In 1977, Star Wars was released and instantly became a cultural phenomenon, becoming the top grossing film of all time. Now, almost four decades later, the franchise is retaking the world with new lead actors, a new director, and a new owner.

In 2012, Disney acquired the rights to all things Star Wars after purchasing Lucasfilm from George Lucas, the company’s founder and sole owner. The negotiations took place over the course of many months, and in the end Lucas gave up ownership of his company for $2 billion cash and 40 million shares of Disney stock, a total value of over $4 billion. The deal closed on October 30th, marking a huge milestone not only for the two companies involved, but for millions of Star Wars fans around the world.

This deal marks the start of a new generation of Star Wars. Indeed, the full title of the new movie to be released December 18 is Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, bringing to mind a new beginning for the franchise – considered by some fans to be a step in the right direction. Self-described Star Wars geek Jeff Morris is one of these fans in support of the acquisition.

“This is going to be really cool,” Morris said. “ I [feel] pretty goddamn excited.”

Lucas, after playing a large role in writing the story for all previous Star Wars movies, is merely a creative consultant for the Force Awakens. He is taking a backseat for Episode VIII as well as IX, and many older fans that grew up with the original trilogy are happy about this.

Morris cites The Phantom Menace, the first of the prequel trilogy released in 1999, as evidence why Lucas stepping back may be a good thing for the franchise.

“It came out and…I was in denial. I like the story about how Anakin became Darth [Vader],” Morris said. “Obviously some of the side stories like Jar Jar Binks were kind of worthless.”

Jar Jar Binks came in dead last on a nearly exhaustive Huffington Post poll of characters from the canon Star Wars universe. Not only was the character heavily reliant on CGI, a common criticism of the prequels in general, his clumsy, childish ways also failed to strike a chord with older fans that grew up with the original trilogy. It seemed Lucas wanted to market his new movies more toward children as opposed to the already established fan base.

“I think George Lucas screwed it up when he decided, ‘I gotta make this more kidlike… Well little kids aren’t the ones watching this anymore, it’s geeks like me,” Morris said.  

Not only was Morris happy that Lucas was stepping back, he was happy about the choice of the director of The Force Awakens, JJ Abrams, a newcomer to Star Wars.

“I do have high hopes for JJ Abrams,” Morris said. “If you look at his Star Trek movies… he took that whole concept and updated it, so I could seem him kind of doing this with [Star Wars].”

Abrams’ Star Trek reboot was critically acclaimed, scoring a 95 on Rotten Tomatoes, evidence that it was enjoyable for viewers unfamiliar with the franchise as well as long time Trekkies.

Fans aren’t the only ones excited about the reboot. While $4 billion is a massive sum of money, it is nowhere near the amount Disney stands to make in the long run. The Force Awakens has been predicted to gross between $1.5 and $2 billion in ticket sales by some analysts, which would amount to a profit of up to $1.8 billion. This means that after only one movie, Lucasfilm’s only big project since the purchase, Disney could make back almost half of their investment. AJ Leman, the City High business teacher, said that due to the upcoming movie, Disney is already in a better spot than on the day of the purchase.

“If you tried to buy Lucasfilm today, it would probably already be valued at more than $4 billion… So, in essence, they have already recouped part of the investment.”

Looking forward, five additional Star Wars movies are already planned or in the works, including three standalone “Anthology” movies. This means even more profits seem to be on the way for Disney.

“That does not include action figures, rentals, DVD sales…collectibles and general merchandise,” Leman said.

These, coupled with a possible theme park, provide Disney with many ways to end up making bank.

Disney already has a few Star Wars attractions in its theme parks, of which Morris only had good things to say.

“You can have a lightsaber battle with Darth Vader…and you can be…in a ship [that] R2 is piloting.”

These are merely single attractions, though, not an entire themed section. Less than twenty minutes away by car, Universal Orlando Resort has already proven the feasibility of such a park. In, 2010 the Wizarding World of Harry Potter opened, and it immediately began breaking attendance records, becoming the flagship area of the park.

It seems the purchase of Lucasfilm has not only provided Disney with an opportunity to make billions of dollars, but given fans a new hope in the future of Star Wars, as the next generation of adventures begin, in a galaxy far, far away.

“[It] might be time to consider buying some Disney stock!” Leman adds jokingly.