Lucasfilm Limited is an American film production company founded by George Lucas in 1971, based in San Francisco, California. Lucas is the company's current chairman and CEO, and Micheline Chau is the president and COO.
The company is best known for producing the Star Wars films, and has also produced other box office hits, including the Indiana Jones franchise and 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. Lucasfilm is set to move away from films and more into TV, due to rising budgets.[2] They also have a policy of offering no group discounts to their movies, probably for this reason.[citation needed]
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. They are also best known for The Deep Note and THX.
Lucasfilm has collaborated with the Walt Disney Company and Walt Disney Imagineering numerous times to create rides and attractions centered on Star Wars and Indiana Jones for various Walt Disney Parks and Resort attractions worldwide.
The 16th largest motion picture producer in the United States, ranked by revenues, Lucasfilm Ltd. is an independent film and television production and distribution company developed by George Lucas, creator of the popular and profitable Star Wars and Indiana Jones film series. By 1995, Lucasfilm consisted of three entities: Lucasfilm Ltd., Lucas Digital Ltd., and LucasArts Entertainment Co. Lucasfilm Ltd. created Lucas's motion picture and television productions and administered the THX theater and the home theater licensing and certification procedures. Lucas Digital Ltd. oversaw operations of Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), the world's foremost visual effects production facility, and Skywalker Sound, one of the world's premier sound engineering facilities. Finally, LucasArts Entertainment Company produced multimedia and interactive computer entertainment and educational computer software, while also overseeing the licensing responsibilities for Lucasfilm stories and characters.
Subsidiaries
Industrial Light & Magic logo
Industrial Light & Magic - visual effects
Skywalker Sound - post-production sound design
Lucasarts logo
LucasArts - video and computer games
Lucas Licensing - licensing and merchandising
THX logo
Lucas Learning - educational materials
Lucas Books - book publishing
Lucasfilm Animation - animation
Lucasfilm Animation Singapore - animation
Lucas Online - websites
The THX system also had applications in the home theater, a concept that was gaining popularity in the mid-1990s. Lucasfilm's home THX system certified equipment to ensure that it maintained the quality of film sound as it was transferred to the home. Specifically, home THX certification and licensing program controlled parameters that affected the clarity of dialogue, "soundstaging" (localizing sounds), surround sound diffusion, frequency response, and transparency. Such licensing was available to equipment manufacturers for certification of front and center speakers, surround speakers, subwoofers, amplifiers, preamplifiers, receivers, laser disc players, front video projection screens, and cords and interconnects.
In 1994, for the fourth year in a row, Working Mother magazine named Lucasfilm, Lucas Digital, and LucasArts Entertainment among the top 100 workplaces for working mothers. The magazine praised the companies' child-care centers, flexible working hours, and profit sharing plans, as well as their reputation for equal treatment in pay. Moreover, the companies subsidized 100 percent of health care costs for the employee and 75 percent for the family. Not surprisingly, the three companies enjoyed a low turnover rate.
In the mid-1990s, George Lucas remained very involved in the arts and education, serving as chairperson of the George Lucas Educational Foundation as well as on the board of directors of the National Geographic Society Education Foundation, the Artists Rights Foundation, The Joseph Campbell Foundation, and The Film Foundation. He was also a member of the USC School of Cinema-Television Board of Councilors. Moreover, Lucasfilm also remained poised for growth, announcing plans in 1994 to produce three more installments of the Star Wars series and one more installment of the Indiana Jones series. Plans were to film the three Star Wars films simultaneously and to released them biannually, beginning in 1998 or 1999. Steven Spielberg agreed at that time to direct the fourth Indiana Jones movie. With such projects underway, the companies that Lucas founded seemed well prepared for continued profitability.
