Disney to buy Lucasfilm

[MattG]

Overall, Im happy theres gonna be more Star Wars (of any kind) but I am concerned about the corporate tightening of the reins across the fan community... ....

For the first time since Episode 1 3D people are talking about Star Wars in the media which is ultimately a good thing - I know we'll be following this very closely.

On the balance of things, I'd like to remain optimistic.

With Ep2 & 3 coming in 3D next year, and the teaser of new content in 2015, there's a chance they'll pump out the entire OT in 3D in 2014. I'd just hate post-ROTJ stories to tear apart existing canon, or any character/costume design to go the way of the in-production Robocop reboot, for instance.

While recently at DisneyWorld, I did happen to ponder to myself, "will Star Wars characters ever achieve the level of universal recognition enjoyed by those of the Disney franchise?" I guess this is an answer of sorts.

Wait....Hadleigh, did you just say you were interested in a theatrical release for the SW Holiday Special?

[Buzz Bumble]

Oh wait, new movies

Ok this might be a good thing.

Nope, not if they're the sillt "third trilogy" currently being planned. There's nowhere for the Saga to go - the story of Anakin Skywalker is over, the Emperor is dead, the Empire is finished. A third trilogy is simply going to be an ill-fitting mess.

Lucas sells out
It's a sad, sad day for the Rebel Alliance. The Rebel Leader has been captured and all of its main bases taken over by the evil Studio Empire.

Mouse Troopers are leading away Princess... err, Prince Lucas to the cells deep within the Hollywood Death Star. Who will rescue him (and us) from the evil Studio Empire, saving the Rebel Alliance and the galaxy?

Lucas Skywalker is clinging desperately to the edge of a Cloud City walkway. Donald Vader extends a hand saying, "Join me, and together we'll rule Hollywood." Lucas Skywalker cries out in anguish, "Never! I'll never join you ... wait, did you say billion?!"

Maybe the world IS ending in December 2012. Growing ozone hole, Microsoft bails out Apple, Steve Jobs dies, shrinking polar ice caps, meltdown of the greedy financial world, George Lucas sells out Star Wars - all signs of the impending apocalypse?

I can only guess that George Lucas was disappointed by the rather lacklustre reception to the (frankly pointless and hopeless) 3D-erised release of Episode I.

[thehiflyer]

Wait....Hadleigh, did you just say you were interested in a theatrical release for the SW Holiday Special?

Haha, no what I meant was the possibilty of such a release be it theatrically or otherwise, believe me Im not a fan, but it happened & I would pick up an official release for its notoriety & novelty more than anything else.

There was also the prevailing theory about Lucas not releasing the theatrical versions of the original trilogy due to his ex wife receiving royalties on any release of the original films - hence the special editions and every release having changes thereafter.

Now there will be a few who will say that the original films were released on the 2DVD, however that was a bonus feature & considered exempt (and not in anamorphic widescreen).

So if Disney owns Lucasfilm, then in theory they could release whatever they please.

[Anaria]

Nope, not if they're the sillt "third trilogy" currently being planned. There's nowhere for the Saga to go - the story of Anakin Skywalker is over, the Emperor is dead, the Empire is finished. A third trilogy is simply going to be an ill-fitting mess.

Reading one of the blog updates on SW.com by J.W. Rinzler, it references interviews with Lucas in the past about his larger-story ideas, the last part of the story is one he's never shared. It's common knowledge he always saw it as a multi-trilogy story. I know there's the possibility it may change from the books, but I'm interested to see how he saw the story continuing, who knows, they may very well include the book characters/events into the scripts.

While in postproduction in early 1980, Lucas used to kick back from time to time with ILM manager Jim Bloom and muse about the bigger story. “The first trilogy is about the young Ben Kenobi and the early life of Luke’s father when Luke is a little boy,” Lucas said. “This trilogy takes place some 20 years before the second trilogy, which includes Star Wars and Empire. About a year or two passes between each story of the trilogy and about 20 years between the trilogies. The entire saga spans about 55 years. I’m still left with three trilogies of nine films. At two hours each, that’s about eighteen hours of film!”

While Empire was originally part of a 12-film plan, by the time it was released, the number had clearly been reduced to nine. “The prequel stories exist – where Darth Vader came from, the whole story about Darth and Ben Kenobi – and it all takes place before Luke was born,” Lucas explained at the time. “The other one – what happens to Luke afterward – is much more ethereal. I have a tiny notebook full of notes on that. If I’m really ambitious, I could proceed to figure out what would have happened to Luke.”

Lucas mentioned these notebooks – or one big book – to me, a few years ago. I asked if I could see it, but he declined. My feeling is that this big book or these notebooks are private, though Lucas has occasionally sent me via an assistant miscellaneous handwritten notes from the period 1976-1983 to help in the writing of the making-of books.

“You know, when I first did this, it was four trilogies,” Mark Hamill recalled in 2004, speaking of their conversation in 1976. “Twelve movies! Out on the desert, any time between setups… lots of free time. And George was talking about this whole thing… ‘Um, how’d you like to be in Episode IX?’ ‘When is that going to be?’ ‘2011.’ […] I said, ‘Well, what do you want me to do?’ He said, ‘You’ll just be like a cameo. You’ll be like Obi-Wan handing the lightsaber down to the next new hope.’”

Another SW.com blog update by Pablo Hidalgo reveals he found out about the new films back in June! What a hard secret to keep hold of!

