Burbank, CA and San Francisco, CA, October 30, 2012 — The Walt Disney Company has acquired Lucasfilm, in its entirety, for $4.05 billion. The deal includes special effects giants Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound.

Disney intends to release Star Wars: Episode 7 sometime in 2015, kicking off a new trilogy with a long term plan “to release a new Star Wars feature film every two to three years” beyond the initial trilogy. According to The Verge, Disney has purchased an “extensive and detailed” treatment for the trilogy, so they’re well on their way to making it happen. (The question is: when will it be set? Speculators predict either the earlier days of the Old Republic, like in the Bioware MMORPG, or during the New Republic of the Expanded Universe novels.)

Disney to Acquire Lucasfilm LTD [Disney Press Release]

Disney buys Lucasfilm, plans to release ‘Star Wars: Episode 7’ in 2015 [The Verge]