Disney to acquire Lucasfilm

[Gandalf]

Well, if you buy something for a heap of money, you probably want to make some money out of it. Disney didn't buy this stuff to admire it on the mantlepiece.

I'm not saying they should not attempt to make more money out of the Star Wars franchise. I just do not know whether I want to see Star Wars Episode 7, 8 and 9.

Then don't watch them.

There could be a billion SW films, but it wouldn't make ESB any less awesome.

[Havok]

And that's the thing. Star Wars is still Star Wars when you pop it in the DVR and it can stop where you want it to.

[Korgeta]

This is going to mean a few things but a box office show down between a reboot star trek and star wars will be one of them!

Also PUNY JEDI!!!

I have mixed feelings, granted their making sequals (the appeal has that has been lost by the prequals truth be told) but will it neccsary be sequals post ROTJ? They still have that clone wars series and merchandise, would they be rid off all that and start something entirely new come 2015?

As for the EU series, I think they should be rid of it, the series was silly and was contradictory at some points.

[Havok]

As I said a few time, it is not like Disney is going to clean house at Lucaswhicheverdivision. ILM is gonna do ILM stuff, LucasArts is gonna do LucasArts stuff, LucasLicecsing is gonna keep making billions, Lucasfilm is going to keep making Lucasfilms, just without the Lucas now and SkywalkerSound is going to keep making SkywalkerSound.

Lucas didn't bring Kennedy up because she didn't share his vision on some level, so he obviously trusts her to continue on with what he started, and like he said, he has already written many story treatments (or they have them already) for the upcoming movies. Probably enough to get him through the next 10-15 years of his life given a 3 year time frame for each starting from 2015 and doing say 3 more after that.

Disney is also very big on tradition and doing things the way Disney wanted them. I imagine they will honor and protect Lucas' wishes and properties as fervently as they do Walts as they can be considered at the very least visionary contemporaries if not equally as important to popular culture and entertainment. Also I'm sure there are things in contract that help ensure most of the above.

[Darksider]

If the SW brand is performing well financially, I doubt anything whatsoever will change. As I stated earlier though, I'm not sure how well the brand is doing at the moment. Is there any recent data on profits from Comics, toys, and other merchandising? All I know is that TOR is turning out to be a major loss.

[Hillary]

I'm not saying they should not attempt to make more money out of the Star Wars franchise. I just do not know whether I want to see Star Wars Episode 7, 8 and 9.

Then don't watch them.

There could be a billion SW films, but it wouldn't make ESB any less awesome.

This. The first two movies were fucking awesome - ground-breaking then and still great films today. The prequals were appalling and got roundly slammed, but the first two movies still knock it out of the park - and still will however much the new films stink.

I find it completely bizarre that people are complaining that these are even happening. Is there no chance at all that the films might be, you know, rather good?

[Lagmonster]

I see this as amazing news. I would love to see more Star Wars media products out there. George was getting too old and, frankly, too uninterested for it to be worth holding onto.

Frankly, my "childhood" doesn't give a shit as long as laser swords are involved.

[Wing Commander MAD]

My only thought on this is that I'm not really happy about Disney owning everything in American entertainment, and it looks like they're trending that way. With the big franchises at least.

Also that it would kind of suck if the Disney attitude toward copyright enforcement starts shutting down the fan community; we've got enough overzealous enforcement out there as it is.

My thoughts exactly. Well so much for Star Wars, much like Mickey Mouse, ever entering the public domain.

[Vympel]

Since Lucas will be on board as a creative consultant, hopefully what results is a movie with a distinctly Star Wars feel but fresh writing and fresh direction (as in, direction of the movie by a director).

Passing the baton:-

http://starwars.com/news/passing-the-ba ... index.html

And from one of the many articles, if it hasn't already been posted:-

In the YouTube video, Lucas said the decision to continue with the saga wasn't inconsistent with past statements.

"I always said I wasn't going to do any more and that's true, because I'm not going to do any more, but that doesn't mean I'm unwilling to turn it over to Kathy to do more," Lucas said.