Late 1990s: Deals, Re-releases, and Prequels
George Lucas's announcement that he would re-release the original Star Wars series remastered and enhanced, and that he would direct three additional Star Wars films ("prequels"), that would reveal the history behind the original trilogy, sparked a host of commercial deals. Companies clamored to negotiate for a piece of the Star Wars legacy. In 1996, Lucasfilm and PepsiCo aligned forces in an approximate $2 billion global marketing deal. PepsiCo gained rights to for the launch of the enhanced movies, while Lucasfilm retained the ability to search for additional partners for the new franchise coming in 1999. Random House and Scholastic got a piece of the pie when they signed agreements with Lucasfilm to develop books based on the forthcoming prequels. The agreement allowed that Scholastic would publish three sets of Star Wars books for each new format, and a novelization of each new film. Fox also secured a deal; Fox agreed to distribute all three of the upcoming movies and received, for an undisclosed sum, the network broadcast rights to the first of the three films. Unity, a communications agency, was hired to mastermind the global marketing launch of the Episode One, in 1999. The much sought after multi-year, multi-million dollar toy rights went to Galoob and Hasbro, prompting Hasbro to purchase Galoob. Nintendo snagged another hot deal--the rights to Star Wars videogames.
The 1997 re-release of Star Wars, the first movie in the original trilogy, grossed more than $250 million domestically, a good start to the upcoming string of re-releases and prequels.
New Technologies and New Star Wars Movies
George Lucas stunned the movie industry in 1999 when he announced that Lucasfilm would bankroll the first digital projectors to be used in theaters. The projectors debut would be timed to show Phantom Menace, the title of the first of the three Star Wars prequels. The first movie in the prequel series, Star Wars Episode One: Attack of the Clones, was released on May 19, 1999.
Later in 1999, Lucasfilm was selected by the trustees of the new Presidio national park, intended to become a part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco, California, to develop a motion picture complex at the site.
Additional strides in technology were taken, over the years, by ILM, the largest f/x studio in the film business. The company supplied complex computer graphics for several computer graphic-rich films, including A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Pearl Harbor, The Mummy, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
2000s: Learning from His Mistakes
Although the release of Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace, and Star Wars Episode Two: Attack of the Clones, (released in 2002) were successful, there were lessons to be learned. One of which was that although toys and games sold as forecast, apparel and some other products did not sell as anticipated. Howard Roffman, vice president of sales for Lucasfilm, told Discount Store News in August, 1999, that although apparel had never been a strong category for licensing, "Some retailers bought into it heavily, and in some channels there is too much merchandise." After a disappointing run of apparel sales after the Episode One release, retailers have vowed to be more cautious.
Lucasfilm also learned from the release of Episode One. Just days after releasing the movie in the United States, Lucasfilm found that hawkers in many foreign countries managed to procure bootleg copies of the film to sell on the streets. In order to avoid the same problem, Lucasfilm decided to release the second movie worldwide on the same day--May 16, 2002. Additionally, in order to scoop the unauthorized Internet sites, Lucasfilm created his own "underground" Web site, complete with fake news stories and features in order to keep ahead of the game. Episode Two, released in 2002, was one of the top-grossing films of the year, and Episode Three is expected to perform at least as well. Lucasfilm is sure to have more gems up its sleeve, and is poised to continue its legacy.
Principal Subsidiaries:Lucas Digital Ltd.; LucasArts Entertainment Co.; Industrial Light & Magic (ILM); Skywalker Sound.
Principal Competitors:New Line Production Inc.; Paramount Pictures.
Statistics:
Private Company
Incorporated: 1971
Employees: 2,000 (est.)
Sales: $1,500 million (2001 est.)
NAIC: 512110 Motion Picture and Video Production; 512120 Motion Picture and Video Distribution; 512190 Postproduction Services and Other Motion Picture and Video Industries
Key Dates:
1971: Lucasfilm Ltd. Incorporates; George Lucas writes and directs his first feature film, THX 1138.
1973: George Lucas experiences commercial success with the film American Graffiti.
1975: Industrial Light & Magic is established to produce visual effects for the upcoming Star Wars film.
1977: Star Wars is released and received six Academy Awards.
1980: The Empire Strikes Back is released.
1981: Raiders of the Lost Ark is released.
1983: Return of the Jedi is released. The Computer Division reorganizes to form Pixar and Games.
1984: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is released.
1986: Lucasfilm sells Pixar to Steven Jobs.
1989: LucasArts Entertainment Company is established, which includes the Games Division.
1995: The Library of Congress honors American Graffiti by naming it to the National Film Registry.
1997: Star Wars Special Edition premiers nationwide.
1999: Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace is released. Trustees of the Presidio National Park in San Francisco select Lucasfilm as preferred developer of 23 acres for its proposed Letterman Digital Arts Center, pending an environmental review.
2002: Star Wars Episode Two: Attack of the Clones is released.
