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Disney to Acquire Lucasfilm, Star Wars Episode 7 Due In 2015
Jason Levine writes "Disney will acquire Lucasfilm, including the Star Wars trilogy. Additionally, Star Wars: Episode 7 is due to be released in 2015, with more feature films on the way. George Lucas said, 'For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next. It's now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I've always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime. I'm confident that with Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy, and having a new home within the Disney organization, Star Wars will certainly live on and flourish for many generations to come.'"
He passed on the role of director to Irvin Kershner for the second film. He should have never returned to directing. Or casting. Or screenwriting.
Disney's acquisition of Pixar, Marvel, and the Muppets just worked out so well before. Although, they could hardly do worse than Lucas has.
Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
At least Lucas won't be in charge anymore.
How can anyone not be pleased by this news? Any nerd I've ever interacted with had already written off any new Star Wars movies coming out of Lucasfilm. Even if the new movies are somehow worse than the prequel trilogy, it's not like we were expecting anything good. The only thing that could change my view of the franchise would be if Disney could breath some new life into it and make something worth watching.
Seconded, I literally glanced at the calendar after reading this summary.
Mickey Mouse and Luke Skywalker will both never leave copyright now. Ever.
I think the biggest problem with Disney getting their hands on Star Wars is the copyright issue. Lucas Film has always been really good about letting people parody Star Wars. There have been endless books, spoofs, homages and fan creations based around Star Wars. Disney is notorious for being dicks about, well everything, but definitely about copyright. If they take over Star Wars then I'm worried fan creations, spoofs and other expanded universe material will disappear under threat of legal action.
Yes but only for a limited time before they go back into the Disney vault for a generation or until a new format comes out.! Buy the DVD/Blu-Ray/Digital copy super double Platinum edition today before it's gone!
If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur. --Red Adair
For 35 years, George Lucas has permitted derivative fan-based works to thrive. He's a kid at heart who gains great personal pleasure from seeing so many people embrace his movies and characters.
Disney, on the other hand, is one of the ringleaders of the MPAA, pushing for crap like the DMCA and most noticeably the insane copyright extensions. They're infamous for cracking down on anyone who so much as fingerpaints mouse-ears on a poster of Obama without first licensing said use of mouse-ears. Under a Disney regime, I expect to see any post that so much as mentions a "light saber" as takedown fodder.
As far as extending the franchise, do you really want to watch "The Littlest Sith" or "Sleeping Jedi", or some other straight-to-DVD animated dreck?
John
Back in '06 Disney basically payed Pixar to come and fix the problems in their animation department, too. Disney's turned a corner since Michael Eisner left, and doesn't scare me as much as it used to.
"Space Exploration is not endless circles in low earth orbit." -Buzz Aldrin
I've really hated how so many movies lately has been redone, but I'd be hard pressed to come up with anything that deserves a proper reboot more than the Star Wars episode 1 to 3.
There is so much star wars content (that has been blessed by way of licensing agreements) that takes place after the original trilogy that it seems like there would be no room to write anything original and not make it suck.
Bottles.
In the same way that people who copy movies are 'Pirates', Disney is a 'child molester'.
Joss Whedon's Star Wars would be a bigger disaster than three episodes about Jar Jar.
I disagree. Serenity made me feel like Star Wars all over again: fun, smart, adventurous, light-hearted, but also thoughtful. Joss aces that kind of stuff. See Avengers for details.
I have "The Black Hole", and watched as a kid too. To qualify as a blatant rip-off, I'd think the movies would have to be at least somewhat similar.
While technically the common items you mention are present in both... they are extremely different in presentation. There MAY be points where running away from stormtroopers in the death star could be similar to running away from Max in that huge ship... I don't really see much in common here.
Could "The Black Hole" be an attempt to capitalize on the interest in space Star Wars, etc created? Sure, it's possible. That doesn't make it a rip off. They're not remotely similar in feel at all.
The Black Hole gave me nightmares as a little kid (Max's spinning blades killing that guy). I've always seen it as really dark almost-horror film. It's a crazy mad scientist makes killer robots and turns people into freakish automatons. That's a little different than a rough group of rebels fighting a galactic empire.
Heck, Phantasm feels more like "The Black Hole" to me than Star Wars does. That may be the scarred little kid in me talking, though. ;)
I love it. I can totally imagine Scrooge McDuck as Obi-wan Kenobi. Old, wise, tough as nails. Huey, Duey and Louie as the new generation of Jedi bringing back the old ways of hard work and honor!
I often don't like the choices people make, but I like the fact that people make choices. That's why I'm a conservative.
Are you sure you're not confusing Serenity (the movie) with Firefly (the series)?
The series was great. The movie was one of those great disappointments, where you feel like some studio exec said, "OK, we know we aren't getting a sequel, so let's ignore the entire back story and personality of our characters, throw in loads of gratuitous SFX and action scenes, and focus on only one or two characters out of a great ensemble cast while reducing the others to supporting roles or tragic-fate-fodder."
Whedon's done some good work in his time, but IMHO Serenity was a low point.
If you disagree, post your argument. (-1, Overrated) isn't your personal censorship tool for views you don't like.