Disney Buys Lucas Films? Including Star Wars?

Is is sad that in my facebook feed yesterday the ratio of Star Wars to Hurrican Sandy was 2:1?

I'm not sure if I want to live on this planet anymore...
 
rayw said:
I don't understand this love of this and hate of that viewers/fans bring to the table.
(...) The purpose of a business is to make money. Not art.
Click to expand...

Right, and the best way to do that is to give the audience what they want.

The audience trades money in exchange for memories & emotional attachment. I've got some very strong memories of Han shooting first - no, I ain't buyin' a DVD or BluRay that shows otherwise.

It's the studios' business to make money... by keeping their audience happy & contented.

the "original" trilogy was known to be the middle set of a nine story epic.
Click to expand...

When Star Wars came out, it was just Star Wars. The surprising success of the film jump-started a rush of speculation about other films in the as-yet unestablished franchise, and a lot of BS was splurted. When you suddenly find the hit of the century on your hands, you never say that's it.
 
Not true, Zen. Lucas approached studios with the idea of 9 movies. He told them the middle set of stories were the strongest and therefore the most marketable. Studios didn't like the sound of starting in the middle then branching back backwards which is why he struggled for a while to find funding. The reason why 7-9 weren't made way back when is because Harrison Ford didn't want to do anymore Star Wars movies. Ford even suggested Han Solo should die in Return of the Jedi that way they could continue with the series if they wanted to because he wasn't coming back.

Episodes 1-3 were always going to suck according to Lucas well before production started on them. The story arc wasn't strong enough to stand on its own. I would dig up my old Star Wars Insider magazines for exact quotes but they stay in my old room at my mother's.

Episodes 7-9 will probably destroy the legacy of everything they have created with the books and comics, but from the studio standpoint, so what? Movies bring in far more money than the books. As a fan of the books, I know I will be crushed unless they just go so far into the future that we are in a completely different time period and none of the characters could possibly be in the movies.
 
rayw said:
ZenSteve,

You're a nice guy, aren't you? :yes:

:)
Click to expand...

I'm the nicest guy I know. I'm also right. :abduct:

Edit: How many screens did Star Wars open on? And how many of those theaters had to be actually bribed/beaten to even reluctantly show it?

Lucas approached studios with the idea of 9 movies.
Click to expand...

No, he did not.
 
Last edited:
I own a Disney's Star Wars Chewbacca/Goofie figurine still in the box.. does this mean its going to be worth hundreds? :)
 
Yeah, so last night this news made me feel optimistic. Like Josh, I was thinking, hey, The Avengers was awesome, so maybe these will be, too.

But then I realized that Disney had as much to with the creative genius behind The Avengers as they do any Pixar movies. Which is to say, practically none at all.

Disney makes a lot of horrible movies, actually. They've got a few gems sprinkled about, but for the most part, they've lost their magic touch. Uh-oh. Not feeling optimistic anymore. :(
 
Disney have stated they'll keep Lucas on as a creative consultant for the films.

Keeping in mind that V and VI didn't have George direct them, only write and produce, it's not unfathomable that Disney wouldn't slaughter the series.

What I do think is interesting is that they'll probably use Lucas' ideas for 7, 8 and 9 that he originally planned, and keep him on as a consultant to oversee the important aspects and they will probably be about as good as the prequel trilogy.

And everyone will probably hate them as much as the prequel trilogy, and yet go to see them 10 times each and buy all the DVDs and Blu-Rays. Just that this time, they'll hate Disney for it, rather than Lucas himself (although there may be a little hate for Lucas for 'selling out' and 'allowing it to happen')

I suppose only time will tell.
 
BBC: Star Wars director sells company to Disney (Note: this is a different, longer video than the one I posted in the other thread.)

I also can't help but think that selling the company is one way for him to make a clean break. Otherwise, I'd bet he'd be too tempted to tinker with it for the rest of his life. And maybe he's ready to just be free of it.

