Disney acquires Lucasfilm

Lance Quazar

Well-known member
Looks like we'll be spared further degradation of the Indy franchise -

Bob Iger: We didn?t ascribe any value to the Indiana Jones franchise. It doesn?t factor into the equation with this acquisition.

At least for now.
 

Montana Smith

Active member
Lance Quazar said:
Looks like we'll be spared further degradation of the Indy franchise -

Bob Iger: We didn’t ascribe any value to the Indiana Jones franchise.

Compared to Marvel and Star Wars Indy is probably now too small to waste time and effort on.

Incidentally, considering the last effort, George doesn't ascribe any value to Indy either, beyond profit, that is.
 

The Drifter

New member
A Ducktales/Indy crossover?

EDIT: I was wondering. With Lucas not owning the rights of Indiana Jones (I'm sure the rights were a part of the selling of LucasFilm? I don't know much about this type of stuff) anymore, would Harrison even agree to do another Indy film if Disney wanted it? Would Steve even direct it? Hell, would George have a part in it at all?
 
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Le Saboteur

Active member
Attila the Professor said:
Stated that they are only looking at the new Star Wars trilogy right now...

Star Wars? You cannot imagine the immensity of the funk I do not give.

Lance Quazar said:
Bob Iger: We didn’t ascribe any value to the Indiana Jones franchise. It doesn’t factor into the equation with this acquisition.

That was my reaction. Disney forked over four-billion for Star Wars, the fact that Lucasfilm (nee George Lucas) had these other franchises was ancillary. Yeah, we'll take these other red-headed stepchildren if you sell us the exclusive rights to Star Wars. Maybe we'll do something with that guy in the hat in the distant future.

The money milking opportunities for Disney are phenomenal. Somewhere a group of their sharp pencil boys have all had aneurysms after looking at their projected P&L spreadsheets.

I share Stoo's feelings on the matter. The real question, as a resident of the Greater Bay Area, is how long Lucasfilm's presence remains up here. Disney has allowed Pixar to remain in Northern California, but I could see them shifting a significant amount of the Lucasfilm employee base to the Los Angles County.

The Drifter said:
A Ducktales/Indy crossover?

Yeah, no. Please leave Treasure of the Lost Lamp alone.

<iframe width="480" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/hhTRRJdroSs" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The Drifter said:
...would Harrison even agree to do another Indy film if Disney wanted it? Would Steve even direct it? Hell, would George have a part in it at all?

He wouldn't have a say in the matter unless there's some sort of stipulation in whatever contract he has/had with Lucasfilm/Paramount. As sole proprietor, Lucas could essentially do whatever he wanted; given Disney's responsibility to its shareholders, if Disney thinks an Indiana Jones movie starring Justin Bieber would make a mountain of cash, then Disney makes Indiana Jones and the Quest for Puberty.
 
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Sakis

TR.N Staff Member
Raiders112390 & I.M.J. Kingdom and the Star Wars prequels must have deeply scared you. Not that I'm very fond of them myself but what I see is the will to punish Lucas for making them. You accuse him for being stubborn when this stubborness almost gave him a heart attack while filming Star Wars back in 1977. You seem to forget that this stubborness was fueled by a vision he had and wanted to make it real. And he did. And his stubborness proved him right. And we all loved the result of this stubborness.

He wanted to make Raiders when no studio was willing to finance such a project but his stubborness lead to a killer deal and gave Indy to the world. We all cherish the result of this stubborness and that's how we've come into this forum and contact each other. His stubborness lead him to make Doom dark, to make Young Indy this little artistic/educational series and not just another TV rip off. George Lucas himself said on the set of Revenge of the Sith that everybody would love the new trilogy to begin from that point but he choose not to do so. Of course he made mistakes along the way, nobody can deny that.

So, accusing him for being stubborn is like accusing him for being who he is and for what he has offered. I'm not saying that I will take in anything he serves my way without question but I don't have to go against him. I'm saying all this because many guys cheered in the news of this aquisition not only because new films will be made but because they will not be made by Lucas. Come on guys, have a heart.

For me George Lucas is a guy who did things his way. Some paid off, some didn't. But he never lost my respect.
 

Finn

Moderator
Staff member
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?
Pfft. We've never broken any kind of copyright law that goes beyond the basic journalistic right of citation. Also, everything we do is completely non-profit, and will stay that way.

