Disney acquires Lucasfilm

I.M.J.

New member
I'm sorry but this is not a disappointment in any way, shape or form. Anyone who says it is has not even a fundamental understanding of things like this. Also, it's a multifactored event - it's not just that it's an acquisition, good or bad, but it's an acquisition of top properties that were about to fade into obscurity as the creator was slowly washing his hands of creating more with those IP's anyway (that Star Wars TV show would never have seen the light of day after Clone Wars with Lucas at the helm).

I see this as a possibility for the most viable outlets for Lucasflim properties: a third trilogy, the Star Wars live action TV series, and for Indiana Jones? It makes the most sense that we'd actually now get that animated Indy feature we've seen test art for over the years.
 

Pale Horse

Moderator
Staff member
Stoo said:

I align myself in this camp, too. For all my blustering, I don't like the Marvel aquisition or additions to the park. I believe this is the same thing.

My only hope now is that Favreau's Magic Kingdom preserves the legacy of Disney storytelling...
 

Raiders90

Well-known member
Divorcing Lucas from or marginalizing Lucas from Lucasfilm is probably the best thing that could ever happen to Lucasfilm, Star Wars and Indiana Jones. For real. The original unsullied Star Wars trilogy could now be re-released since Disney (who interested in profits and would profit a crap ton off a release of the original SW films) now owns them, rather than Lucas, who wants to see them buried and forgotten.
 

IndyAJA77

New member
moon_tan said:
Very big news today. George Lucas has sold Lucasfilm Ltd. to Disney today.
Disney says they will film Star Wars: Episode 7 to be released in 2015. Then Episode 8 and 9 will be release 2016 and 2017.
I thought I would never hear the day when they would continue the Star Wars Saga beyond Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983) (Episode 6).
George Lucas has said "No" for 29 years...until now. George Lucas will be a consultant.

I read in another article on MSN, that after Episode 9, they will make a new film "every 2-3 years". I'm all for more Indy films, but perhaps we Indy fans are being spared this same fate. If Episodes 1-3 didn't live up to fan expectations, (or Crystal Skull for some Indy fans), I can't see how Episodes 7-9 and beyond will receive a warm reception. Yes, people will watch them, but will they like the new films?
Back in the day, I always assumed a new SW film would include Han, Luke, Leia, etc. If that's a possible storyline, would Ford go for it? He thought Han should have been killed off in Jedi...What a debacle this could be.
 

AndyLGR

Active member
Surely this news is one of the biggest and most surprising announcements in a long time. The news that star wars continues is huge. But also the fact that 2 of the biggest and most loved movie franchises ever (Indy and SW) could be given a new lease of life I find exciting.
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
Raiders112390 said:
Divorcing Lucas from or marginalizing Lucas from Lucasfilm is probably the best thing that could ever happen to Lucasfilm, Star Wars and Indiana Jones. For real. The original unsullied Star Wars trilogy could now be re-released since Disney (who interested in profits and would profit a crap ton off a release of the original SW films) now owns them, rather than Lucas, who wants to see them buried and forgotten.

There's reason not to get too hopeful for this. Some of Disney's own remasters of their older films, for recent Blu-Ray releases, have smoothed some of the texture out of the earliest films. Not to mention cuts that have been made, mostly of somewhat dubious racial material, in Fantasia and the Three Little Pigs sequel, among others. And, of course, Song of the South remains buried.

An expanded Star Wars or Indiana Jones presence is a natural for Florida's Disney Hollywood Studios park. It's less clear if they could be further well-integrated into Disneyland, for space (Indy) or thematic (Star Wars) considerations. Certainly, it would be tough to squeeze them into DCA. There are rumors of a third gate that would rely heavily upon the Marvel properties; perhaps when that comes down the pike, we'd see more of it. As for the non-China international parks (Hong Kong is small and has ample room for expansion; Shanghai's park will be arranged rather differently anyhow), Indy's solidly in place at Tokyo DisneySea. Further Star Wars integration is thematically dubious, as it doesn't really belong in Tomorrowland, but that's where Star Tours resides there, as it does in Paris (and Anaheim). Perhaps there'd be Star Wars growth at Paris's 2nd gate, or an expanded Indy presence at their Disneyland park.
 

russds

New member
The Indy franchise possibly revived. (y)

The continued dulling down of Indy (that started with LC) to continue. (n)

Probably not going to see any more exploding heads, or ripped out hearts unfortunately.
 

HenryJunior

New member
I'm excited about the prospect of new movies, I'm just really hoping they stay live action and are not like the animated Clone Wars film that came out before the TV show. To be honest it's not that shocking, Disney has been involved with a few LF projects since the 90s and that's cool.

My two cents on the next trilogy is have Mark Hamill return as Luke, but more as an older, wiser, "Alec Guinness/Ben Kenobi" type. Having him restart the Jedi Order would be cool. I'm not a big EU guy so I'm sure others have some better ideas.

Really the biggest news we should pick out of this is George is retiring.

OH AND ANIMATED INDY PLEASE.:D
 

AndyLGR

Active member
Indy and star wars is diverting people away from the real lucasfilm forgotten gem that could be resurrected....... Howard the Duck :whip:
 

Fish1941

New member
My two cents on the next trilogy is have Mark Hamill return as Luke, but more as an older, wiser, "Alec Guinness/Ben Kenobi" type. Having him restart the Jedi Order would be cool. I'm not a big EU guy so I'm sure others have some better ideas.


I hope not. That would be so unoriginal.
 

Sakis

TR.N Staff Member
I.M.J. said:
I'm sorry but this is not a disappointment in any way, shape or form. Anyone who says it is has not even a fundamental understanding of things like this.

