Disney Buys LucasFilm, Star Wars Episode 7 in 2015

Karen Gillan for Mara Jade?

Stele wrote:

Karen Gillan for Mara Jade? :drool:

Well played, sir.

IMAGE(http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mcqp2yQRoY1qz6f9yo1_500.jpg)

Gremlin wrote:

I'd rather see Nathan Fillion in a new sci-fi show (Whedon optional). That said, whatever these films look like is going to be...interesting.

I'm feeling the same way about all the Whedon talk. If Whedon and the cast of Firefly get back together to make a space movie, why not continue that story instead? He really has been doing great work with his own properties.

Plus, I don't share the unconditional, rose colored love for all things Whedon and Nolan that many other people seem to have. Sorry. Or, when The Mouse has Whedon by the throat and demands that he makes sure there are plenty of marketable children's moments in Episode 7, he can let you down the same way Lucas did.

Radical Ans wrote:

If they get Joss Whedon to write and direct Episode 7 they can pretty much have all my moneys

Except we wouldn't. The next Disney-owned LucasFilm property will be a nightmare to write, produce and distribute. In typical Hollywood fashion, when so much money is on the line ($4B just for the IP to change hands), top brass producers will drive this into the ground.

Scripts will be written, edited, and rewritten into a mess. Market studies will determine what the next merchandise-friendly character will make Jar Jar seem like a good idea by comparison. Tween idols will be cast to drive ticket sales. Even Joss Whedon, with all the street cred he's deservedly earned, won't be allowed to shoot a single scene without top brass green light.

It will end up in Hollywood hell. And then Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas will be back seat driving as consultors every step of the way.

In all honesty, my heart goes out to the poor director that gets dragged into this.

Sorry for the pessimism overload, but Hollywood behaves at its worst when this much money is on the line.

Stele wrote:

Karen Gillan for Mara Jade? :drool:

Ahem.

IMAGE(http://img2-2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/100812/hendricks_mad_men_400.jpg)

For your consideration.

Oh I know, I thought of Hendricks and Johansson both. Christina is 9 years older than Scarlett, who is 3 years older than Karen. Went with the younger redhead in hopes of sequels.

Hobbes2099 wrote:
Radical Ans wrote:

If they get Joss Whedon to write and direct Episode 7 they can pretty much have all my moneys

Except we wouldn't. The next Disney-owned LucasFilm property will be a nightmare to write, produce and distribute. In typical Hollywood fashion, when so much money is on the line ($4B just for the IP to change hands), top brass producers will drive this into the ground.

Scripts will be written, edited, and rewritten into a mess. Market studies will determine what the next merchandise-friendly character will make Jar Jar seem like a good idea by comparison. Tween idols will be cast to drive ticket sales. Even Joss Whedon, with all the street cred he's deservedly earned, won't be allowed to shoot a single scene without top brass green light.

It will end up in Hollywood hell. And then Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas will be back seat driving as consultors every step of the way.

In all honesty, my heart goes out to the poor director that gets dragged into this.

Sorry for the pessimism overload, but Hollywood behaves at its worst when this much money is on the line.

Disney paid more for Pixar and that worked out pretty well.

So, from E! "News"

E! wrote:

[W]hatever the plot of Episode 7, George Lucas won't have a heavy hand in the day-to-day creation of it. He's apparently written the treatments for the films, but he won't produce or direct

[...]

"[Episode 7 is] an original story," a LucasFilm source tells me.

In other words, forget the Star Wars novels. Forget the graphic novels. Forget everything you think you know about what happens to Luke Skywalker. According to my sources, Episode 7 will literally be nothing you've ever seen or read before from the Star Wars universe.

And that jives with me, unverified and rumor-y though it may be.

All this speculation about Thrawn and Mara Jade and suddenly Whedon is completely attached to the project... I don't see it. What's the upside of Disney using any of the extended fiction? Anyone obsessed enough to read the expanded universe of Star Wars will end up seeing the next Star Wars movie regardless of what it's about or when it's set. Meanwhile doing it could well confuse the general public and marry them to ideas they don't want to follow up on.

I'd say I hate to be a killjoy but that'd be a lie. The idea that Star Wars will now be a Joss Whedon produced Firefly/Original Trilogy mashup about whatever your favorite SWEU story happens to be is absurd.

