I do not know if this is good or bad news: Disney, already owner of Pixar and Marvel, buys Lucasfilm, the company of Georges Lucas which manages the Star Wars franchise.

L'Episode vii is already announced for 2015 on website of the multinational entertainment company. There are also plans to release a new album every two or three years. Obviously, Disney also announces the whole panoply of derivative products, amusement park, video games, TV series, etc ... 

On the LEGO side, we will have to find space to store the dozens of sets that are sure to be released in the years to come. 

In the years to come, Star Wars will once again invade our screens, and I am delighted that. This universe deserves to continue to live and develop, no offense to the nostalgic and to the conservatives who will one day have to face the facts: The original saga will ultimately only represent a small portion of a universe that does not ceases to evolve.

Georges Lucas is therefore retiring with a small additional nest egg of $ 4 billion but he will remain present on the next films as a consultant. I just hope Disney lets him influence the artistic choices regarding the evolution of the Star Wars universe.

The official press release can be found at this address.

This is confirmed by this visual posted by Jack o Lantern on flickr, taken from the instructions of one of the sets of the The Hobbit range (79000 Riddles of the Rings): The Lord of the Rings range returns in 2013 with new sets.

We are therefore moving towards an alternation between the LOTR and The Hobbit sets over the next three years (at least), depending on the release of the episodes of The Hobbit trilogy, the schedule for which I remind you below:

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey: December 14, 2012
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug: December 13, 2013
The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies: July 18, 2014

LEGO has uploaded the video presentation of the set 79002 Attack of the Wargs by designer Jordan Scott, who is doing quite well despite a somewhat confusing monotone tone.

He presents his set in a rather pleasant way and shows us the different possibilities of the tree provided in this set which contains 5 minifigs (Thorin Oakenshield, Bifur the Dwarf, Yazneg and 2 Hunter Orcs) and two rather well articulated wargs and whose tail is made of soft plastic.

It's playable and there is something to do for the youngest with the modular tree and the few projectiles available. This set of +/- 400 pieces will be marketed at around 59.99 €.

(thanks to Anak in the comments)

As you probably already know, Chase McCain will be the main hero of the upcoming GTA-style game for kids called LEGO City Undercover (release scheduled for late 2012 on Wii-U).

The game will be delivered with an exclusive minifigure of the hero, and this polybag (reference 5000281) is of course already for sale separately on eBay for about twenty euros ...

Two things to note however: No precision has been communicated for the moment on the mode of distribution of this polybag with us (in the box of the game, to be claimed at the cash register, etc.) and this minifigure should be released in a 2013 set which immediately makes it much less exclusive. In the USA, the bag is glued to the card allowing the game to be pre-ordered.

This is another list as it often circulates before the actual announcement of the content of the new series of collectible minifigs and it comes to us from The Daily Brick.

We already know that the 9 series scheduled for January 2013 will be packaged in silver colored bags and will carry the reference 71000.
Here is the list that the site in question says it has "uncovered"(discovered) without specifying where or how. It is therefore advisable to remain cautious: