So, Disney owns the films but Fox owns the distribution rights for a few more years, and they own the distribution right for Star Wars forever unless they sell it.
Will Disney and Fox be able to work out a deal when releasing the OUT if that's something they decide to do? I've seen people online think that since Fox owns distribution rights we won't see the OUT officially released until 2020 at least. I don't see how Fox and Disney couldn't collaborate when it comes to a cash cow like Star Wars. Not to mention, Fox didn't block Lucas from releasing anything. Also, Fox only has the distribution rights for a few more years, so wouldn't they want to milk it for all it's worth? Basically, I just wonder what everyone else thinks about this. Do you think it's as big of a stumbling block as some people seem to think?
The Person in Question
2020 is a red herring as Fox own distribution for "Star Wars" in perpetuity anyway, so the companies are going to have to negotiate at some point.
It'll get done - Fox want the money, and Disney want the money and fan goodwill.
I'm quite sure Disney has seen the collective groans at past SE releases, documentaries like "People v GL", and booing of Greedo shooting first at screenings, etc.
They don't want that - and the primary cause of that is now happily enjoying his retirement.
Nah our kid, them Disney are always releasin' summit, swear down.
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What I'd love to see happen is Fox handing over the distribution rights to Disney in exchange for a mountain of money and the Fox logo and fanfare at the front of 7, 8, 9 and any future "Episodes" (I don't care how the spin-offs open). Also, the proviso that the logos for 1-6 not be replaced.
Think of how much richer this will make whoever's in charge at Fox right now. Do they really want to wait another six years?
What about disney and sony? The latter holds on to Spider-Man with an iron fist. This could be the same situation with the OT, but I highly doubt it. They don't idolize SW like Sony does with Spider-man.
But then there's the X-men To think about.
generalfrevious said:
But then there's the X-men To think about.
Also Fantastic Four. I'm not sure if the more cosmic elements, like Silver Surfer and Galactus, have reverted back to Marvel or not.
I cant imagine Fox is a stumbling block of any kind, they would have put the original versions out years ago if George had let them. I would think they'd like to put out as many releases as possible of all 6 movies between now and 2020. Like we've seen with the Halloween and Evil Dead movies.
I hardly think either Disney or Fox gives any significant thought to these lost cinematic gems. It's all about more! newer! flashier! explosionier! Abramsier! Hot-starlettier!
Maybe a 40th Anniversary SW/box set in 2017. But then I'd expect an effort perhaps slightly less slapdash than GOUT. More likely still is practically eternal languishment.
I imagined a 40th Anniversary set as well. I can't see why they wouldn't release the OUT eventually. I think Disney releasing the real movies is a lot more likely than it was for George to release the GOUT. Seriously, as shitty as the GOUT was I'm still shocked he allowed it to happen. Disney has no reason to oppose a release of the OUT, and the demand for it hasn't really gone down at all, so we'll see. As for Fox, I don't see them as a problem. I bet they'll want to milk the movies as much as possible before 2020, so why would they oppose getting a % of sales?
I can't see why they wouldn't release the OUT eventually.
Unfortunately, I fear impossibility is a real...possibility.
Especially since unlike many directors interested in preserving their legacy, Georgie is likely to be uncooperative in any earnest restoration/recreation project.
Disney: "Hey George, can we see your Technicolor print?"
GL: "What for?"
D: "Just for reference: you know color-timing, wipes, etc.
GL: "What, you mean for a resurrection of my awful horrible no-good rough draft of my perfect, sublime, epic masterpiece: Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope Extra-Super-Duper Special Edition???"
D: "Yeah, that."
GL: "Go to Hell! Over my dead body, which will be cremated along with that monstrosity of a rough cut!"
The question is, would the Technicolor prints be the property of Lucasfilm, or Lucas himself. If the former, Disney would now own them.
You know of the rebellion against the Empire?
Darth Id said:
I can't see why they wouldn't release the OUT eventually.
