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Cold Bishop wrote:Maybe now Lucas can now get around to those small films he's been itching to make...

In the same way he made APOCALYPSE NOW after Lucas abandoned the idea, Coppola is now making all those small personal films that Lucas claimed he wanted to do.

matrixschmatrix wrote:Will it actually help? Disney didn't get the rights to any of the extant movies, did they?

They own the extant movies now. Fox still has distribution rights ("in perpetuity" for Star Wars and until May 2020 for the other five), but the decision as to what gets released and in what form now lies with Disney. (Whenever anyone complained about previous editions to Fox, the answer was always, "Talk to Lucasfilm. We just ship boxes.")

They also fully own the IP, at least for Star Wars, so that might indeed help with the Muppet Babies situation. With Indiana Jones, I think Paramount owns part of the IP for that, so that's not as cut and dried.

Markson wrote:Good grief, first Disney purchases Marvel, and now Lucasfilm? Should this continue, my entire childhood will one day be contained and curated under a (metaphorically) single roof.

I bet Disneyland is quaking with the thought of regularly scheduled stormtroooper parades down Main Street.

captveg wrote:So.... Star Wars Episode 7 (and 8, 9, 10, 11...)

Not that I really care but do we know whether these will be all new Disney sequels or if they'll be doing the fabled third trilogy that Lucas apparently originally laid out at the time of the first Star Wars?

rspaight wrote:the decision as to what gets released and in what form now lies with Disney.

If that's true, it's a forgone conclusion we'll get the original films. Money to be made.

It's possible that Lucas included that in the legal docs, though - that the original films couldn't be remastered and released on home video, only the most recent re-edits. If I were him (and had his priorities, of course); that'd be something I'd make sure no one could budge on.

mfunk9786 wrote:It's possible that Lucas included that in the legal docs, though - that the original films couldn't be remastered and released on home video, only the most recent re-edits. If I were him (and had his priorities, of course); that'd be something I'd make sure no one could budge on.

That's a definite possibility, though I'd think Disney would be equally motivated to retain some latitude with how they exploit their new property. Lucas sounded rather happy to be rid of it. I suspect we'll find out before long.

Posts about Joseph Campbell alternating with posts about Muppet Babies-- our forum in a nutshell!

colinr0380 wrote:

captveg wrote:So.... Star Wars Episode 7 (and 8, 9, 10, 11...)

Not that I really care but do we know whether these will be all new Disney sequels or if they'll be doing the fabled third trilogy that Lucas apparently originally laid out at the time of the first Star Wars?

There's a very early treatment for 7-9 that Kathleen Kennedy and unnamed writers (probably some that have worked on the Clone Wars TV show) will work with initially. After that they'll more than likely go James Bond style with feature films.

Lucas will be donating all proceeds from sale to education.

jindianajonz wrote: Fri May 23, 2014 1:00 am Gareth Edwards to direct first stand-alone Star Wars film, written by Gary Whitta of Book of Eli and After Earth.

So they're just turning this into the Marvel Universe type of thing, with endless interconnected "product"?

Gee, I would never have expected that because I've never walked down a toy aisle in my entire life

Well it took them twenty years to make the first batch of follow ups, and it's not like it was unpopular then, so it's funny to watch it turn into the free-for-all in the past two decades. Lucas never seemed to be against the endless merchandising, but somehow treated the films with a kind of reverenace. Now the films are simply part of the "universe", same as a toy or video game.

Zot! wrote:So they're just turning this into the Marvel Universe type of thing, with endless interconnected "product"?

I'm pretty sure this will be the new norm for most big franchises, at least until the whole thing implodes on itself.

It makes sense- Hollywood is always banking on the familiarity of sequels/prequels/remakes, and doing a Marvel-style "universe" of movies gives them a bit more freedom with characters and plotlines than if everything were directly chained together. It also allows them to shoot multiple films in the same series concurrently, without as much concern for the schedule of the franchise's lead actor.

When has Lucas ever treated his films with reverence? Or reverenace, for that matter?

You guys do understand that this kind of expanded universe was already kind of perfected (if not exactly invented) years ago by Star Wars, no? Apart from the six films, there are dozens of novels and also video games and cartoons that expand the universe, not to mention the three decades' worth of toys and playsets.

and the Ewok movies...

Werewolf by Night wrote:You guys do understand that this kind of expanded universe was already kind of perfected (if not exactly invented) years ago by Star Wars, no? Apart from the six films, there are dozens of novels and also video games and cartoons that expand the universe, not to mention the three decades' worth of toys and playsets.

Yeah, but Star Wars never stepped into theatrically released spin-off territory. Lucas used the first three films to start an empire (heh) that mostly existed outside the cinemas. What Marvel is doing now is very much film focused, and is probably closer to releasing an ensemble cast TV series periodically through movie theaters. It's very appropriate that Marvel franchise is pioneering this, since the web-like narrative and the pressure on the audience to see everything lest they fall behind in the overall storyline comes straight from the comic-book crossovers of the 80's and 90s.

By Lucas being reverent, I did not mean respectful, but simply that the films were his "statement", and all the other stuff payed homage to that. I have 0 interest in the movies at this point, but I do find this development interesting in terms of public perception of films as open-ended serials or a related universe like comics or something like that.

jindianajonz wrote: Yeah, but Star Wars never stepped into theatrically released spin-off territory.

They did release the Clone Wars cartoon movie theatrically.

The Ewok films were released theatrically here in the UK.

He was a complete mess.

Much more details in the article, but he's been described as "indecisive," "uncommunicative," "erratic" and "very isolated." One source: "If you've got someone who can't answer questions or who isn't sure or is in hiding, that's not good."

The best part of that article is the revelation that Trank has a cadre of small dogs capable of doing $100,000 worth of damage

I know - what did they do, shit and piss over everything in that house? WTF, what do they do when he keeps them in his own home?

The house-damage story (minus the part about the dogs) also appeared last year on a message board. The poster deleted the original messages, but they're still visible as quotes in the replies. On page three the poster seems to have predicted that Trank would be booted off the Star Wars project ("He'll be lucky to get the sequel to a Stabbing at Leia's 21st Birthday").