Disney buying Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion

[Buster's Uncle]

Disney buying Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion
By RYAN NAKASHIMA | Associated Press – 57 minutes ago.. .


LOS ANGELES (AP) — Disney is paying $4.05 billion to buy Lucasfilm Ltd., the production company behind "Star Wars," from its chairman and founder, George Lucas. It's also making a seventh movie in the "Star Wars" series called "Episode 7," set for release in 2015, with plans to follow it with Episodes 8 and 9 and then one new movie every two or three years.

The Walt Disney Co. announced the blockbuster agreement to make the purchase in cash and stock Tuesday. The deal includes Lucasfilm's prized high-tech production companies, Industrial Light & Magic and Skywalker Sound, as well as rights to the "Indiana Jones" franchise.

Disney CEO Bob Iger said in a statement that the acquisition is a great fit and will help preserve and grow the "Star Wars" franchise.

"The last 'Star Wars' movie release was 2005's 'Revenge of the Sith' — and we believe there's substantial pent-up demand," Iger said.

Kathleen Kennedy, the current co-chairman of Lucasfilm, will become the division's president and report to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn. Lucas will be creative consultant on new "Star Wars" films.

Lucas said in a statement, "It's now time for me to pass 'Star Wars' on to a new generation of filmmakers."

The deal brings Lucasfilm under the Disney banner with other brands including Pixar, Marvel, ESPN and ABC, all companies that Disney has acquired over the years. A former weatherman who rose through the ranks of ABC, Iger has orchestrated some of the company's biggest acquisitions, including the $7.4 billion purchase of animated movie studio Pixar in 2006 and the $4.2 billion acquisition of comic book giant Marvel in 2009.

Disney shares were not trading with stock markets closed due to the impact of Superstorm Sandy in New York.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/disney-buying-lucasfilm-4-05-billion-200845002--finance.html

Interesting.  The two most litigious outfits in showbiz (besides Scientology) merging.

Note the talk about movie sequels; there's your proof that Lucasfilm was run for the toys and licensing deals to an embarrassing and stupid degree.  Lucas wouldn't make the sequels, unless I'm sadly mistaken, because he didn't like the Expanded Universe stuff, but refused to wipe it out by utterly contradicting it.  Disney is willing to do it, because Disney is less about the toy/licensing money, a contest prostitutes would be ashamed to lose to Disney.

Note also that if you expect the Disney sequels to not make The Phantom Menace look like Citizen Kane, you're a hopelessly naive optimist.  I won't be surprized to see them released direct to video by number nine.

Thoughts?  You people are nerds and this is Star Wars; don't let me down.

[Unorthodox]

I'll be the first in line for the Thrawn trilogy (if that's the sequels they choose to do).  And will preorder the original trilogy if they release them sans the Greedo shoots first CGI added BS scenes. 

Disney did pretty damn fine with the Avengers.  It COULD work. 

[Buster's Uncle]

It IS possible, of course.  Not like Disney wouldn't have all those talented Pixar nerds willing to have gladiator fights to the death for the privilege of working on some Star Wars.  But "they'll probably screw it up" is always the smart bet with anything in the movie biz.

Still, you want to hope they come up with some clever way to ignore the EU without contradicting it - I always heard the Thrawn stuff was super-good, and you know it would just get screwed up if they tried to do it in the movies...

[Unorthodox]

Yeah, I'm not sure how some of the Thrawn stuff would translate to the movie medium at the moment anyway.  It's the most logical jumping point however.  A lot of it was introspective prose.  I think the ultimate determination of how good/bad it will be will lie in the director, not the studio. 

[Buster's Uncle]

[shrugs]  A movie is a fragile creature with 100 heads and 10,000 ways to jump the rails and suck hard, if it even gets made.  The people in the business are mostly quite talented, 'cause so many are trying to break in, and the industry can afford to be selective.  All those smart people are working in a messed up system, and know it, but no one's able to do anything about it.

Some good Star Wars would be wonderful, but I'm taking Ben Frankin's advice about pessimism on this.

[Buster's Uncle]

Star Wars Episode 7 - Things Disney Should Not Do
Access Hollywood – 22 mins ago.. .