In an article about this in the local paper today, when asked if he would make another Star Wars film, he was quoted from an interview from somewhere else as saying something like, (paraphrasing despite the surrounding quotation marks) "Why would I want to do that when everyone yells at you and tells what a bad person you are?"

Gees, that does make me feel bad for the poor guy. There was one change mentioned in the article that he made to the original movies that I didn't realize. He made the Ewoks blink. Now, I have to say that that sounds like a good idea. Of all the changes he made, we could throw them out. But, that sounds like a pretty good change to keep, heheh. I have to go back and watch for the blinking.

A Star Wars nerd friend was telling me today that there's a really good trilogy of novels about the Star Wars universe aftert Episode VI. Can't remember the name, but he said there are renegade Imperial Generals flying around with Star Destroyers and whatnot. If those books are so good, it seems like a potentially good idea to adapt them. ?

That friend also has a sister who works for Disney. She says that one of the big announcements made to them is the possibility of creating a Star Wars theme park, as well.

I don't know, I'm cautiously optimistic about what is to come. It all just depends. If they give the films to someone like Whedon of Abrams or whoever and give them free enough reign...could be good. Could even be exciting and excellant. Not holding my breath, but....could be.

I can't help it, I was pretty impressed by this. I think that any recipe for a new Star Wars movie or movies could probably use even just a touch of what these guys did with their fan film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQzOQI1Rdn0
 
Last edited:
Lucas wrote Star Wars as a magnum opus that he later decided would have to be cut up into 9 parts. He chose to start with Episode 4: A New Hope (as it says on the title screen at the beginning of the movie) because it had the best stand alone story. He had a commercially successful film that had already come out (American Graffiti) and was hoping to parlay that success into the project he really wanted to make, Star Wars. He said in interviews at the time (yes I am old enough that I saw Star Wars Ep.4 as a first run in the theater) that he barely got paid for making the film (the merchandise rights, which he kept, were considered worthless at the time). The truth is that Episodes 7, 8 and 9 were written before the first frame of film was exposed for Episode 4.
 
Is it also true that Fox actually owns the rights to 4?



*****************************

So, if they make new Indiana Jones films, who would you like to see cast as Indie?

Man, I've been having a tough time coming up with even one actor that seems to fit right, so far.

The best I've come up with so far:

Hugh Jackman?

Clive Owen? The British accent wouldn't do. Don't know how he is at affecting a Yank accent.

Who the heck would be right to take over for Harrison Ford?
 
Last edited:
Lucky Hardwood said:
Episode 4: A New Hope (as it says on the title screen at the beginning of the movie [...] He said in interviews at the time (yes I am old enough that I saw Star Wars Ep.4 as a first run in the theater) that he barely got paid for making the film (the merchandise rights, which he kept, were considered worthless at the time).
Click to expand...

To clarify, The title card 'Episode IV: A New Hope' was added after the release of 'Empire', which from the start had 'Episode V: Empire Strikes Back' on it's title card.
I think it's relatively well publicised that Star Wars was initially meant to be anywhere from 9-12 films - I remember when the prequels came out excited that there'd be at least another 6 SW films to watch. And then I saw TPM and I hoped he'd stop right there, and was somewhat relieved he decided not to continue with 7-9.

Also, at the time Star Wars was being made, it had a budget of ~$8mil (~$29mil in today's money), and Lucas was getting paid a fee as the Writer, a fee as the Director, and a fee as the Producer. Yes, he eventually cut his fees (the principal investor was the owner of Greyhound - good businessman, but knew nothing about film - decided the film was costing too much and asked Lucas to cut his fees), but only on the condition that he kept 100% of merchandising rights. Which, in the end, was probably a better fiscal decision for him anyway - just that it would've taken a while to reap the rewards as such. He still got paid, and I think there are quite a few members here who would be more than happy to work on, or to Direct, a $30million feature for free
 
Well this is pleasing news to me. Star Wars is fun, and while the PT was pretty poor in comparison to the OT that I grew up on, going back and watching them I don't dislike them as much as I did upon first viewing (except maybe for AOTC... that was pretty awful actually).