Stop thinking like a consumer and try to see things as a spectator of an art form. Indy and Star Wars would, somehow, found their way to the silver screen sooner or later. There is no doubt about that. So, irrelevant of what anybody believes about the last films we've seen, now we have reached the point that either film will take new directions away from their original creator. From this point on we'll be seeing other people's perception of an Indy or Star Wars adventure. For better or worst.
 

Raiders90

Well-known member
Sakis said:
Stop thinking like a consumer and try to see things as a spectator of an art form. Indy and Star Wars would, somehow, found their way to the silver screen sooner or later. There is no doubt about that. So, irrelevant of what anybody believes about the last films we've seen, now we have reached the point that either film will take new directions away from their original creator. From this point on we'll be seeing other people's perception of an Indy or Star Wars adventure. For better or worst.

As a spectator of an art form, Star Wars would do better in just about anybody's hands but George Lucas' at this point. Between the ceaseless tinkering with the original trilogy ("NOOOOOO!"), which has pretty much tarnished greatly cinematic masterpieces, and the horrible prequels, the Star Wars brand was incredibly sullied and has become something of a joke as compared to how it was once viewed--as one of the greatest film series of all time. As far as Indy's concerned, again, thanks to Lucas we had to wait almost 20 years between Indy films because of his stubborn refusal to drop an idea that nobody else wanted and in the end brought a film which got a very mixed to extremely negative reception in the world at large.

Even from an artistic standpoint, having SW in the sole tyrannical hands of Lucas (Lucas' ego being so big as evidenced by the prequels that he really won't accept no for an answer, and has no one brave enough to try to tell him his ideas aren't the best), and having an Indiana Jone's film's ultimate future lying in his hands, is scary at this point. If this were 1982 and Lucas had just made Empire (with the accepted help and creative additions of others) and Raiders and Disney was in their 70s-80s slump of subpar films, it'd be a different story.

At this point, the brands changing hands could only bring good to neutral things. At worst, it'd be the same level of quality as if Lucas was still behind the helm; At best, possibly something better than Lucas post 1996 could ever conceive of.

The fact that it's in the hands of Disney, a company who has a near one hundred year track record of making classic, beloved, treasured films, and even big time action films like The Avengers, Thor and which has Pixar and Marvel under them, tells me the brands are in good hands.

We have to remember that Disney isn't all children's movies or childish fluff. They have entire subsidies which are aimed more at the adult market. Hell, Disney is the company which launched Miramax and had that as one of their subsidiaries for nearly twenty years.
 

I.M.J.

New member
Sakis said:
Stop thinking like a consumer and try to see things as a spectator of an art form. Indy and Star Wars would, somehow, found their way to the silver screen sooner or later. There is no doubt about that. So, irrelevant of what anybody believes about the last films we've seen, now we have reached the point that either film will take new directions away from their original creator. From this point on we'll be seeing other people's perception of an Indy or Star Wars adventure. For better or worst.

Oh, while that may be true, it's only true to an extent and even in it's truth it's a ridiculous notion to use to diminish this as a good move. Lucas hasn't been interested in anything since Crystal Skull, and he phoned that one as it was. The IP's have already been handed off as it is (look at the Clone Wars and that's doing fine). Even without the credit on screen this is better than waiting for Lucas' death because it:

A) keeps the lawsuits from stopping production on new material that inevitably would've happened between Lucas' family and a corporate entity after his death

B) keeps Lucas around as a resource or creative consultant for the foreseeable future

C) amicably makes any creative IP bible material available to the new owners that might've otherwise disappeared in a different kind of deal

Basically, the "look at this as an art form" argument isn't valid to assert that this is a bad move - and in fact it's not a bad move but rather a reinvigorating and sustaining one for these properties.
 

Icybro

Member
I'm cautiously optimistic. It's not like either franchise was really thriving under Lucas. It could be really good news for Indy fans in particular, as Lucas seemed to be the guy dragging his feet on Indy 5, when everybody knows the clock is ticking. Plus Kathleen Kennedy's history with Indy goes back to Raiders, so maybe she'll feel compelled to get it done.

On the other hand, it sounds like Disney wants Kennedy to focus on Star Wars for a while . . . but even that could be a blessing in disguise, because if Kennedy's running Star Wars, then maybe Lucas will have time to hammer out that one last Indy adventure he's been meaning to do with his pals Spielberg and Ford. Maybe.

Looking beyond another live-action movie, I have to believe that Indy will get more attention from Disney than he was from Lucas. Disney has made a science of milking beloved characters. At the very least, Indy will be milked. After years with nothing much more than a frustrating Facebook game to feed my Indy addiction, that will be a welcome change.
 

Jackson

New member
With Disney controlling the rights to Indiana Jones now I hope this site is not in any danger due to copyright issues that Lucasfilm may have been more open about then disney will be. I hope not. Thoughts owner of theraidernet?

Jackson

:hat:
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Stoo said:
AWFUL!

It was only a matter of time before it happened but this is THE WORST Lucasfilm news in the history of Lucasfilm news!:sick: (n) :sick: (n) :sick:

Now you see George's strategy, which began in the early 1990s: the slow Disneyfication of Indy and Star Wars in preparation for a lucrative sale and semi-retirement to the only media company big enough to make the deal.

Young Indy, Little Orphan Anakin, Jar Jar, Mutt... it makes perfect sense.


Jackson said:
With Disney controlling the rights to Indiana Jones now I hope this site is not in any danger due to copyright issues that Lucasfilm may have been more open about then disney will be. I hope not. Thoughts owner of theraidernet?

Oh, it'll be all right. We'll just have to pledge undying allegiance to Disney and extol their virtues at the end of every post.

And remember that careless talk costs lives, since Disney spies will be everywhere, threatening Ravenites with the hot poker treatment. :p
 
Top