Besides, we're talking about copyright issues based on the law in which country, exactly? The Internet knows no borders, should any notations hit our way, all there is to be done is to move the stuff to a provider that operates in a place where all we do is perfectly kosher (and we can find such places closer to home than Tajikistan or Zimbabwe). Good luck finding a court then that takes 'em seriously.

Besides, I doubt they go after the site as a whole. Even in case they do find something they wish to harp on about, we simply take those bits down and it's business as usual. Also, in the modern media environment, they are definitely the only ones who can raise a s*itstorm. No company wishes to deal with the negative PR that comes with harassing innocent fans. Especially if they're being picky about it (say, they go after us but decide to leave TheForce.Net alone).

Nurhachi1991 said:
I work at Disneyland... I had nothing to do with this! Don't kill me Raven
Bring out the tar, the cinders and the stake! LET'S BURN THIS HERETIC!
 

Raiders90

Well-known member
You guys act like Disney has done nothing good in it's 89 year history. Like every single film they ever made was a failure, or that everything they've ever made was childish fluff. The insane, rabid, foam at the mouth hate for Disney is odd. I guess no Raveners grew up on the Disney of the '80s-'90s, or enjoy any of the Disney classics, or liked or watched any Miramax films in the '90s, or enjoy any Pixar work, or liked The Avengers.

I'd take a dead Walt Disney over modern day George Lucas in terms of creativity.
 

Raiders90

Well-known member
Are we forgetting that George Lucas is the guy who:

-Is so stubborn he (allegedly) destroyed the negatives of the original, beloved, untouched Star Wars films, and repeatedly said that no one will ever see those films again, despite the fact that the public longs for them and those are the films which made him as powerful as he is.

-Who authored the prequels, and allowed for the crappy Clone Wars movie? The guy who invented Jar Jar Binks and Midichlorians?

-Who delayed Indy 4 by 19 years just because he refused to embrace any idea that didn't involve aliens and the 1950s, and in the process, lost so many years and so many opportunities for there to be a lot of Indy movies. If George had been more open, we could've easily had an Indy 4 in like 1993 or 1994, Indy 5 in the late 90s and so on. The one movie we got got a very mixed to negative reaction even amongst die hard fans.

-Tried to play the race card with his latest film, only to then say he was taking his ball and going home when it failed.

I see a lot of whitewash going on here. Lucas has a near 20 year history of failure. Disney has a near 100 year history of success.
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
Raiders112390 said:
I see a lot of whitewash going on here. Lucas has a near 20 year history of failure. Disney has a near 100 year history of success.

That's a touch silly. You yourself mentioned the Disney dark ages of the 1970s and 1980s, when it was almost exclusively in the theme parks where anything of substance was produced. These things fluctuate.

And besides, a company is, in some respects, only as good as its recent decisions. So the question is: how are the Muppets, Marvel, and Pixar fairing?
 

Raiders90

Well-known member
Attila the Professor said:
That's a touch silly. You yourself mentioned the Disney dark ages of the 1970s and 1980s, when it was almost exclusively in the theme parks where anything of substance was produced. These things fluctuate.

And besides, a company is, in some respects, only as good as its recent decisions. So the question is: how are the Muppets, Marvel, and Pixar fairing?

Disney released Tangled in 2010 which has a 90% fresh rating, and made half a billion.

Pixar just released Brave, which has made half a billion dollars so far and has a 78% Fresh rating on RT.

Marvel just released The Avengers which garnered over a billion and a 92% Fresh rating on RT.

As far as Muppets, dunno.

Compared to Lucas' history of flops since 1989:

Young Indy - Mixed reviews, was cancelled.
Radioland Murders - Negative reviews, poor box office.
Star Wars prequels - Mixed reviews, horrible fan reaction, good box office
KOTCs- Mixed reviews, mixed to negative fan reaction, good box office
Red Tails- Incredibly poor reviews and a total flop at the Box Office.

Lucasfilm's future and creative development was under the grips of man's vision before this purchase. Disney is DISNEY, it's not just a corporation, it's really more a part of American culture, an institution. It's more than just one man, really. Whereas Lucasfilm was Lucas, you know what I mean? Look at the making ofs the prequels, for example, everyone is clearly terrified of Lucas and knows his ideas are bad, but don't say a word out of fear.....

