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Disney Acquires Lucasfilm, Episode 7 slated for a 2015 release.
...All I can say, they had BETTER not mess up canon.
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You should see the Eurobricks topics on this; we have a HUGE SW community, we're freaking out.
EDIT: A sampling (note that I did a quick check for language/inappropriate content, but if a mod could look it over and double-check that'd be AWESOME.
) of our discussion:
Wow, Just wow.
I really don't know how to take this. I love Star Wars, but I just don't know.
Sigh, looks like this is the kind of thing you just need to take in and see how it plays out, since we can't change it.
Time to buy every episode of anything Star Wars you like, before Disney somehow ruins them.
Or Disney may actually release a new "special anniversary edition" of the movies that includes the long gone original theatrical release versions. It's way to early to tell.
as far as any new movies? If we can get something of the quality of Avengers or the first PotC movie we will be in nerd heaven. If we get something on par with Prince of Persia or Thor or Captain America we will be at the least satisfied and more content than we were with the PT. If we get something like the later PotC movies or John Carter, we will burn the studio to the ground and nail the mouse to a tree as a warning to others.
I don't know on that. Keep in mind Lucas has a long relationship with 20th Century Fox, and through them relationships with MGM and UA. Hence the extremely large Star Wars and Indiana Jones presence in the Disney owned "Hollywood Studios" park. So given that there are a great deal of fairly unknown back end relationships (one of the benefits of Lucas being wholly private) there may have been a lot going on regarding both this merger and any new movies behind the scenes for quite a long time. I can tell you I was in Hollywood Studios about two weeks ago. One of the things I noticed was just how wholly a ton of the merchandising was blending Star Wars and Indiana Jones with existing Disney properties. The shear amount and prominence of Mickey Mouse and Muppet themed Star Wars toys and action figures was actually kind of shocking. So much so that I was actually wondering if a Lucasfilm deal was in the works.
As far as Disney making a Star Wars movie? Let's be honest with ourselves. Star Wars at it's best is the ultimate "popcorn movie" series. Not deep filmaking. And honestly Disney has some of the best people for this sort of thing in it's stable right now. John Lassiter? Jerry Bruckheimer and his crew? Joss Wheedon? The entire Marvel comics creative team? Right now this is possibly the best place for SW to be.
And as collectors of licensed merchandised product from these movies (yes this is where the TLDR post spins back to Lego related :blush: ), Disney has one particular habit that should be making us very very happy. Disney does not have a habit of "reboot'ing" things. Almost their entire empire is built on nostalgia,a nd from building off of and growing existing properties. Not recreating them. They leverage the nostalgia. They blend the old with the new. They may move a property forward in time, or into another generation (ie Tron), but they don't normally simply remake. (well unless moving it to a non conflicting medium, animation to live action such as 101 Dalmations. But even then they tend to keep the core characters very intact). This si very very good for we Lego collectors. How many people here want a "new! Taylor Lautner as Luke Skywalker!" minifig? Or a "Glenn Close as Obi Wan Kenobi" one? Disney is the least likely studio to do this sort of thing. In making new they tend to dislike invalidating that which has gone before. Compare this with what Paramount did with Star Trek and the 2009 JJ Abrahms reboot. They put out a highly successful movie. A true blockbuster. But in doing so they literally destroyed 30 years worth of steady merchandising. So much so that even discount houses wouldn't touch the stuff. ("JJ'Prise toys ended up bulk landfilled. Syndication on all shows died in North America, etc.) So hopefully given their history Disney will give us lots of new Lego stuff that goes with the old, instead of retooling and rebooting everything.
Well, this is certainly big news. This was unexpected, but I kinda had a feeling something like this would happen eventually seeing as Lucas was retiring. I'll be optimistic about this development as they did a good job with Marvel so far. I'm excited to see new SW movies in the theater, no matter what they will be about. After all, I even liked the prequels, and it can't be worse than the CW movie, right?
I think this sequel trilogy will be about the adventures of Luke's or Han and Leia's kids. Because let's face it, the main cast of the OT is too old to star in a new trilogy and there are no actors who could replace them. They could make cameos as the older versions of their characters, but that's about it. And it can't be about the Old Republic because it is said to be a sequel. I also don't think they will make film adaptions of any of the EU books and rather go with a new story.
Whatever this means for the future of Star Wars, one thing is for sure: The Lego Star Wars theme is going to continue for a long time. :classic:
Stuff to remember about Disney:
-They didn't make the Marvel movies. They allowed them to proceed as planned, and are now supporting phase two.
-The studio head who supported Prince of Persia, POTC4 and Jon Carter was fired. Plus, he was one of the people responsible for titling the movie Jon Carter instead of Princess of Mars (because boys hate princesses) and the horrible ad campaign.
-The company handed over its animation to Pixar head John Lasseter, who used to be part of Lucasfilm...
Stuff to consider about George Lucas:
-He's crazy.
-He hasn't had a good idea in over 25 years.
-Even then, so much of what we loved in the original movies were products of the cast, Ralph McQuarrie, and the director of Empire, Irvin Kirshner.
-Every bad idea he had for the prequels was agreed to by his sycophantic staff of yes-men.
At the very least, the brand is in abler hands. Or maybe you forget the Ewoks cartoon show Lucas approved? He was not a bearer of quality.
I personally do not like this. This raises the probability of them retconning the Expanded Universe in the novels with the future movies.
-Omi