Now that the dust has settled on Tuesday's galactic-sized announced that the Walt Disney Company will acquire Lucasfilm and then release a seventh "Star Wars" film in 2015 (with more to follow!), there is Rancor-sized speculation about what "Episode 7" will be about, but first let's go over what we hope it's not about.

 No Elderly Han, Leia & Luke! : As much as we love the original three films, the thought of seeing Harrison Ford, 70, Carrie Fisher, 56, and Mark Hamill, 61, going head-to-head with Sith lords and leftover Stormtroppers makes us want to throw ourselves into the Sarlacc Pit with Boba Fett. If you must, give the original trio a nod, maybe use some cool Jedi blue ghost flashbacks, but please do not insert them into the new films.

 PLAY IT NOW: MovieMantz: Is It A Good Idea To Make A Star Wars 7?

Talent Trumps A-List Names : A new "Star Wars" movie does not need a big Hollywood name attached to it! We'd love for Disney to go with a cast of strong, new talent over A-List names. Good ideas and amazing actors will go further than having "starring Robert Patttinson" in the opening credits. Sorry RPattz, no lightsaber for you!

 Don't Scrimp On The Director : After shelling out $4.05 billion for Lucasfilm, we hope Disney's spending spree continues. Please don't go cheap when it comes to selecting a director. We hope the studio follows in its "The Avengers" footsteps and goes with a helmer who, not only loves the "Star Wars" universe, but also someone who goes big and bold and maybe isn't afraid to shake things up. Names we'd be happy to see in the opening credits: Christopher Nolan, Joss Whedon, Alfonso Cuaron, Guillermo del Toro, J.J. Abrams, Catherine Hardwicke, Peter Jackson, Rian Johnson... dare we even say Steven Spielberg?

 VIEW THE PHOTOS: The Sexy Ladies Of Sci-Fi

Cut The Cute : Sorry Jake Llyod and Jar Jar Binks, we are looking at you! Galactic civil wars are messy, complicated, bloody, tragic and horrific - so keep it that way! Dancing Ewoks, silly sidekicks, and re-edited sequences where the good guy doesn't shoot first (poor Greedo will never live that one down!) have no place in future movies. We'd even love to see a PG-13 rating on the next movie.

 Keep Us Guessing! : The first six films chronicled the journey of the hero , so this time throw us something completely unexpected. We'd love for the new story - which according to E! News, will be a completely original tale - to do as so many small screen gems ("Homeland," "The Walking Dead" and "Game of Thrones") do each week, completely floor us! Take us somewhere we never thought a TIE Fighter/X-Wing/Imperial Star Destroyer could go!

http://news.yahoo.com/star-wars-episode-7-things-disney-not-213100989.html

There's the kernel of an idea in there; set that sucker 200 years or more in the future - beyond all the EU stuff, which I believe only goes about 125 forward.  Declare any later off limits to the novels, comic books and whatnot.  You can jigger up any initial stating condition you like that way, and not have to worry about Harrison Ford's freight train of money, or whatever it would take to get Carrie Fischer - gunpoint might do it.  But give poor Mark Hamil a gig; the force ghost thing might be just the ticket.  Easy enough to even handwave him alive, instead, if they want to go that way.  Best of all, done carefully, it's automatically less annoying to the core fanbase, who mostly LOVE the EU crap.

It would have been nice if they'd make various installments back when the actors were the right ages, but unless you're prepared to skip forward 30 years -which leaves out Thrawn anyway- it just doesn't work.  There's a certain appeal to the idea of closing the circle from Ewan McGragor doing Obiwan sorta as the Luke of that day to Luke acting as the older Ben figure...

And if anyone's interested, I can tell you what was really wrong with the prequels - this stuff is all connected.  It was a thematic misstep.

Also?  Armed guards on the set supplied with pictures of J.J. Abrams and orders to shoot to kill.  And don't dare say Spielberg - I still think he had some secret involvement in Jedi.  The Ewoks stank of him.

[JarlWolf]

I don't think Disney will dare screw up something as large as Star Wars. Star Wars was one of the most influential film series ever created, and Disney itself, like it or not, is a highly influential media organization worldwide.

