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  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Discussion DEADLINE: No More ‘Star Wars’ 3D Prequel Releases; Lucasfilm Passes To Focus On New Trilogy

Discussion in 'Archive: Disney Era Films' started by rezpen, Jan 28, 2013.

  1. wookiebk

    wookiebk Jedi Padawan

    Registered:
    May 6, 2004
    Good. Who gives a cr*p about the prequels in 3D...post-converted 3D NEVER looks good. At all.

    Lucas just wanted to capitalize on the fact avatar made like...a bajillion dollars.
     
  2. Jabbadabbado

    Jabbadabbado Manager Emeritus star 7 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Mar 19, 1999
    The real reason Disney bought Lucasfilm is that they didn't have any merchandise to sell to little boys. That's been their major merchandising shortcoming. Endless warehouses full of plastic crap for little girls. Not much plastic crap for little boys. They bought Lucas's empire for its licensing business. They couldn't care less about Star Wars, but the OT frankly had a better model for selling merchandise to little boys.
     
    benknobi1, vinsanity and LawJedi like this.
  3. run_luke_run

    run_luke_run Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 18, 2004
    With a letdown of a film. I have Avatar right up there with Twilight.
     
    Alexrd likes this.
  4. Pfluegermeister

    Pfluegermeister Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 30, 2003
    Whether it was Lucas personally or not, the impression stands: SW-3D - not just the prequels, but in general - never looked to me like anything other than, one, a cynical attempt to rake in still more money from the same films, and, two, an attempt to ride James Cameron's coat tails. It did neither.

    That, in the end, is probably the best exemplar and symbol of old LFL: trying to make money off of films they did decades ago by adding a fresh coat of varnish to them, rather than trying to move things forward, to do new movies. It wasn't a question of whether they did more Star Wars films or not; they did almost nothing that wasn't related to an existing franchise they started back in the 1980s. LFL had no vigor, no drive, no ambition, no goal, and no clue. You can tell when you read accounts by long-timers when they refer to how they felt before the ST announcement: Steven Sansweet personally related his own feeling of great uncertainty about the company's future: "When George started talking about retirement several years ago, many of us were concerned. We felt strongly that it would take more Star Wars movies to ensure the survival of the brand; Expanded Universe fiction, merchandise, and even great TV series weren’t enough." And, of course, he was right: no company founded for the production of movies is functioning properly when it's not actually producing movies. LFL was a filmmaking company not making films, founded and led by a filmmaker who didn't want to make films. There's no contradiction in the film business so glaring as an artist who doesn't want to make art.

    Red Tails was the exception that did more to prove the rule than to disprove it. Even a project he had said, since 1988, that he had so very much wanted to do, he wasn't prepared to take the helm of himself. This is a man who symbolized the effectiveness of the auteur theory, of the personal vision of the director; this was a film about which he had essentially said to whoever would listen, "Never mind Star Wars; this is what I really want to make." I remember him talking about this film for years upon years. If he cared about that project that much, if he'd been telling people how excited he was about it for that long, then he should have been prepared to direct it himself and take the arrows regardless; lingering criticisms of his directorial work on the PT in the press, or even here, should never have stopped him for a single solitary second if he believed in the project that much; he could just as easily have made a fantastic and deeply touching film that would have allowed him to wrap up his career in triumph, on a critical high note, and silence his critics in a heartbeat, if he'd tried; instead, he farmed it out to a relative unknown in yet another lame execution of the Marquand Maneuver. The moment you do that, it's not your personal vision; it's at best a diluted and shared pastische of a vision. He ought to have done it himself, considering that the criticism for any failures would fall on him regardless.

    With decisions like that going on for the past few years, small wonder that many people who worked there, like Sansweet, felt demoralized. Small wonder SW-3D wasn't well received. Small wonder it's been put on the back shelf. Small wonder we're even getting the Sequel Trilogy at all; it was probably the one thing that could have given LFL a sense of new life and purpose. Small wonder they're all talking about getting people with passion in them in those YouTube videos; they have to know perfectly well that passion at the top is the one thing that's been most sorely lacking.

    May LFL at last be embarking on a new period of making actual films, with people who, from love of film and excitement in their ideas, are willing to do the hard work, put in the long hours, and suffer the slings and arrows for their films. It's not a whole lot to ask for from a filmmaking company.
     
    metr0man likes this.
  5. DV75

    DV75 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Nov 30, 2001
    To be honest I was only interested in seeing the OT in 3D - but if that aint happening its fine by me.

    I have seen the OT way too many times in the theatre anyway.
     
  6. TiniTinyTony

    TiniTinyTony JCC Super Bowl Pick 'Em Winner star 7 VIP - Game Winner

    Registered:
    Mar 9, 2003
    I care.
     
  7. BoromirsFan

    BoromirsFan Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 16, 2010
    Wasn't it James Cameron who personally convinced GL to put the saga in 3D?
     
  8. my kind of scum

    my kind of scum Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2002
    It's just my opinion, but I really think the main reason for pulling these is to stave off cultural burnout from Star Wars being in theatres so that when episode seven hits screens, it isn't seen as "just another star wars" to the casual movie-goer.
     
    Pfluegermeister likes this.
  9. TiniTinyTony

    TiniTinyTony JCC Super Bowl Pick 'Em Winner star 7 VIP - Game Winner

    Registered:
    Mar 9, 2003
    I'm not sure, but I thought I read that Lucas had the idea to do it once more theaters had the capacity to do it. I think once Cameron did it with Avatar, Lucas probably felt that it was a good opportunity to do it and be profitable in doing so.

