Buff, NY DISNEY JUST BOUGHT LUCASFILM -- EPISODE VII AND BEYOND COMING

http://theforce.net/latestnews/story/Disney_Buying_Lucasfilm_Plans_New_Star_Wars_Film_148646.asp

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericsav...oda-disney-to-buy-lucasfilm-for-4-05-billion/

http://www.slashfilm.com/disney-buys-lucasfilm-new-star-wars-film-2015/

This is either really good, or really terrible news.

 

I've always wondered what was beyond ROTJ. I know he planned, but eventually scrapped, the idea of Ep. VII-IX many years ago, so why now?

 

I am excited about this!! Possible new characters, seeing a new movie in the theater (with my boys!!), more appearances, and keeping the saga alive!!!

They can't do any worse than the prequels and I'm sure George had some demands before he signed.

 

Does this make Princess Leia a Disney Princess now?

 

Im nervous about this.... im hoping they dont try to pawn some new young actors/actresses off on us as luke liea or han...if they go from books and have originals reprise there roles older and then issue in solo kids on the big screen along with mara jade then i would be so excited and giddy otherwise may have to protest...

 

Do we have to wear mouse ears with our costumes now?

 

I actually WANT new actors. Look at Batman(or the joker), Superman, James Bond, plus a whole bunch of others. Some are blah, some are amazing, better then the original greats. The same can be true here. Look at the dark Knight. Without a new look and new actors it would never have come about, even though Tim Burtons 1990's Batman itself was great.

I'm more curious of WHAT story they can tell.
They either have to totally ignore the books, use the books, or accept the fact that the books will never even remember thease events taking place.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Timeline_of_galactic_history

There are several books(and series) between rotj and Thrawn, and almost constantly from thrawn to current is filled in... so.....?

 

the Thrawn trilogy would be cool but I agree with the Wookie, new actors as the orginal cast is just wrong..... I hope they go into the future and tell the story of the Solo kids and Luke's son

 

A very long time ago, George outlined a broad sketch of the 3 trilogies. He described episodes 7-9 as ..."the need for moral choices in rebuilding society..." (or words roughly to that effect).
This acquisition has been long anticipated, and that it's finally happened means everyone's realized that 6 movies only go so far. Books, merchandising, etc are peripheral, even television to a certain degree. There are more STAR TREK novels per square inch than lightsabers, but TREK is still essentially a dead franchise despite the occasional film that squeaks out. More GOOD films are what grow the franchise.

 

Let's hope so.

 

I'm not so sure of this... I can foresee Star Wars VII in the theaters followed by about 10 straight to DVD regurgitations staring the cast from Suite Life on Deck....

 

I'm trying to be optimistic. I'm worried about canon and how the books might be trashed by any new movies(imagine a universe where the kids are named differently and luke and mara never got together?)
Or chewbacca never dies? or Boba Fett is made out to be as a bad guy/evil, rather than the fleshed out mercenary of the books with a softer side(on rare occasion) who isn't evil, but just.. a mercenary.

Otherwise I look at several things:
1) the avengers - Disney. Done perfectly and well and without trashing the characters in any way. I see them treating Star wars the same way.

2) Pixar - Disney has owned this for many years and their stuff is still considered top notch quality. Monsters Inc 2 is coming out soon, and I'm not sure I know of anyone who expects anything less than a good well done movie.

3)The Phantom Menance - Released as 3D in Feb. By far looked at as the worst star wars movie of the 6 by almost anyone and everyone. It was a re release and still did over 100 million. Half the new movies that come out dont make that much. The last movie(e3) made almost $850 million dollars.
The name Star wars alone is enough to guarantee a $500 million box office. Even if it's a crappy movie. Just from name alone. And knowing disney, knowing a great movie would bring in billions, they will do everything they can to make it great.

Just my thoughts on the matter anyways

 

Unless I've been living under a rock, I wasn't aware Disney did The Avengers...it was a damn good movie! If that's the case, Star Wars should be in good hands...only time will tell however.

 

My knee-jerk reaction was poo-poo on Disney...After they acquired the (naming?) rights to Seal Team 6, I have a real problem with that. What next, Delta Force? The Green Berets? Army Rangers?
It's all they do is munch, munch, munch ala what Bill Gates and Microsoft did in the 80s and 90s. If you can't top competition, buy them out. Sure they have the money to do "great" things, but so what? So does the mafia. Does that make them good? I guess time will tell. And believe me, Disney will be under many a scrutinizing eye.

I fear for Disney alienating the very fan base that contributed to that 4 billion dollar franchise in lieu of catering to all the boys and girls of a new generation that don't know a good story if it slapped them in the face. I'm not confident Disney can tell it. My boys have never even heard of Fahrenheit 451 much less even read it. Maybe I'm just getting old. They just want to see the eye candy and not the guts behind the character and story. It's just all about the money and the merchandising and trying to manufacture a phenomenon. I sure hope Disney keeps its creative minds out of the story and let LucasFilm, Industrial Light & Magic, and Skywalker Sound just do what they do best.

The more Disney has been buying things out, the more I've been losing respect for them. I'm just getting sick of hearing them buying every entertainment piece they can get their greedy hands on and, in effect, evolving themselves into a monopolistic entity in an oligopolistic business. Perfect example is the WWE. They bought out all the competing wrestling associations and rev'ed up the marketing machine. Honestly, I think their product sucks. It's not the wrestling I grew up watching. I don't watch it as much anymore because Vince & Company ruined it with soap opera like story telling instead of hard-knuckled wrestling. I don't even think any wrestler could cut a good promo anymore (besides The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin) without the marketing machine covering for their shortcomings. This, I fear, will be the future of Star Wars. I hope I'm wrong.

