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Disney bought Lucasfilm and a new Star Wars film has been greenlit for 2015. I am, as is my wont, conflicted about the news. Lucasfilm and ILM have for years been a key innovator in movies and media, pushing new technologies, developing processes which would eventually become industry standards, and maintaining a reputation for high quality work which was led by technical innovators and creative personnel. Lucasfilm's approach to the management of the Star Wars property are for the most part an example of how to do it right and a key player in the early years of internet filmmaking. How much of this was luck, intent and/or corporate culture is up in the air, but Lucasfilm never seemed to conduct themselves like a traditional studio.
Now, with the single most lucrative property of the last 35 years in the hands of the famously litigious Disney, will that kind of culture be able to exist? Will there be the same kind of outreach with unofficial (and often ribald) fan content and organizations? Certainly Marvel has not been heeled into the processes of their parent corporation, but they are still a relatively young acquisition with the bulk of their pre-merger management still in place. You have to wonder whether the hands off approach enjoyed by Pixar will apply to Lucasfilm?
So it is with a certain sense of trepidation that I greet this news. Like many fans, I grew up with the anticipation that Star Wars would one day be a trilogy of trilogies, and it is hard to tamp down that long held enthusiasm for the future trilogy which Lucas very clearly does not have the enthusiasm to make. The Star Wars universe, as so clearly demonstrated with the Clone Wars television show and the Old Republic properties, is immense and still sparsely utilized. There are rich swatches in which comics and novels have already mined for ideas, and can offer a new creative team everything they could ask for to work with.
On the other hand, the Star Wars movies and the rest of the Star Wars properties always had a distance between them. The sense that the franchise was a world-building experiment on a vast commercial level, where the movies were oddly personal for blockbusters. Will endless sequels dilute the grandeur further?
As many people have commented, with the indignant vitriol that only a childhood fan can generate, the damage has already been done to the films. The prequels dragged out the specialness of the Star Wars of our youth and viciously rear-ended it in a clown costume to sell some more Happy Meals. The loathing suggests that Lucas failed in a sacred trust, as if the Pope was caught trying to stick his fingers up your ass. Actually, I don't think the outrage would have been as acute.
Unlike most of the internet, I never really had a problem with the prequels. TPM wasn't good, AotC was actively bad, and I rather enjoyed RotS. Jar Jar annoyed me, but he hardly destroyed the series. I fucking cheered unironicly for Ewoks. A goofy dim frog alien isn't that much further down the pipe. Then again, I also came to the realization that the original Star Wars had some glaring flaws, not to mention a few acting performances that made Natalie Portman's Padme look Oscar calibre. I suppose I wished that Lucas would have left well enough alone with the original films, but at the same point, considering what he went through getting them made in the first place, I think he's got every right to do what he wants with them.
All of that being said, with the purchase, Disney has inherited both tremendous potential and risk with the franchise. Star Wars represents a transformational moment in the movie industry, forever changing the cultural modes for expectations, delivery, and approach to films. It is also been a similarly impactful cultural influence, stretching from its release to now with a ubiquitousness that has yet to be matched by another entertainment property. Disney doesn't have the same rights as Lucas does with the franchise, and mistakes will be attacked with a fervor that will make the criticism of Lucas look minor.
Much like with Marvel, I'm going to fall on the side of cautious optimism, hoping that the existing culture will be able to pair Lucas's ideas with strong production, direction, and quality scripting to produce something that builds on the wonderful potential of the universe.
EDIT: Lucas announced that he will be donating the majority of the $4.04B price for Lucasfilm to charities, including his own involving education. Lucas has very quietly been a major contributor to several charities over the years, but education funding and reform emerged as his passion in the mid-90s.
Now, with the single most lucrative property of the last 35 years in the hands of the famously litigious Disney, will that kind of culture be able to exist? Will there be the same kind of outreach with unofficial (and often ribald) fan content and organizations? Certainly Marvel has not been heeled into the processes of their parent corporation, but they are still a relatively young acquisition with the bulk of their pre-merger management still in place. You have to wonder whether the hands off approach enjoyed by Pixar will apply to Lucasfilm?
So it is with a certain sense of trepidation that I greet this news. Like many fans, I grew up with the anticipation that Star Wars would one day be a trilogy of trilogies, and it is hard to tamp down that long held enthusiasm for the future trilogy which Lucas very clearly does not have the enthusiasm to make. The Star Wars universe, as so clearly demonstrated with the Clone Wars television show and the Old Republic properties, is immense and still sparsely utilized. There are rich swatches in which comics and novels have already mined for ideas, and can offer a new creative team everything they could ask for to work with.
On the other hand, the Star Wars movies and the rest of the Star Wars properties always had a distance between them. The sense that the franchise was a world-building experiment on a vast commercial level, where the movies were oddly personal for blockbusters. Will endless sequels dilute the grandeur further?
As many people have commented, with the indignant vitriol that only a childhood fan can generate, the damage has already been done to the films. The prequels dragged out the specialness of the Star Wars of our youth and viciously rear-ended it in a clown costume to sell some more Happy Meals. The loathing suggests that Lucas failed in a sacred trust, as if the Pope was caught trying to stick his fingers up your ass. Actually, I don't think the outrage would have been as acute.
Unlike most of the internet, I never really had a problem with the prequels. TPM wasn't good, AotC was actively bad, and I rather enjoyed RotS. Jar Jar annoyed me, but he hardly destroyed the series. I fucking cheered unironicly for Ewoks. A goofy dim frog alien isn't that much further down the pipe. Then again, I also came to the realization that the original Star Wars had some glaring flaws, not to mention a few acting performances that made Natalie Portman's Padme look Oscar calibre. I suppose I wished that Lucas would have left well enough alone with the original films, but at the same point, considering what he went through getting them made in the first place, I think he's got every right to do what he wants with them.
All of that being said, with the purchase, Disney has inherited both tremendous potential and risk with the franchise. Star Wars represents a transformational moment in the movie industry, forever changing the cultural modes for expectations, delivery, and approach to films. It is also been a similarly impactful cultural influence, stretching from its release to now with a ubiquitousness that has yet to be matched by another entertainment property. Disney doesn't have the same rights as Lucas does with the franchise, and mistakes will be attacked with a fervor that will make the criticism of Lucas look minor.
Much like with Marvel, I'm going to fall on the side of cautious optimism, hoping that the existing culture will be able to pair Lucas's ideas with strong production, direction, and quality scripting to produce something that builds on the wonderful potential of the universe.
EDIT: Lucas announced that he will be donating the majority of the $4.04B price for Lucasfilm to charities, including his own involving education. Lucas has very quietly been a major contributor to several charities over the years, but education funding and reform emerged as his passion in the mid-90s.