Address:
P.O. Box 2009
San Rafael, California 94912-2009
U.S.A.
The company is best known for producing the Star Wars films, and has also produced other box office hits, including the Indiana Jones franchise and 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. Lucasfilm is set to move away from films and more into TV, due to rising budgets.[2] They also have a policy of offering no group discounts to their movies, probably for this reason.[citation needed]
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. They are also best known for The Deep Note and THX.
Lucasfilm has collaborated with the Walt Disney Company and Walt Disney Imagineering numerous times to create rides and attractions centered on Star Wars and Indiana Jones for various Walt Disney Parks and Resort attractions worldwide.
The 16th largest motion picture producer in the United States, ranked by revenues, Lucasfilm Ltd. is an independent film and television production and distribution company developed by George Lucas, creator of the popular and profitable Star Wars and Indiana Jones film series. By 1995, Lucasfilm consisted of three entities: Lucasfilm Ltd., Lucas Digital Ltd., and LucasArts Entertainment Co. Lucasfilm Ltd. created Lucas's motion picture and television productions and administered the THX theater and the home theater licensing and certification procedures. Lucas Digital Ltd. oversaw operations of Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), the world's foremost visual effects production facility, and Skywalker Sound, one of the world's premier sound engineering facilities. Finally, LucasArts Entertainment Company produced multimedia and interactive computer entertainment and educational computer software, while also overseeing the licensing responsibilities for Lucasfilm stories and characters.
Subsidiaries
Industrial Light & Magic logo
Industrial Light & Magic - visual effects
Skywalker Sound - post-production sound design
Lucasarts logo
LucasArts - video and computer games
Lucas Licensing - licensing and merchandising
THX logo
Lucas Learning - educational materials
Lucas Books - book publishing
Lucasfilm Animation - animation
Lucasfilm Animation Singapore - animation
Lucas Online - websites
The THX system also had applications in the home theater, a concept that was gaining popularity in the mid-1990s. Lucasfilm's home THX system certified equipment to ensure that it maintained the quality of film sound as it was transferred to the home. Specifically, home THX certification and licensing program controlled parameters that affected the clarity of dialogue, "soundstaging" (localizing sounds), surround sound diffusion, frequency response, and transparency. Such licensing was available to equipment manufacturers for certification of front and center speakers, surround speakers, subwoofers, amplifiers, preamplifiers, receivers, laser disc players, front video projection screens, and cords and interconnects.
In 1994, for the fourth year in a row, Working Mother magazine named Lucasfilm, Lucas Digital, and LucasArts Entertainment among the top 100 workplaces for working mothers. The magazine praised the companies' child-care centers, flexible working hours, and profit sharing plans, as well as their reputation for equal treatment in pay. Moreover, the companies subsidized 100 percent of health care costs for the employee and 75 percent for the family. Not surprisingly, the three companies enjoyed a low turnover rate.
In the mid-1990s, George Lucas remained very involved in the arts and education, serving as chairperson of the George Lucas Educational Foundation as well as on the board of directors of the National Geographic Society Education Foundation, the Artists Rights Foundation, The Joseph Campbell Foundation, and The Film Foundation. He was also a member of the USC School of Cinema-Television Board of Councilors. Moreover, Lucasfilm also remained poised for growth, announcing plans in 1994 to produce three more installments of the Star Wars series and one more installment of the Indiana Jones series. Plans were to film the three Star Wars films simultaneously and to released them biannually, beginning in 1998 or 1999. Steven Spielberg agreed at that time to direct the fourth Indiana Jones movie. With such projects underway, the companies that Lucas founded seemed well prepared for continued profitability.
Late 1990s: Deals, Re-releases, and Prequels
George Lucas's announcement that he would re-release the original Star Wars series remastered and enhanced, and that he would direct three additional Star Wars films ("prequels"), that would reveal the history behind the original trilogy, sparked a host of commercial deals. Companies clamored to negotiate for a piece of the Star Wars legacy. In 1996, Lucasfilm and PepsiCo aligned forces in an approximate $2 billion global marketing deal. PepsiCo gained rights to for the launch of the enhanced movies, while Lucasfilm retained the ability to search for additional partners for the new franchise coming in 1999. Random House and Scholastic got a piece of the pie when they signed agreements with Lucasfilm to develop books based on the forthcoming prequels. The agreement allowed that Scholastic would publish three sets of Star Wars books for each new format, and a novelization of each new film. Fox also secured a deal; Fox agreed to distribute all three of the upcoming movies and received, for an undisclosed sum, the network broadcast rights to the first of the three films. Unity, a communications agency, was hired to mastermind the global marketing launch of the Episode One, in 1999. The much sought after multi-year, multi-million dollar toy rights went to Galoob and Hasbro, prompting Hasbro to purchase Galoob. Nintendo snagged another hot deal--the rights to Star Wars videogames.
