Kathleen Kennedy Moves to Disney

Back in June we reported that Kathleen Kennedy had been named co-chair of LucasFilms. Word came last week that LucasFilm has now been bought by Disney for over $4 billion dollars, and Kennedy will be running her studio alongside the other beasts that Disney owns Marvel and Pixar.

Kennedy becomes President of LucasFilm and GeorgeLucas will be transitioning to a consultant.

One can’t help but think that this must have already been in the works when Kennedy took over in June. Watching the video below you will see the clear succession in leadership from Lucas to Kennedy. Lucas is even trusting Kennedy to make the next three Star Wars movies. He says he’s looking forward to being a fan.

Kennedy was already an extremely powerful women in Hollywood but this move arguably puts her close to the top if not at the top. She’s clearly running the studio now indicated by her new title (though she will report to Disney chair Alan Horn), and she is now the shepherd of the one the biggest film properties of all time — the Star Wars series.

What a new world we are living in when we have a woman executive in charge of one of the biggest sci-fi films properties. The next Star Wars film is on target for release in 2015. Maybe just maybe we could get a woman to direct one of the Star Wars movies. That would be amazing.