He said he has given Kennedy his story lines and other ideas, "and I have complete confidence that she's going to take them and make great movies."

Kennedy added that she and Lucas had discussed ideas with a couple of writers about the future movies and said Lucas would continue to have a key advisory role. "My Yoda has to be there," she said.

[Rekkon]

Frankly, my "childhood" doesn't give a shit as long as laser swords are involved.

Pretty much.

[Dartzap]

One the train back from work earlier, a group of parents and their horde of 6 year olds decided to sit next to me. These brats were screaming and shouting allllll the way. I asked the parents what was making them hyper: "Oh, didn't you hear? There's a new Star Wars film coming out! They're obsessed with it!"

Which rather shut me up, really. If the brats of today can get the same joy as we did all those years ago, then fair play.

[Welf]

Howt the negations started:

"Hi, I don't care about Star Wars, I only love money and my ego!"
"And I'm the CEO of Disney"

I think the franchise has bigger problems than 'lower scale than Gundam'. Maybe Disney can actually tell a story that isn't shit? Use characters? That kind of thing?

I think we should be save; Lukas will care enough about his work to contractually forbid any kind of that craziness.

I have a baaaad feeling Episode VII will end up like 'Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man's Chest'- with Episode VIII ending up like 'At World's End'- i.e., with such a hack writer for the screenplay, I want to deny the movies' very existence, to preserve what fond memories I have for the original film(s).

I don't know. "Jedi Master Jack Sparrow" sounds good to me?

btw, doesn't Michael Bay work for Disney sometimes?

On a side note: yeah, it probably will suck. but then again, maybe it won't. And in the worst case I'll get some well made action fantasy flicks in spaaace. With laser swords.

[RogueIce]

So the amount of whining and crying I've seen over whether Ep7 will contradict the post-RotJ EU and the cries of RUINED FOREVER FUCK YOU GEORGE LUCAS elsewhere on the Internet just make me want to see the new movies utterly, utterly trash the EU now.

And I haven't even gone to TFN or whatever passes for a discussion board on Wookieepedia. I can only imagine what it'd be like at those places...

[Lord Pounder]

One the train back from work earlier, a group of parents and their horde of 6 year olds decided to sit next to me. These brats were screaming and shouting allllll the way. I asked the parents what was making them hyper: "Oh, didn't you hear? There's a new Star Wars film coming out! They're obsessed with it!"

Which rather shut me up, really. If the brats of today can get the same joy as we did all those years ago, then fair play.

Take a bow son. Nail on the fucking head. Think back to being a kid, the joy you felt seeing ANH, the way your heart hammered as John Williams' legendary scores played. Who the hell are we to get butt hurt and try and deny this to a new generation.

If anyone can raise Star Wars to the grandeur it once enjoyed it's Disney. Who here doesn't want to see what they add to Disneyland with Indiana Jones and Star Wars scenes to draw on. I can already see roller coasters based on Trench Runs and Mining Carts.

Anyone here who says they won't go see a new SW movie in the cinema is a fool or a liar. We love Star Wars that's why we're here.

[Stark]

I haven't seen a SW movie in the cinema since TPM.

Turns out generalisations are always wrong?

[Skywalker_T-65]

Actually Rogue, TFN is proving surprisingly mellow. Oh sure, there are a lot of people complaining, but with the shear SIZE of the site, its a rather small (if vocal) minority. Ironically enough, the actual EU section has the least amount of whining

[CaptHawkeye]

It was mentioned before the in the thread but I would be totally down to see a Star Wars world in Kingdom Hearts 3.

Anyway, i'm interested to see Disney's stance on the EU material. Hopefully they'll do exactly what Paramount did with Trek's EU and just disregard the horseshit. Licensing would probably suffer little. I know some people who are really into the EU who don't even know, or care, about the concept.

It would not be an unexpected move for one of the biggest names in merchandising next to Lucas.