So if Disney are on board and put as much effort into this as their Marvel or Pixar properties, then I don't see why we can't have a good flow of fun Star Wars films for some while to come.
 
jax_rox said:
To clarify, The title card 'Episode IV: A New Hope' was added after the release of 'Empire', which from the start had 'Episode V: Empire Strikes Back' on it's title card.
I think it's relatively well publicised that Star Wars was initially meant to be anywhere from 9-12 films - I remember when the prequels came out excited that there'd be at least another 6 SW films to watch. And then I saw TPM and I hoped he'd stop right there, and was somewhat relieved he decided not to continue with 7-9.

Also, at the time Star Wars was being made, it had a budget of ~$8mil (~$29mil in today's money), and Lucas was getting paid a fee as the Writer, a fee as the Director, and a fee as the Producer. Yes, he eventually cut his fees (the principal investor was the owner of Greyhound - good businessman, but knew nothing about film - decided the film was costing too much and asked Lucas to cut his fees), but only on the condition that he kept 100% of merchandising rights. Which, in the end, was probably a better fiscal decision for him anyway - just that it would've taken a while to reap the rewards as such. He still got paid, and I think there are quite a few members here who would be more than happy to work on, or to Direct, a $30million feature for free
Click to expand...

It is true that it was a long time ago but, I recall seeing the title card to Episode IV: A New Hope as such in the theater when the movie first came out. I saw it three times during it's initial release, including once in a drive in theater. I will admit that it is possible that I am projecting the title card into the first run because of having seen it so many times since. I remember thinking that the title was odd because it was the first movie. Hopefully some other old fogies on here will weigh in on the presence of the Episode IV title card during initial theatrical release. It's also possible that it was different in Australia.

The term "next to nothing" was Lucas' words. I would be all too happy to have taken his paychecks for his roles as writer and director. Who knows, maybe if I make a modern American Graffiti, I'll get to make my own Star Wars. I am, of course, using those movies as metaphors for my own films.
 
I'm certain that in the US, the original Star Wars film didn't contain the title card, however with Australia being so far behind the States sometimes (and I suspect more so at that time) it is possible they were added on after for the AU release.

If you watch many of the documentaries on the DVDs/Blu-Rays you'll see mention of the lack of the "EPISODE 4: A NEW HOPE" several times.
 
Lucky Hardwood said:
The term "next to nothing" was Lucas' words. I would be all too happy to have taken his paychecks for his roles as writer and director. Who knows, maybe if I make a modern American Graffiti, I'll get to make my own Star Wars. I am, of course, using those movies as metaphors for my own films.
Click to expand...

I'm sure 'next to nothing' was what he felt he was being paid, especially after he cut his fees.. Worked out in the long run though, hey.
But yeah I do often forget he had American Graffiti also under his belt - although, even still I wouldn't mind working for next to nothing on my love project that had an equivalent budget of ~$30mil ;) especially if I was able to negotiate the merchandising rights..

As a somewhat side note: I think the prequels in and of themselves aren't terribly bad movies.. TPM perhaps the worst of the three, I do think that without the original trilogy, the prequels would just be your standard, interesting Hollywood Sci-fi/action films, possibly branching out into a television series. It's more that you're comparing to arguable the greatest science fiction trilogy of all time that the prequels just pale in comparison.

Which is why I think 7, 8 and 9 will be good. They'll be fun Disney-stamped Star Wars films, similar to The Avengers. I don't think anything will live up to the original three, but I think these movies will still be good fun, and well made.
I also think the major downfall of the prequels was the shoddy writing - so hopefully Disney bring on quite a good writing team..
I think you'll find these will be regarded better than the prequels, though not as good as the original three, whilst at the same time introducing a new generation to Star Wars.

You may see Star Wars become the science-fiction version of the James Bond series, considering Disney's plan to release 7, 8, 9 and then a new one every x amount of years.
Would certainly be interesting..
 
Don't know what to make of this really-sounds like Lucas is content to dish it off to someone else.

So I'm guessing Star Wars films will now be referred to as Pre-Disney/Post Disney?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top