, Columnist
Lucasfilm, I Am Your Father
The entertainment giant's M&A prowess is about to pay off again with the latest Star Wars installment.
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They say the entertainment industry is tough. So is making the right acquisitions. But Walt Disney Co. seems to be doing just fine.
Three years ago, the $188 billion film, theme-park and television giant acquired George Lucas's Lucasfilm Ltd. and inherited a gold mine in the "Star Wars" franchise. It was a $4.05 billion bet that Disney could repeat the success it had with Marvel Entertainment (and before that, Pixar).
Disney, led by CEO Bob Iger, paid about $4 billion for Marvel in 2009 and within three years released "Marvel's The Avengers." The film raked in $207.4 million during its opening weekend in the U.S. and Canada, setting a record that was only broken this year with the release of "Jurassic World," according to Box Office Mojo.