At some point, I think, the untouched trilogy will be re-released by Disney. It's too much of a profit to pass up. It's not the same as racism in Song of the South being buried or having racist clips cut out of old films. There's nothing controversial about the original Star Wars films, they're pretty tame by today's standards even by Disney's.

With Lucas in charge, the possibility of the untouched originals ever seeing the light of day EVER again was nil. He made that point clear time and time again and gave a middle finger to the fans by giving them low quality laserdisk transfers of the original films thinking that would appease people. At least with Disney, there is some hope of an actual release and not simply bootleg quality re-releases.
 
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I.M.J.

New member
Sakis said:
Raiders112390 & I.M.J. Kingdom and the Star Wars prequels must have deeply scared you. Not that I'm very fond of them myself but what I see is the will to punish Lucas for making them. You accuse him for being stubborn when this stubborness almost gave him a heart attack while filming Star Wars back in 1977. You seem to forget that this stubborness was fueled by a vision he had and wanted to make it real. And he did. And his stubborness proved him right. And we all loved the result of this stubborness.

He wanted to make Raiders when no studio was willing to finance such a project but his stubbornness lead to a killer deal and gave Indy to the world. We all cherish the result of this stubborness and that's how we've come into this forum and contact each other. His stubborness lead him to make Doom dark, to make Young Indy this little artistic/educational series and not just another TV rip off. George Lucas himself said on the set of Revenge of the Sith that everybody would love the new trilogy to begin from that point but he choose not to do so. Of course he made mistakes along the way, nobody can deny that.

So, accusing him for being stubborn is like accusing him for being who he is and for what he has offered. I'm not saying that I will take in anything he serves my way without question but I don't have to go against him. I'm saying all this because many guys cheered in the news of this aquisition not only because new films will be made but because they will not be made by Lucas. Come on guys, have a heart.

For me George Lucas is a guy who did things his way. Some paid off, some didn't. But he never lost my respect.

Your interpretations of our opinions are some of the most ridiculous nonsense I've ever read in my life. The fact that you are assigning some kind of emotional value based on vengeance to my thoughts regarding this is both childish and mundane. If anything, it's actually demonstrating the strange emotional reaction you appear to be having to this news - clearly your fandom reaches neurotic levels far beyond my own.

This acquisition is good news. I don't blame Lucas for anything. -shrugs- But his creative energy was waning and now maybe the franchises can be reinvigorated.

Sakis, stop asserting a child's whiny argument to defend a guy when no defense is necessary, bud! Your beloved mythologies are going to be okay, and you can still run around dressed up in party gear calling Lucas "the creator" if it makes you feel good! No big deal! -pats on back- (y)
 

Montana Smith

Active member
George was no longer a safe pair of hands for Star Wars or Indy.

Handing it over to Disney would have been like asking Michael Jackson or Jimmy Savile to babysit.

No...wait. On second thoughts Disney have the power to make Jar Jar believable:

Jar_Jar_Goofy_by_fuzzyslipperlogic.jpg



May the Farce be with you.

lucas-disney.jpg


:p
 

Attila the Professor

Moderator
Staff member
No feelings on Disney's work as Marvel's owner, Montana? You had some activity in the thread on the Avengers, but no indication of having seen it.

I've mostly had the sense that Marvel fans are pleased with the way that stable of characters has been handled.
 

micsteam

New member
I'm as stunned as anybody, I mean this is huge !!!, but lets not bury this before it begins. I say give Disney a shot and see what they can do. Lucas has been pretty much, like 99%, keen on Star Wars projects like Clone Wars and console/pc games and totally back burnering (if there's such a word) Indy, even when Spielberg and Ford are a go. I think this has been brewing for the last year or so, my opinion Lucas is just tired of hearing the crap about Star Wars and doesn't have the energy to run the Lucasfilm Empire (which it now has become ie. ILM, Skywalker Sound, Lucas Arts, etc. !!!). I mean I know for a fact Lucas had no idea or plan for this Star Wars thing to blow up into what it is today back in the mid seventies when he was beginning to film the thing. If Disney addresses Indy, and they will I guarantee it, I'm sure they're going to want Spielberg, Ford, and the crew that built it first to make the pic plus I think they will address more video games and other marketing like that Clone Wars type of show everyone has been hoping for. Frankly, I'm going into this with an open mind because ever since Phantom Menace came out Lucasfilm just hasn't had the magic that it had had all those years prior, it was more about quality than quantity.
 
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