As far as I can tell, this is absolutely, positively, 100% legitimate: George Lucas has unloaded all of Lucasfilm for $4 billion to Disney.
What does this mean for fans of Lucasarts beloved franchises? Well, honestly, nothing good. Disney is run by Alan Horn, who is infamous for being almost the cartoon of the bean-counting studio executive. Worse, he’s head of the stereotypical bean-counting, art-hating movie studio, a company so mercenary they actually included a bunch of sports clips on the Cinderella DVD to promote ESPN Classics because they were “Cinderella moments in sports.”
So, with that in mind, here are a few predictions about what’s going to happen across all the media Lucasfilm touches.
Film and Television:
- First and foremost, Star Wars: Episode 7 is apparently being fast-tracked for 2015. Yes. Episode 7. Either they’ve got a script already written, or this is going to be one hell of a rush job. This may not be a bad thing, in the sense that having George’s toys taken away from him might motivate him to actually make a movie worth watching.
- The good news is that Kathleen Kennedy, part of Spielberg’s entourage, is now in charge of anything Star Wars related.
- Any Indiana Jones movies or TV shows will have to go through Disney AND Paramount, making his squeeze a lot less likely. That said, Paramount likes money just as much as Disney, so expect a cartoon.
- Speaking of Indy, expect Disney to try and cross over Indy and National Treasure, or maybe Pirates of the Caribbean. I wish I were joking about this, but Disney was rumored to want to cross over the latter two. It’s hard to see them not desiring the “synergistic possibilities” in crap like this.
- If The Clone Wars doesn’t get canceled, or at least dragged to Disney XD, Warner Bros. has blackmail photos. Either way, expect a lot more Star Wars animation.
- Silver lining: Pixar could make a Star Wars movie. BELIEVE.
- Second silver lining: Industrial Light and Magic and Pixar are now under one roof.
- Third and final silver lining: Disney will likely flip off George and put out the original cuts on Blu-Ray.
Comics:
- Dark Horse is likely going to lose the Star Wars license, which is a damn shame since they’ve been handing in great stuff for decades now. But Disney owns Marvel, so why give a valuable property to a competitor?
- Indy will get his own miniseries from Marvel, likely a backdoor to an ongoing. This I’m optimistic about; it’ll likely go to somebody top-tier but suited to the material. There are several Marvel writers I’d love to see on an Indy book.
- You might want to buy your Dark Horse omnibuses now: I won’t be surprised if Disney gets a bit dickish over reprints.
Video Games:
- It kills me to say this, but Lucasarts is pretty much all but screwed. Disney tolerates video games and likely doesn’t see any value in making games that aren’t cheap tie-in platformers. If anybody was wondering why Clint Hocking had suddenly jumped ship without shipping a game, it’s because he saw the writing on the wall.
- On that point: expect more games like Star Wars Kinect. Again: Not joking. Most of Disney’s current-gen output consists of tie-ins of variable quality.
- If Star Wars: 1313 is not a lot further along than it looks, it might get spiked solely because it’s cheaper to do that than to see a relatively risky project through to its conclusion.
- On the bright side, we might finally see somebody get off their ass and officially rerelease games like Full Throttle and Day of the Tentacle.
In general, expect a lot of “cross-synergies.” Darth Vader is going to turn up on sports programming. Disney tweens are suddenly going to be running around in Jedi robes. The Force will be strong with Mickey.
Again, these are predictions, not written in stone. I’m being cynical here, and I really hope I’m wrong. I don’t want people to get fired or a classic franchise to get bad-touched (more). I’m just not sure that won’t happen.
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I dunno — I’m cautiously optimistic about this? Disney is an evil uncaring conglomerate and all, but they’ve made some things I’ve liked recently. I haven’t liked anything from Lucas in a long time.
And hey, I like that Pixar Star Wars idea — wonder if they still have Brad Bird’s number.
God willing.
Fit me for my tinfoil hat if you must, but I’m virtually certain that this is why Disney abused, wrote off and crapped all over “John Carter.” As giddy as I am about a new sequel – seeing the goddamned MILLENNIUM-FREAKING-FALCON on the big screen again – I have to think they felt no need for a new franchise once the talks were rolling.
I doubt that, but at the same time, it worked out pretty well for them, huh?
Don’t get me wrong – I’m actually liking the idea of Star Wars being taken out of the total control of Lucas. Back in the day he had people to tell him “no” and “that’s a dumb idea, George.” I’ve never hated the man, but I think he had too damn long to think over what he would do with the SW universe.
I’m sure these negotiations have been going on for some time, and I don’t see how they didn’t effect how “John Carter” was handled upon release. Not saying Lucas had any say in it, but it could be why the crack marketing team failed to mention that, oh, say something like “Star Wars” was heavily influenced by Burroughs’ Mars tales. Look, I’m a bitter old fart who’s pissed off at Disney for finally getting a Barsoom movie out there and then writing it off. And I hate the fact that something I should be excited about leaves a bad taste in my mouth because I’ve smelled a rat for some time and now think I know where the source is. I’m sure I’ll get over it when my butt’s in the movie seat and we have something to watch that hopefully will be at least as good as ROTJ.
As a theme park fan, this is awesome news. Disney could expand the area around their popular Star Tours simulator ride into an entire Star Wars land in Walt Disney World. I’m hoping for a Buzz Lightyear-like shooting ride where all the targets are Jar Jar.
Heh, there are definitely more rides in the cards. They actually mention that in the official press release.
I bet there are a lot of creative people who went into the filmmaking business because of Star Wars and they’re just dying to have a shot at helping to create a Star Wars film that doesn’t need Lucas’ approval at every step. So I’m optimistic that even though Disney wants to be able to sell new toys, the people they put in charge won’t be thinking toys as much as Lucas was.
So are they going to recast established characters for episode 7 or set it with all new characters and have it take place 100 years after episode 6? I’d love to see an adaptation of “Heir to the Empire”, but once they cast Robert Pattinson as Luke Skywalker I’ll lose all interest.
The Thrawn trilogy on screen would be great, but for a new greater threat I’d love to see the Yuuzhan Vong War. I haven’t read anything from the Expanded Universe, but from what I’ve heard of them, it sounds like it would be epic.
Well, there’s a lot to mine in the Expanded Universe, that’s for sure.
I could see the Thrawn Trilogy being the first thing adapted. Plus, with Pixar and ILM under one roof now (figuratively) they could do that anti-aging thingdone to Jeff Bridges in Tron Legacy, maybe the couple of years will improve the results, and essentially motion-capture actors for the roles, place the faces on the bodies and have Hamill, Ford, Fisher, et all do the voices? I don’t know if this is a better idea than just recasting, but it is an idea.
Outside of Han Solo, I doubt anyone’s gonna mind that they re-cast the characters. And I think the last thing people will want is more CGI in Star Wars, especially if that motion-capture technology isn’t significantly improved. Although even then the way Carrie Fisher’s voice has changed through the years, it’s not likely to work entirely…. I guess if they sped the story ahead 30 years (even if the continuity of the EU is messed up) they could have a new generation alongside the elders. I’d be curious to hear what others would prefer.
Pixar animation Episodes VII, VIII & IX. The Thrawn Saga, with as-close-as-possible voice actors/hurl MILLIONS OF DOLLARS at the original cast (and a sandwich for Carrie Fisher) and Brad Bird/Andrew Stanton directing. Ralph Fiennes or Jason Isaacs as Thrawn.
Not that I’ve thought about it or anything.
I admit, if Disney does the smart thing and gives Pixar Star Wars to play with, I will be over the moon.
The expanded universe started out strong with the Zahn trilogy and quickly became thinly wrung-out shit. Lucas already contradicted several things in the books with the prequels. Toss that whole baby out with the bathwater and do something fresh.
Of course, since it’s a seventh SW movie, how fresh could it be?
Note to self: Get control of Disney, then rerelease entirely new movies but title them as “alternate cuts” of Episodes 1, 2 and 3, thereby retconning the original Episodes 1, 2 and 3 from the official Star Wars continuity.
I like this plan. I can kick in five bucks. Guys, come on, let’s get this pool going.
Wait…Lucas actually made episodes 1, 2, and 3?
/actually liked the prequels when they came out
//hey, I was too young to know better
I wouldn’t even need entirely new movies. Phantom Edits, plus a few re-filmed scenes, and I could fix the ENTIRE prequel triogy. Guaranteed.