Disney is going to have to pull something really over-the-top to convince me that they are worthy of this franchise. (If Selina Gomez stars in any of these movies, I'm quitting the hobby altogether.) All I'm seeing are John Carter like Disney-fied stories and merchandise just to make the revenue and who cares about the story or the fans. They wrestled The Muppets from Jim Henson in a bad way, took over Marvel, who by the way are still writing the stories, not Disney Imagineers, and pat themselves on the back for putting out a blockbuster?

I'm not sure what Walt would think of Disney (the Company) now. If I can coin a phrase......"I have a bad feeling about this."

I never thought I'd see this day come so soon. But, this is just one man's jaded opinion.

 

Disney owns Marvel. Amongst many other entities not including the Mouse himself...

 

No more 20th Century Fox Fanfare.

 

Peter, I understand your fears. In a way I worry myself. But rather looking at the bads I'm trying to focus on the goods. Our fears may be proven wrong or may come into being. But what happens will happen and no matter of worrying on our part would change anything.
(though a mass protest by the rebel legion, the 501st and fanforce, with the related press involved WOULD cause people to think and notice I'd imagine. For now most people are in a "lets see what happens" mindset for now)

Assuming they did what they did with Marvel, and take our fears and worries into account and not ignore them, and focus on and make good quality things, I don't really care who owns it or what else they do.
If Star Wars stays what it is or gets better I'm happy. We'll see in a year or two if that still happens.

Bryan: Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!

 

I have to agree with EVERYTHING Peter has said. I feel Disney has become entirely too large and they have lost sight of Walt's vision and dreams. The magic has left Disney years ago, and it was never more evident that when we visited the PARKS a few years ago. Don't get me wrong, we had fun and will return with our children again some day, but the merchandising mogul that Disney has become has taken away from the "park for the entire family" vision Walt Disney initially had. Perhaps I too am old fashioned. Main Street USA is, unfortunately, has evolved into the modern representation of our society- buy buy buy. I fear the same will happen with Star Wars under the Disney brand, which, admittedly, has been traveling down that path now for some time. I hope Kathleen Kennedy will maintain tight control on the brand and allow Star Wars to continue as the story we have all grown to love so much. Only time will tell....

And I WILL miss the 20th Century Fox FanFare....

 

I too will miss the 20th Century Fox Fanfare at the beginning.

However, I am holding out hope that Disney will know how to step back as they have done with Pixar.

It seems that Lucas was going to sell regardless since he is planning on retiring. If it was going to be sold to another company I can see it going to a lot worse production companies than Disney.

I have to admit I am still a fan of Disneyworld. Yes, it is commercial. However, they tend to produce an extremely high quality product in terms of parks and movies on the whole. The new Star Wars ride at Hollywood Studios is wonderful -they really could have screwed it up if they hadn't been willing to put in the time and money in revamping it well. Of course there are exceptions in that they have produced a few duds in terms of movies. However, the Pirates of the Carribean Series is wonderful as was the Avengers and almost every Pixar movie. Ultimately, I can't think of any company that has as good of a track record for big budget films. -I am a definite optimist as far as the future of the franchise is concerned.

 

Disney did not do The Avengers or any of the "Phase One" Marvel films.

Keep in mind most of these films were in pre-production stages before Disney bought Marvel in 2009 (Heck, Iron Man and Incredible Hulk were already released in 2008). Marvel Studios still ran production with Paramount through The Avengers since that was already in place before the purchase (kind of like how, for the time being, the Star Wars license is staying with current license holders like Dark Horse comics or The Clone Wars is staying on Cartoon Network this season, since that was negotiated before Disney purchased Lucasfilm). Long after the fact, Disney negotiated with Paramount to get SOME share of distribution on The Avengers. The film still has a Paramount logo in front of it, and only says Disney as a title card at the very end, after the shawarma scene. Disney will now be sole distributor on all Marvel Studios films starting with Iron Man 3, but as for what's been released already, Disney had little to nothing to do with it.

That said, I don't see Disney doing anything to destroy the quality of the Marvel films, as Iron Man 3 looks very promising, and the other "Phase 2" films are shaping up nicely. Those and the Pirates of the Caribbean films (as Michelle mentioned) (well, at least the first three ) are probably the best examples of Disney having a grasp on what "Star Wars" can be, production-wise.

 

I highly enjoyed Pirates 4.

I really don't see this being a huge issue. Lucasfilms is still the company that will be doing the majority of the production, and those guys know what Star Wars is and should be. I really don't see the folks at Disney coming in and saying "this needs to be completely animated and needs sing along scenes".

I think people are overreacting a bit on this purchase, really, it's nearly impossible not to do better than the prequels.

 

I think it's worth mentioning too that the Prequels were made for about half of what films are budgeted at today. Granted, some of that is inflation, but even for their time, the prequels were on the lower side of "Hollywood blockbuster" budgets. Now that Disney has a stake I'd imagine that would not be the case for Ep. 7.

 

Don't forget they own Indiana Jones as well.......everyone forgets that.

 

They can have that Crystal Skull crapfest!