[Snibo1]

I don't know.... I have a really bad feeling about this...............


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!! What.... George can't retire!!! He is the "Wars".

Opended minded on the "extra Films" - remember it was going to be 9 Stories.... we may see the death of Chewie (not good), Leia and Han's Kids going to see uncle Luke at the Jedi Training facility. The re-birth of the Emperor through cloning. - what if they did Splinter of the Minds Eye?!

It's still sinking in........ but the Star Tours ride in Disneyland wasn't bad!!!!

[Harvey Mushman]

World turned upside down.

I kind o' teared up when I learned the news, as it will change, it will be different... and I'm not sure if that's a good thing.

[thehiflyer]

Good article over at Aintitcool that clears up a few things (for me anyway): http://www.aintitcool.com/node/59381

Disney Buys Lucasfilm For $4 Billion! STAR WARS EPISODE VII Scheduled For 2015 Release! Updated As Additional Info Comes In!
Published at: Oct 30, 2012 3:39:22 PM CDT



Beaks here...

In a move that's sure to spawn a good deal of polite and substantial discourse on these here internets, Disney has announced that it has purchased Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion and stock. Kathleen Kennedy will be promoted to President of Lucasfilm, and will report to current Disney chair Alan Horn.

And then there's this: the studio is targeting 2015 for the release of a seventh STAR WARS film.

I can't access the conference call at the moment, but Moises Chiullan has the salient details.

[Moisés/"Monty Cristo" here with UPDATES:

Here are a few VERY interesting bullet points from the call as I've posted on my site...



1) Disney now owns all Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and ILM (the company that once owned Pixar), as well as the trademark for "Android" or "Droid". Disney will now own all intellectual property rights with some distribution and licensing exceptions based on existing deals, much like how Universal still has the Marvel theme park license for a while yet.

2) Much was made of Disney's global licensed product and distribution reach making better use of LucasFilm licenses, with all emphasis on the $4.05 billion paid being relative to the value of the Star Wars franchise. For example, this would imply that any Star Wars (and Indiana Jones?) licensed comic books will now go under Marvel once the current Star Wars/Dark Horse contract ends, and video games would go through Disney Interactive.

UPDATE 1:: Bob Iger: "We're likely to focus more on social and mobile than we are on console. We'll look opportunistically at console, most likely in licensing rather than publishing, but we think that given the nature of these characters and how well known they are, and the storytelling, that they lend themselves quite nicely, as they've already demonstrated to the other platforms"

3) Disney plans to release a new Star Wars movie every 2-3 years starting in 2015. All of them will be in 3D.

4) Star Wars Episodes 7, 8, and 9 will be a trilogy. The treatment is done, is in "early stage development", and the movies are to be released every other year.

5) ILM will remain a studio-agnostic gun for hire. Disney does not want to change anything about how they operate.

6) Fox retains ownership and distribution of all existing Star Wars movies (until that contract expires...?). All future films will be distributed solely by Disney, unlike Paramount retaining partial distribution rights when Marvel was acquired. No mention was made of who now owns the Star Wars Holiday Special.

I'm continuing to update that post and will be tweeting as I go through my recording of the call. Here's The Beard and Kathleen Kennedy talking about the future of Star Wars, a video just released today:





END UPDATE]



These are the only details we have right now. From a purely business perspective, this is a no-brainer for Disney. Lucasfilm belongs at Disney, and there is no reason Lucas should be done making STAR WARS movies. It's just far too lucrative a franchise. Do I want to see more STAR WARS movies? Not really, but they're not making these movies for me. There's a whole new generation of STAR WARS fans, and they worship the prequels like folks my age worshipped the original trilogy.

Now, if they get some of the Pixar brain trust involved in developing the stories for the next trilogy... that could renew my interest. What do you think?

I've re-printed the entire press release below. Key is Lucas's statement that "it's now time for me to pass STAR WARS on to a new generation of filmmakers." Expect new STAR WARS films - shot in 3D - every two to three years from 2015 forward.

According to the conference call, there is an "extensive and detailed treatment" for the next trilogy.

[Sledgehama]

I’m honestly okay with this.

Let’s face it, we all knew that, when the sad day comes that George Lucas passes away, the Saga would be in someone else’s control and they would exploit it. I’m satisfied that if this transition has to happen that it should do so according to George’s wishes and with his involvement. And while I’m a little hesitant about the prospect of Episodes 7, 8 and 9, I’m glad that they’re looking to add to the Star Wars universe rather than just go back and remake A New Hope (which seems to be where much of Hollywood is focused right now). If Star Wars becomes more of the James Bond-style regular releases, I think I can live with that.

Yes, there will be casualties to the EU’s canonicity but with going forward with the Saga, we won’t have the continuity conflicts and mischaracterisations that we saw with the Prequels – it’s an open slate, so I think there are great possibilities there, especially with the involvement of fresh blood in the creative team.

As a Marvel fan, I haven’t seen anything horrendous happen to those properties since their acquisition by Disney, nor has Pixar’s work suffered significantly. Disney adds a lot of financial muscle (not like Lucasfilm was short of cash of course) and they have a proven track record of working with the Lucasfilm brands.

Of course, the most important thing is that no matter who ‘owns’ it, Star Wars will always belong to the fans. Yes, George created it and a lot of talented people worked on it, but it’s the public embracing it that made it what it is and that’s where the real power lies – with us.

[Harvey Mushman]

[Harvey Mushman]