The 1997 re-release of Star Wars, the first movie in the original trilogy, grossed more than $250 million domestically, a good start to the upcoming string of re-releases and prequels.
New Technologies and New Star Wars Movies
George Lucas stunned the movie industry in 1999 when he announced that Lucasfilm would bankroll the first digital projectors to be used in theaters. The projectors debut would be timed to show Phantom Menace, the title of the first of the three Star Wars prequels. The first movie in the prequel series, Star Wars Episode One: Attack of the Clones, was released on May 19, 1999.
Later in 1999, Lucasfilm was selected by the trustees of the new Presidio national park, intended to become a part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area in San Francisco, California, to develop a motion picture complex at the site.
Additional strides in technology were taken, over the years, by ILM, the largest f/x studio in the film business. The company supplied complex computer graphics for several computer graphic-rich films, including A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Pearl Harbor, The Mummy, and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
2000s: Learning from His Mistakes
Although the release of Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace, and Star Wars Episode Two: Attack of the Clones, (released in 2002) were successful, there were lessons to be learned. One of which was that although toys and games sold as forecast, apparel and some other products did not sell as anticipated. Howard Roffman, vice president of sales for Lucasfilm, told Discount Store News in August, 1999, that although apparel had never been a strong category for licensing, "Some retailers bought into it heavily, and in some channels there is too much merchandise." After a disappointing run of apparel sales after the Episode One release, retailers have vowed to be more cautious.
Lucasfilm also learned from the release of Episode One. Just days after releasing the movie in the United States, Lucasfilm found that hawkers in many foreign countries managed to procure bootleg copies of the film to sell on the streets. In order to avoid the same problem, Lucasfilm decided to release the second movie worldwide on the same day--May 16, 2002. Additionally, in order to scoop the unauthorized Internet sites, Lucasfilm created his own "underground" Web site, complete with fake news stories and features in order to keep ahead of the game. Episode Two, released in 2002, was one of the top-grossing films of the year, and Episode Three is expected to perform at least as well. Lucasfilm is sure to have more gems up its sleeve, and is poised to continue its legacy.
Principal Subsidiaries:Lucas Digital Ltd.; LucasArts Entertainment Co.; Industrial Light & Magic (ILM); Skywalker Sound.
Principal Competitors:New Line Production Inc.; Paramount Pictures.
Statistics:
Private Company
Incorporated: 1971
Employees: 2,000 (est.)
Sales: $1,500 million (2001 est.)
NAIC: 512110 Motion Picture and Video Production; 512120 Motion Picture and Video Distribution; 512190 Postproduction Services and Other Motion Picture and Video Industries
Key Dates:
1971: Lucasfilm Ltd. Incorporates; George Lucas writes and directs his first feature film, THX 1138.
1973: George Lucas experiences commercial success with the film American Graffiti.
1975: Industrial Light & Magic is established to produce visual effects for the upcoming Star Wars film.
1977: Star Wars is released and received six Academy Awards.
1980: The Empire Strikes Back is released.
1981: Raiders of the Lost Ark is released.
1983: Return of the Jedi is released. The Computer Division reorganizes to form Pixar and Games.
1984: Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is released.
1986: Lucasfilm sells Pixar to Steven Jobs.
1989: LucasArts Entertainment Company is established, which includes the Games Division.
1995: The Library of Congress honors American Graffiti by naming it to the National Film Registry.
1997: Star Wars Special Edition premiers nationwide.
1999: Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace is released. Trustees of the Presidio National Park in San Francisco select Lucasfilm as preferred developer of 23 acres for its proposed Letterman Digital Arts Center, pending an environmental review.
2002: Star Wars Episode Two: Attack of the Clones is released.
Address:
P.O. Box 2009
San Rafael, California 94912-2009
U.S.A.
Last edited: