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The Walt Disney Company to Acquire Lucasfilm and Star Wars


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I'm excited to see what Disney can do with Star Wars. While I don't hate the prequels like many fans do (I actually prefer Revenge of the Sith to Return of the Jedi), I do think Disney's got a better shot at making a good sequel trilogy than George Lucas ever did. As for park attractions, Disney now has the one franchise that I think has a good chance of beating out Harry Potter if they use it for lands and not just individual attractions. I hope they do a Star Wars land at WDW instead of cloning Cars Land or proceeding with Avatarland, and I'd like to see new Star Wars and/or Indiana Jones attractions at the other resorts as well.

 

How long until someone buys theme park rights to The Lord of the Rings? I think that's the biggest film franchise left without a theme park attraction, and with the Hobbit trilogy coming I can only see it becoming more popular. Maybe that will be Disney's next purchase (although I doubt it).

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How about instead of doing SW: Ep 7, they do a reboot of the prequel trilogy, call it canon, and effectively wipe the slate clean?

So instead of a trilogy about governments, trade blockades, senate maneuvers, and Jar-jar Binks, we get the story of Obi-wan and Anakin's (and PLEASE don't call him "Annie" for chrissakes) friendship... a character-driven trilogy that goes from teacher/student to comrades to betrayal. Sure, there are some battles and dogfights and such, but what Lucas seemed to forget is that the reason we loved the original trilogy and hated the prequels is that we went to the movies because we LIKED THE CHARACTERS. There weren't many characters in the prequels that were developed enough to be likable.

 

Disney has a pretty good track record at creating memorable characters, I think this franchise can go nowhere but up.

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I heard honey boo boo's mom got hired as Jabba The Hut.

 

Good to hear they are keeping some of the original cast.

 

As for Howard the Duck, didn't Disney get the rights to that character when they bought Marvel? I think the Lucasfilm purchase just gives them distributions rights to the original. Correct me if I'm wrong on that one.

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^ Yeah, no idea...was more just wondering if anything had been said in any of the press releases or videos as while Star Wars is VERY important, there is a whole "back catalog", which at the moment probably not very important, I'm SURE at some point some exec will be all "Heeeeey....can we do anything with the Land Before Time franchise we bought?"

 

From everything that has been said in the press releases, interviews and the shareholders call today, it sounds like the sole motivator behind this purchase was to exploit Star Wars. They seemed to acknowledge the back catalog, namely Indiana Jones, but it was expressed that the primary focus would be on Star Wars. It was also noted that a good deal of the existing portfolio has existing red tape to deal with with the distributors (Paramount for Indiana Jones, Fox for the first six Star Wars movies, etc...).

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^ Well we already know Paramount is willing to deal, just look at Avengers and Iron Man 3. We'll see what happens with Fox. I'm sure they can work out some type of share deal where Disney can bundle and re-release the old ones (with Fox logo intact) but Fox gets a certain percentage. Or Disney will just make one big offer and buy the distribution rights.

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From Slashfilm.com

 

Will we see More Indiana Jones Films?

 

In the near future, no. Disney execs were very specific about the fact that Indiana Jones is part of this purchase, but as with some superhero characters when Disney bought Marvel, there is financial “encumbrance” with Indy. Namely, Paramount has a controlling distribution interest in the character, and Disney isn’t going to mess around with that right now. This deal is all about Star Wars, as Disney’s Bob Iger said explicitly.

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So who do you think they'll get to helm the next movies? Potential ideas...

- Brad Bird (Pixar/Lucas ties, knows how to direct live action)

- Andrew Stanton (Same...but may still have John Carter Stink on him)

- Gore Verbinski (In the Disney stable, knows how to direct big movies)

- David Yates (Harry Potter were as big as any Star Wars movies)

- Guillermo Del Toro (Disney has been wanting to work with him, Pacific Rim has a sci-fi feel)

- Peter Jackson (rolling off LOTR/Hobbit and into Star Wars would cement him as the next Lucas)

- Joss Whedon (doubtful they'd pull him away from Marvel)

- JJ Abrams (Would be great, though doubt he'd pull away from Star Trek)

 

I think Brad Bird or Gore Verbinski seem the most likely. I'd love to see a wildcard like Edgar Wright get it though.

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Sam Raimi would be great would be a likely candidate since he has a Disney movie coming out.

 

Gore Verbinski seems like the most logical choice. He's had a long relationship with ILM, especially since he won the Oscar for first film from ILM's new animation studio. Though he's not in Disney's good graces right now since The Lone Ranger and At Wold's End went way over budget (see Andrew Stanton).

 

Brad Bird would be great but he'd butt heads with Lucas and his old regime too much. He's known for being very demanding on his writers and artists at Pixar.

 

There are a lot of younger directors who've done special effects more effectively than Lucas has: Rupert Wyatt (Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Rupert Sanders (Snow White & the Huntsman), Joseph Kasinski (Tron Legacy).

 

I have a sinking feeling it's going to be directed by one of Lucas' lackeys (think 2nd unit director of the prequels).

 

Worst case scenario is M. Night Shamylan who Kathleen Kennedy has been a producer for.

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As a Disney and Star Wars fan boy, I am very optimistic about this. Everyone is right, it cant get much worse (as it has been in GL's hands), and any doubters should remember that Pixar and Marvel have put out quality films since their deals with Disney.

 

So many genuine LOL's at everyone trying to redesign Disneyland. Everyone knows they'll just build the "3rd gate" as Gungan city under Rivers of America

 

- Ryan "is always late to the party because he works nights" Reynoso

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So who do you think they'll get to helm the next movies? Potential ideas...

- Brad Bird (Pixar/Lucas ties, knows how to direct live action)

- Andrew Stanton (Same...but may still have John Carter Stink on him)

- Gore Verbinski (In the Disney stable, knows how to direct big movies)

- David Yates (Harry Potter were as big as any Star Wars movies)

- Guillermo Del Toro (Disney has been wanting to work with him, Pacific Rim has a sci-fi feel)

- Peter Jackson (rolling off LOTR/Hobbit and into Star Wars would cement him as the next Lucas)

- Joss Whedon (doubtful they'd pull him away from Marvel)

- JJ Abrams (Would be great, though doubt he'd pull away from Star Trek)

 

I think Brad Bird or Gore Verbinski seem the most likely. I'd love to see a wildcard like Edgar Wright get it though.

 

They'll bring in Michael Bay to direct it.

 

In reality I think Peter Jackson would do some great work for the series.

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The Force vs. Vegan Powers.

When he uses his Vegan powers to blow a crater into the moon, it totally screams "Death Star".

 

It could happen.

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I'm cautiously optimistic about this and think it could bring back the Star Wars that I loved from my childhood. This deal puts Lucas in an executive producer role which is pretty much where he was for the both Empire and Return of the Jedi.

 

As long as Lucas doesn't write the script and direct the movie, I think the potential for the franchise is huge. Not just another trilogy but an ongoing film series that would continue every 3 or 4 years. If they focus on character and story first, (Original trilogy) and not effects (prequels) then they have a winning formula. Disney is known for being able to pull off character and story driven movies, I wish them the best of luck because I really want to see them succeed.

 

Thank you George Lucas for giving us such a rich and fun universe to play in. But thank you most of all for knowing it was time to let go and put others in charge of the sandbox.

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