[Jim Raynor]

I'm really surprised as well that Lucas decided to sell. Everything I've read about him has suggested that he's a very private person whose protective of his films and wants to do things his way, apart from the Hollywood system. Also really surprised that they're already aiming for Episode VII. I had assumed that Lucas would hold on to everything and even dictate in his will that no one was to mess with his baby.
Reasonably though, Disney probably won't trample everything the way some people fear. As others have brought up, things are in Kennedy's hands, and Lucas will remain as a creative consultant. Also, Disney hasn't done anything at all to visibly change Marvel.

Also, people REALLY need to get over the fear of Disney "raping" SW. It's a damn movie series. I love the films, and have spent lots of time entertaining myself with hem and other SW related material...other than TPM 3D, I haven't watched any of the movies all the way through in years.

The alternative to Disney-made Episodes 7-9, which we've ALL accepted for years now, is that SW would be over and that there would be no more movies. How does it actually hurt us any if more movies are made now, and they aren't the best thing since sliced bread? Who knows, maybe the sequels will be good.

As pointed out, there's already been tons of crappy sequels in the form of the EU. And it's not like SW is alone as a continuing franchise. I love Batman, and there's tons of crappy Batman stuff out there. I watch what I like and ignore what I don't.

People really need to stop putting SW on a pedestal and treating it as an untouchable, sacred thing.

[Skywalker_T-65]

As I've posted on TFN, I'm well beyond caring about 'oh noes Disney will RUIN IT!!'. Most likely the movies will be at least as good as the PT, if not better. Okay, most likely better than the PT

And even if they aren't so what? We already ignore sucky parts of the EU, so why wouldn't we ignore bad movies?

[Jim Raynor]

Exactly. Expanding on my previous example, I grew up with Batman: The Animated Series. I even liked reruns of the Adam West show when I was five years old. I don't care to watch the Schumacher movies. I freaking loved he Nolan films. I hear that a lot of the comics are crap, so I haven't touched them. At least two cartoon series have come out in the last several years, and another is on the way. I haven't watched them either. Not a problem at all, as far as i see it.

Something about SW fandom, compared to other fandoms, has made it incredibly possessive and oriented toward the past. Other fandoms don't elevate the material to holy status to the extent that some SW fans do.

[Jim Raynor]

As for TPM 3D, it hardly did bad. It didn't light the box office on fire, but it did what any rerelease is expected to do (which seems to be 40-50 million, The Lion King being an extreme outlier). The movie was released on Blu-Ray just months before its theatrical rerelease.

People have done the math, and it costs about 100,000 dollars to convert each minute of a film to 3d (this is in line with the costs of every other recent conversion). TPM 3D likely cost just about 13 million to convert. It's advertising costs were probably 20-30 million, so it was quite profitable.

This is why 3D conversions keep getting made, even though their total gross is easily predictable in the same modest range. The cost is so small that it's extremely hard to "flop."

[Elfdart]

I'm telling you guys,,, they are going to release EPVII in May. If something gets bumped it will be Avengers 2, but there is no reason to. Both movies are going to be seen by millions and millions of people and almost no one is going to have an issue paying to see both.

The issue with me is Disney now has to buy the "Fox Fanfare" to put at the beginning of the movie.

What's wrong with Tinkerbell flying over the castle to "When you wish upon a star..."

I'd be more concerned with the absence of John Williams than Alfred Neuman.

[Elfdart]

I'm not saying they should not attempt to make more money out of the Star Wars franchise. I just do not know whether I want to see Star Wars Episode 7, 8 and 9.

Then don't watch them.

There could be a billion SW films, but it wouldn't make ESB any less awesome.

This. The first two movies were fucking awesome - ground-breaking then and still great films today. The prequals were appalling and got roundly slammed, but the first two movies still knock it out of the park - and still will however much the new films stink.

I find it completely bizarre that people are complaining that these are even happening. Is there no chance at all that the films might be, you know, rather good?

Not really.

[Stark]

Why not? I'm not seeing compelling reasons.

[Havok]

I doubt the advertising was even that much, as like Stark pointed out, most advertisers probably paid Lucasfilm LTD to jump on their bandwagon, or preexisting deals were already in place.

Plus, the next 4 movies in 3-D are going to do substantially better. People for some reason like AOTC, ROTS is actually pretty good, and then obviously IV and V.