takes the internet by storm

Disney, which had bought Lucasfilm in 2012, is not selling it back anytime soon. But in 2020 and June 2023, there was a sudden and unfounded rumor about the Star Wars franchise being sold off by Disney flagship.

However, there's no such official news. Star Wars, a franchise under Lucasfilm, remains under the larger umbrella of the Mickey Mouse company, along with other Lucasfilm franchises like Indiana Jones and Willow.

The Star Wars Celebration 2023 held in Europe in April this year saw Lucasfilm announce three Star Wars movies in their upcoming projects. While the company may still be called Lucasfilm after George Lucas, the initial owner, the franchise is under the Mouse company, who have no plans to sell it off.

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Unfounded rumors on social media about Disney selling the Star Wars franchise

The internet was taken by storm in June 2023 as rumors about Disney trying to sell off the Star Wars franchise started doing the rounds. The rumors went viral on various social media platforms including, YouTube, Twitter, TikTok and Facebook.

While there were no credible sources behind the rumors, the messages posed them as facts. Some of these posts claimed that George Lucas was trying to buy Lucasfilm back as Disney was looking for buyers.

The baseless rumors may have come to gain eyeballs and likes on personal channels and pages. The YouTube channel going by the name Overlord DVD claimed that the umbrella company faced financial issues after acquiring Hulu. However, what added coal to the fire was the impression that the “space war” franchise was not doing that well under Disney.

However, some of the latest series on the streaming platform Disney+, like The Mandalorian and Ahsoka, have changed the course of events, making the franchise profitable. As the franchise is not a sick investment, there's no reason for the parent company to sell it off.

Moreover, murmurs suggest that George Lucas is enjoying his retirement for which he sold off his brainchild as he said in Paul Duncan’s Star Wars Archives. Here's some of the media fervor on the rumors:

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Star Wars journey under Disney

CEO Bob Iger took over some vital franchises since attaining the chair. These include Pixar in 2006, Marvel in 2010 and Lucasfilm in 2012. Over the years, MCU and Star Wars have become the two main franchises.

As the deal with Lucasfilm was closed on October 30, 2012, there was a joint announcement about the Star Wars sequel trilogy. Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released in December 2015, Star Wars: The Last Jedi arrived in December 2017, and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker was released in 2019.

A scene from The Rise of Skywalker (Image by Lucasfilm)

The anthology movies after the takeover were Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in December 2016 and Solo: A Star Wars Story in May 2018.

While Rogue One was a hit, Solo failed miserably at the box office. While Lucasfilm has been taking a hiatus from the larger screens, it's doing exceptionally on the company's streaming platform.

As the flagship company pushed into streaming, The Mandalorian, Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Book of Boba Fett and Ahsoka have turned the franchise around. Dave Feloni, George Lucas’s protégé, is poised to take the franchise further on the arc that presents Ewan McGregor’s Obi-Wan, Hayden Christensen’s Anakin, Rosario’s Ahsoka and Lars Mikkelsen’s Admiral Thrawn.

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Is Lucasfilm a successful acquisition for Disney?

Ahsoka was a huge hit. (Image via Lucasfilm)

The initial decade seemed to be difficult for the Star Wars franchise as it seemed to have lost connection with the audience and depended heavily on nostalgia. However, Dave Feloni is turning things around. Moreover, the streaming content is doing much better than the large screen.

Also, the announcement about the upcoming Star Wars movies in the Star Wars Celebration this year promises a continuation of the franchise strongly.

Meanwhile, Willow and Indiana Jones franchises have not proved fruitful in the recent past. While the streaming giant pulled the plug on the Willow franchise in the wake of the Hollywood strikes, Indiana Jones & the Dial of Destiny did not fare well with a budget of $300 million and grossing less than $400 million.

Overall, the Lucasfilm acquisition is not a bad business for Disney, as the future of the Star Wars franchise looks promising under the Mouse company. The flagship company has roped in Sharmeen Obaid-Chenoy, a Pakistani-Canadian filmmaker to helm the 2026 Star Wars movie.