IMAGE(http://www.tshirtroundup.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/it%27s-a-trap!-jerry-bennett.jpg)

bombsfall wrote:
Chairman_Mao wrote:

Disney paid more for Pixar and that worked out pretty well.

Oy.

Compare track records. When Disney bought Pixar, everyone was afraid Disney would screw them up. And indeed, they have driven Pixar to crank out sequels in order to pay back the billions they spent on them. Same with Marvel. Now, when Disney buys Lucasfilm everyone hopes that Disney will SAVE them. The vast gulf between Pixar and Lucasfilm should make the difference apparent, and that should inform people's expectations. The next Star Wars will be a blockbuster event. Disney has to go as big as possible and as safe as possible to avoid poisoning that well (though lord knows it's already a bit off and people still throw money down it) and to recoup the massive amount they paid. This is a corporate merger. They're buying an IP here, folks, and they're going to try to make it bigger and broader than before. This is Disney. And Lucasfilm isn't Pixar. And both parties know that.

Also, does everyone really want MORE Star Wars? Is this just a fan/non-fan thing? I liked the first three movies when I was a kid, but... I mean... it's been decades and we've had movies, comics, games, tv shows, and roughly 1.5 billion books. Is there such thing as enough?

Lucasfilm is about as safe a bet as anyone could make. I don't like the Star Wars prequels at all, but they made the Star Wars franchise the most valuable film franchise after Harry Potter and James Bond. Most of today's Star Wars fans are not lost in starry eyed nostalgia for the originals, they're kids who love the universe and will eat up all the SW Disney can throw at them. And even though the prequels sucked, I will still return to the feeding trough on the naive hope that Disney can do it better. I think many of us will. I don't see the risk here--Lucas set the bar so low that even an adequate rendition of the SW universe will be a huge success.

I just received a bemoaning email from a 'friend' of mine.

The same friend who was bemoaning the right royal rogering Lucas was responsible for delivering to his beloved childhood around the time he handed over his money for the blu-ray box-set.

There really is, quite honestly, no pleasing some people.

On a personal level, I'm in the meh camp. I rember fondly seeing Eps IV and V in a double feature at the cinema when I was a kid, then hanging from trees shooting pretend blasters at everyone who didn't see me. Nothing can take that memory away from me, here's hoping Disney can use this IP to generate similar catalysts for adventure in other young minds.

Also bear in mind that the arguably best movie in the series had the least involvement from Lucas.

Norfair wrote:

Also bear in mind that the arguably best movie in the series had the least involvement from Lucas.

Bears repeating.

Norfair wrote:

Also bear in mind that the arguably best movie in the series had the least involvement from Lucas.

I know, that's what has thrown me with this guy. That was his biggest argument too, now he's flipped 180 on his original position/nerd rage.

Vrikk wrote:
Norfair wrote:

Also bear in mind that the arguably best movie in the series had the least involvement from Lucas.

Bears repeating.

IMAGE(http://virturl.com/i/send/bears-repeating.jpg)

Maybe now that Disney owns LucasArts, we'll see a DVD release or reboot of the Maniac Mansion TV show

Or an X-Wing/TIE Fighter remake.

Grenn wrote:

Or an X-Wing/TIE Fighter remake.

Somehow I think the only chance of that happening is if Star Citizen becomes the next World of Warcraft.

Or if the WiiU touchscreen turns out to be a fun way to manage your ship's power systems... But even then I'd say it's a long shot.

I think another Rogue Squadron is probably the best we can hope for.

ccesarano wrote:
Stele wrote:
ccesarano wrote:

Why the Hell does everyone hate Cars so damn much?

It's a soulless vehicle to sell merchandise, especially the sequel.

We have a Pixar thread if you want to discuss it.

I dunno, for soulless vehicles both movies were certainly better than, say, Shrek 3 and 4, yet nobody seems to have the same hatred for that.

This is OT, but people hate Cars because Pixar is held to a higher standard due to having a history of making actual good movies. When Dreamworks releases crap, nobody cares, because everybody expects Dreamworks to release crap.

(I have a vague sense that Pixar creative is eroding as time goes on, but I still expect more from them than any other kids movie studio)

I would be much more interested in Episode VII-IV if there was a chance in hell that Pixar would do them, but these movies are sure to be live action making that incredibly unlikely. Maybe Pixar will do some animation... but that's not the part of Pixar that I actually care about.