    With the 3D films slated to be released semi close to each other, I was really looking forward to seeing Episode II in 3D and then immediately see Episode III in 3D in the theater. That would have been really cool. So I'm pretty sad, but I understand why they did it. They are going to need all hands on deck to get Episode VII done by (May) 2015.
     
  10. my kind of scum

    my kind of scum Force Ghost star 4

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2002
    No matter how you feel about the prequels, this post is full of truth. They may have been critically middling and slammed by a vocal group on message boards, but they made a few tons of money and brought casuals into the theatres and then into the toy stores. That is all Disney wants.
     
    anakinfansince1983 likes this.
  11. windu4

    windu4 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 15, 2008
    I couldn't be happier.
     
    vinsanity likes this.
  12. MistrX

    MistrX Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 20, 2006
    Darn. I would have liked to see the rest of the films converted. Was really looking forward to seeing Geonosis on the big screen again.
     
  13. BoromirsFan

    BoromirsFan Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    May 16, 2010
    I think this topic title needs to be changed. I seriously doubt that the 3D rerelease is dead completely.

    But even then, I still think all six films will return to theaters at some point 3D or not. Lucasfilm has rereleased the old films too many times for them to just stop forever.

    Hell, perhaps 3D rereleases might be profitable in a few years because Disney keeps chugging them out like crazy nowadays...
     
  14. HanSolo29

    HanSolo29 RPF/SWC/Fan Art Manager & Bill Pullman Connoisseur star 7 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Apr 13, 2001
    I don't know about that. To me, it seems as if "postponed" actually means canceled. I'm not sure who had the final say in this decision, but I noticed that Disney has been doing something similar in their theme parks for years with certain attractions. If a particular attraction is no longer popular, struggles to bring in crowds for whatever reason or they need to cut costs, they tend to put it to "seasonal" operation. In some cases, this meant that the attraction sat dormant for years on end with no word as to its status until it either slipped off the radar or closed completely. It's a nice way of saying, "hey, we don't want to deal with it anymore, but let's do this so it doesn't cause an uproar." And it works. Eventually, people forget about it and move on.

    I don't want to sound all doom and gloom, but this sounds like a very similar situation to me. Plus, I've been thinking a lot about the whole 3D thing and it doesn't really make sense to wait to release them a few years down the line, especially since the whole 3D fad is already fading. It's seems like it should be now or never and that's why I have my doubts.
     
    Hitchhiking-Ghost likes this.
  15. fistofan1

    fistofan1 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 8, 2009
    I doubt this is the reason behind the postponement. The Special Editions of the OT came out just two years before TPM and Episode I was one of the most eagerly-anticipated movie of all time. I really don't think there would be a problem if LFL released AOTC and ROTS this year and the OT next year. That way, there would be a year between the releases of VI and VII. If anything, that would probably help build the hype for the ST instead of killing it.
     
  16. benknobi1

    benknobi1 Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jun 12, 2002
    3D is a nice bonus, but I'm fine with the PT the way it is. Disney could always make more prequel movies which would be better than 3D anyway
     
  17. appleseed

    appleseed Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 5, 2002
    I was less interested in 3D for any of the first 6 movies and more interested in a recut of AOTC because there is a much better movie there than what it ended up being.
     
  18. Pfluegermeister

    Pfluegermeister Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 30, 2003
    It's probably best you never saw that. You might have ended up discovering that you can put a beautiful dress on a pig, but it'll still be a pig. :p
     
  19. roguegirl

    roguegirl Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Aug 29, 2001
    That's too bad.I was looking forward to the added scenes. But I like to know how Episode 7 goes.but they dld say they were postponing it for another time.not too long,I hope.

    It would be great if they do a digital movie on The Force Unleashed or Knights of the Old Republic.that would be something.;
     
  20. anakinfansince1983

    anakinfansince1983 Skywalker Saga/LFL/YJCC Manager star 10 Staff Member Manager

    Registered:
    Mar 4, 2011
    I'm hoping they do eventually make some Old Republic-era movies.
     
  21. Sith_Knight087

    Sith_Knight087 Jedi Padawan star 1

    Registered:
    Sep 5, 2012
    Wouldn't surprise me if a few people ''over'' reacted to the news like this.

     
  22. Joe

    Joe Jedi Grand Master star 6

    Registered:
    Dec 25, 2012
    Really saddened. I was hoping to see AOTC in theaters. :(
     
  23. EviL_eLF

    EviL_eLF Force Ghost star 5

    Registered:
    Mar 16, 2003
    I hope you're right!

    I went to see TPM in 3d only because it was another chance to see Star Wars on the big screen. If it was in 2d, I may have gone twice instead of just once. ;)
     
    Darth Chiznuk and Echo-07 like this.
  24. Iefan

    Iefan Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Jan 31, 2013
    Not really worried about it. Post 3D conversion has yet to impress me. Even films nowadays that are in fact shot in 3D are far and few to give me any real effect of three dimensions. But that may just be me. I probably have undiagnosed depth perception problems.

    I agree.
     
  25. appleseed

    appleseed Chosen One star 5

    Registered:
    Dec 5, 2002
    Meh, I still like it overall, I just think it needed a smoother editing job in places to make it flow better, and the scenes with Padme's family cut back in.