I think that they will listen carefully to the public for the film, and take into considering the whole movie storyline. And mind you I am no particular fan of this corporation, but I do know that for something this big they will do their job and produce something enjoyable for people to watch and something that doesn't rip the soul of the whole series and legend out. If it does it would not only demoralize possibly 2 whole generations of peoples and fans of Star Wars, it would cost them a staggering financial drop to boot as well with the lost confidence. The eyes of global media will be upon them, and if they screw up the teeth of global media will sink into them.

[Buster's Uncle]

Well, as I alluded to earlier, movies are made by committee, and it's not so simple as just deciding to make a good movie.  Too much pressure to succeed can be something that causes failure all by itself, as the likelihood of the business types interfering with the creative workers goes way up.

Nobody sets out to make a bad movie, after all.  -Except Quentin Tarentinio sometimes.

[JarlWolf]

Or Godfrey Ho. And no, these were intentionally serious. And unintentionally funny.

Top 10 Godfrey Ho worst dubbing/dialog/acting moments

[Buster's Uncle]

I had to google him - the Wikipedia article indicates he doesn't do it on purpose...

[JarlWolf]

True, but he has been known to copy paste his movies, of which he knew were of rather poor quality for the sole purpose of making money. Of which even he himself admits in certain interviews.

[Buster's Uncle]

True.  For that matter, there are plenty of directors out there -Russ Meyer comes to mind- who are notorious low-budget hacks; I don't think saying they mean to make bad movies is exactly fair, but it's hard to claim they care ver much about their movies being good.

But none of those are getting on the same lot as a Star Wars film, so it's a moot point.

[Buster's Uncle]

Hicks: New 'Star Wars' movies won't follow existing story lines
Compiled by Tony Hicks


Contra Costa Times


mercurynews.com
Posted:   10/31/2012 10:53:06 AM PDT
October 31, 2012 11:50 PM GMTUpdated:   10/31/2012 04:50:24 PM PDT


Now that Disney has bought Lucasfilm and announced they will start making Star Wars movies again, speculation is rampant as to what the stories will be about.

According to E! News, whatever the plot of Episode seven, 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, which should make lots of Star Wars geeks mighty happy, after what happened in Episodes 1-3.

Two decades ago, the Star Wars saga moved on in books that fans know as the Thrawn Trilogy, written by Timothy Zahn. Han Solo and Leia Organa got married and had twins, Luke Skywalker tried resurrecting the Jedi Order and the evil Imperial

Grand Admiral Thrawn was doing his best to restore the Empire.

"Of all the speculation out there about the content of this new trilogy, that's the single most concrete idea," says Eric Geller of the fan site TheForce.net. "It's almost inevitable that the story will take place in the same time frame as those books."

So is that where the new films are headed? Nope, according to E! News.

Sources close to Lucasfilm say that's not happening (kind of like the geeks thought maybe the book "Splinter of the Mind's Eye" would be the basis of one of the sequels to the original movie, which is was not).

"It's an original story," a LucasFilm source said.

OK, but can we all at least agree to get Mark Hamill back on-screen? The guy hasn't worked in ages.


So, forget the Star Wars novels. Forget the graphic novels. Forget everything you think you know about what happens to Luke Skywalker. According to E! News' sources, Episode Seven will literally be nothing you've ever seen or read before from the Star Wars universe.

And no director has been attached to the project yet.

http://www.mercurynews.com/entertainment/ci_21896421/hicks-new-star-wars-movies-wont-follow-existing?source=jBar

He has, too.  Hamil's never stopped working - he just ain't had the career he should have.  I'd fire my agent so hard his ancestors would be erased from history if I was him.  30 years ago.

[Green1]

I look at it this way. At least we will now get the 9 movies instead of 6 they talked about in the 1980s.

Some of the EU stuff is good. Other parts of it are .. for an unitended pun.. goofy.

If they make an original story, they do not have to pay royalties to an EU author. Then again, in some of the EU video games like Jedi Knight Academy series, didn't they use EU figures like Kyle Katurn and Mara Jade? If so, maybe part of the agreement with LucasArts is to write a EU novel, you give them the right to usr the characters as long as you do not adapt the novel to screenplay.

[Buster's Uncle]

Dunno.  I have my doubts about anyone getting many work-for-hire rights working on EU stuff.  But I still like the idea of moving the action far enough into the future to ignore the EU.  Seems like the thing that will give the movies the best creative freedom while pissing the least fans off.


So you didn't like Warruu?