Disney has been very good for Marvel, so I am keeping my fingers crossed here.

I literally had no expectations for another Star Wars film. Still don't. I'll probably still complain about whatever happens, good, bad, or indifferent, but I'm finding that I don't have any anticipation either way. Can Disney do worse than Lucas? Yes. Will they? No idea, yet. Do I care? Not sure.

juv3nal wrote:

4 words for y'all: Pixar Grim Fandango Movie

Somehow I doubt it will actually be a Grim Fandango movie, but that would seriously blow my little mind if it were. Hopefully Pixar has some fans of it, though, and toss in a few fun references!

gore wrote:
ccesarano wrote:
Stele wrote:
ccesarano wrote:

Why the Hell does everyone hate Cars so damn much?

It's a soulless vehicle to sell merchandise, especially the sequel.

We have a Pixar thread if you want to discuss it.

I dunno, for soulless vehicles both movies were certainly better than, say, Shrek 3 and 4, yet nobody seems to have the same hatred for that.

This is OT, but people hate Cars because Pixar is held to a higher standard due to having a history of making actual good movies. When Dreamworks releases crap, nobody cares, because everybody expects Dreamworks to release crap.

(I have a vague sense that Pixar creative is eroding as time goes on, but I still expect more from them than any other kids movie studio)

I would be much more interested in Episode VII-IV if there was a chance in hell that Pixar would do them, but these movies are sure to be live action making that incredibly unlikely. Maybe Pixar will do some animation... but that's not the part of Pixar that I actually care about.

Looking at their filmography, I still think people are full of sh*t.

Cars - a good movie.
Ratatouille - fantastic movie
WALL-E - probably their best
Up - good movie (I didn't like it as much as Ratatouille. Call me a heathen)
Toy Story 3 - fantastic movie
Cars 2 - a good movie
Brave - Haven't seen it yet

People are using Cars as an example of "what Disney did to Pixar", yet between Cars 1 and 2 you have four excellent films that met expectations, one of which is a sequel we didn't need and yet everyone loved anyway.

And you know what? Sometimes I don't mind a soulless cash grab myself. Again, I actually enjoyed Cars 2, perhaps more than I enjoyed the first one surprisingly enough (Japanese bathroom scene was hilarious), and I cannot wait to be able to go and watch Monsters Inc. in theaters again as that is one of my favorite Disney/Pixar movies.

I think the hatred for Cars is irrational, and it seems to have spread far beyond just that franchise.

And while technically this is an off-topic discussion, I find it relevant. No one here can say for certain what Disney did or did not due to Pixar, what their demands or contracts are or what their involvement in the film making process is. Even if you follow film blogs you're not getting the entire story because you aren't an active observer.

If a soulless corporation like Activision can still push out good games like Transformers: Fall of Cybertron, then I see no reason why Disney buying LucasFilm is going to be a terrible thing, especially considering their track record with Pixar, that track record being 7 movies, all of which ranged from good to fantastic.

When you say "higher standard", you're basically Female Doggoing that your four star gourmet burger may as well have come from McDonald's because it wasn't a five star gourmet burger.

Can they release star wars battlefront 3 with in game commentary from Chris Berman?

The At-At could, go, all, the, way! Or the guys that do the commentary for wipe out.

Disney's press release says that Lucas will stay on as a "creative consultant."

I've heard from an extremely reputable source that this means the next Star Wars films will be "story by" Lucas, but he will not be writing or directing. I'd almost rather have Lucas out of the picture entirely, but I think that overall this is good news for those of us who hope Disney can salvage the franchise from the wreckage of the last 28 years or so.

Also, hey, maybe this means we'll finally get that Willow sequel!

All the Lucasarts held game titles are now dead in the water. Seriously, outside of film tie-ins things are dead.

Duoae wrote:

All the Lucasarts held game titles are now dead in the water. Seriously, outside of film tie-ins things are dead.

Man, I guess I need to give up waiting for Loom II.

I'd like a low level employee to secretly film Lucas giving his ideas on the script to the director and writers and them laughing him out of the building.

gore wrote:
Duoae wrote:

All the Lucasarts held game titles are now dead in the water. Seriously, outside of film tie-ins things are dead.

Man, I guess I need to give up waiting for Loom II.

I'm still waiting for Blizzard to make the sequel that the world deserves: Lost Vikings 3.

Edit: had the wrong quote.