Now, if you wanted entirely new movies, I could manage that two, but it would involve going back and removing Leia as Luke’s sister and making her Obi-Wan’s daughter.
So, does Fox have any distribution rights in this though? Of the original movies? Can they squash any distribution of the original cut of the film on Blu-Ray? Or have they been bought off in the deal?
Fox is pretty much just a hired gun. Essentially, Lucas fronts the money, and they provide the distribution network. Think of Lucas as the guy who makes the candy and Fox as the guy who puts it in the vending machine.
or the windowless van
My huge question about all this is “What’s going to happen to Lucas-Arts?”.
Is Disney gonna curb-stomp those self-sabotaging a-holes that drove away the Time Splitters guys?
Are we finally gonna get some decent goddamn Star Wars games? Battlefront FPS? Rogue Squadron/Tie Fighter revival? Empire Strikes Back RTS? I must know!
I would really love to say LucasArts gets access to the Disney catalogue and Disney finally becomes a force to be reckoned with in gaming. But these are suits, so it’s more likely they’ll sell the whole thing to Activision.
My gut says, unfortunately, “curbstomp”.
::deep breath::
NOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooo…
The Star Wars brand name is too lucrative to just toss aside. The bottom line is Star Wars games sell, despite the quality. Now take the entire Star Wars universe, all the characters, worlds, vehicles, all that have all ready been fleshed out, and give it to a competent development team and the possibilities are endless.
Assuming Lucas Arts gets sold off, I’m getting a gaming boner thinking of a Dishonored, or Bioshock, or Skyrim, build with the Star Wars universe.
Hell Disney could LEASE titles to all the major developers. “Infinity Ward, you give us X million dollars, we lease you the Star Wars brand for x number of titles, you keep the profits. All we ask is that you run the story by us so we can make sure it stays within the Star Wars realm”
/ I know I’m overly optimistic. Let me dream.
They won’t toss it aside.
They’ll just make tablet games instead of console games.
Well Episode 7 can’t possibly suck as bad as Episodes I-III if Lucas isn’t in control of the story, directing, etc.
The Avengers was a Disney movie and it turned out ok.
True, but Avengers also had people defending it. Lucas doesn’t care. Lucas was going to put out Star Wars toilet paper before realizing this would make more money.
I can’t stop thinking about how many times my kids play “Jedis vs Superheros”, either with their toys, or dressed up in Halloween costumes, and the idea of actually seeing that happen makes my inner 10 year old giddy.
My mind just got blown with the possibility of Marvel Super Heros Vs Street Fighter Vs Star Wars.
Capt America vs Bobba Fett, Spiderman vs Quigon Jin.
/sploog
Yeah, if Capcom can get their hands on Star Wars because of this, that would be amazing.
Finally, we will have an answer to the age-old question, “Can a lightsaber cut through Cap’n America’s shield?”
If lightsabers can’t cut Brock Samson, I’m not optimistic about their chances against vibranium.
Can Jedis mind-control the Hulk? And who can jump higher, young Obi-Wan or Vega from StreetFighter?
Hopefully in Episode 7, Luke finally gets to Tosche Station to get his power converters!
That would actually be goddamn hilarious. “We’ve had these things for decades! Where the hell were you! It would kill your aunt and uncle for them to know how irresponsible you are!”
Late yesterday evening the head of Dark Horse sent out a release that Star Wars is going to stay with Dark Horse for the “foreseeable future” (I’m gibing it three years, probably until the next movie).
If anything else I’m hopeful that Disney will at least put Sebastian Shaw back in the goddamn ending of ROJ.
I would imagine the original cuts in a pristine Blu-Ray will be among the first orders of business.
Can I also request as a bonus feature on the Blu-Ray they include a short titled the Assassination of Jar Jar Binks.
I NEED CLOSURE DAMN IT !!!
[www.hollywoodreporter.com]
Disney likes money. Fox likes money. They’ll make it happen.
The assassination of Jar Jar Binks reminds me of a Chris Rock bit: Jar Jar Binks didn’t get assassinated. That Gungan got shot.
I would pay all the Republic daktari in the galaxy to see Jar Jar as Billy Batts, Qui-Gon Jinn as Jimmy Conway, Obi-Wan Kenobi as Tommy Vito, Yoda as Henry Hill.
That Gungan got shot is my new signature, well played sir, well played.