Unfortunately, I fear impossibility is a real...possibility.
Especially since unlike many directors interested in preserving their legacy, Georgie is likely to be uncooperative in any earnest restoration/recreation project.
You're absolutely right that George won't help them with it, but he also can't stop them from doing it either. If Disney wants to do something, they're going to do it. I'm not overly hopeful about seeing the OUT in blu ray, but I do think it is going to happen eventually. Honestly, I'd be surprised if we don't see some kind of release of the OUT whenever the next home video release of Star Wars is, even if it is just a half-assed bonus feature like the GOUT (although I doubt Disney would risk pissing us off like that).
Erikstormtrooper said:
The question is, would the Technicolor prints be the property of Lucasfilm, or Lucas himself. If the former, Disney would now own them.
From my understand Disney made sure to get everything when they bought Lucasfilm. I doubt Disney would pay him 4 billion dollars and not get the original film material for the existing movies. I'm assuming most of that stuff is kept in the Lucasfilm warehouse anyway, so I'm guess it's Disney's now, but I could be wrong
The Person in Question
Disney spending 4 Billion on something isn't the same as any other company spending 4 billion on something. They don't always get everything. They just spend. When they bought several things from Saban including Power Rangers they were held to the terms of a contract with TOEI which gave TOEI some control over the Power Rangers show. Disney still spent Billions to Saban for his stuff but they didn't get complete control over the stuff. Disney's not free from previous contracts or oversights. Another example is that the "abc family" channel is only named that because Disney couldn't remove the "family" part of name without loosing the rights to air certain shows.moviefreakedmind said:
From my understand Disney made sure to get everything when they bought Lucasfilm. I doubt Disney would pay him 4 billion dollars and not get the original film material for the existing movies.
http://twister111.tumblr.com
Previous Signature preservation link
My point was that Lucas isn't in control anymore. Lucas owned Lucasfilm, which produced the movies, and Disney bought Lucasfilm. Yes Disney is still beholden to previous contracts and deals, i.e. Fox distribution rights, but I doubt Disney has any requirement to put up with George's "true vision" nonsense
The Person in Question
I could be totally wrong here (I don't know all the facts), but some people online seem to blow the whole Fox owning distribution rights thing a bit out of proportion. I highly doubt that they're going to just not release the original movies again until 2020, and why would Fox be such a huge stumbling block all of a sudden? Before Disney bought them they were just the distributor, and they got their percentage of the profits and everyone was happy (except the fans of course, but remember I'm just talking about the corporations). I'm not saying they won't present any problem at all, but I just don't see Fox refusing to allow Star Wars to ever be sold on DVD/Blu Ray again as long as they own it. In fact, I'd imagine they'd WANT the movies to be released a couple times so they can make money before they eventually lose the rights.
Ok, correct me if I'm wrong, but from my understanding this is what the whole Fox distribution rights mean. Fox owns the distribution rights for all existing movies, which just means that Lucasfilm (now owned by Disney) has to use Fox as the distributor whenever they release any of the 6 movies, right? Why would this agreement have become a problem just because Disney owns Lucasfilm? I mean, wouldn't the whole distributing the films work just the same as it did when Lucas owned Lucasfilm, with Fox getting their distributor percentage of the profit and Lucasfilm getting the rest? Basically, why do people think that Disney is going to refuse to let Fox distribute the movies, or Fox refuse to allow Disney to release the films? None of that happened before Disney bought Lucasfilm, and that would accomplish absolutely nothing for either company.
moviefreakedmind said:
My point was that Lucas isn't in control anymore. Lucas owned Lucasfilm, which produced the movies, and Disney bought Lucasfilm. Yes Disney is still beholden to previous contracts and deals, i.e. Fox distribution rights, but I doubt Disney has any requirement to put up with George's "true vision" nonsense
I'm not sure about that. I could well imagine part of the deal involved not releasing the OUT. Lucas is fanatical about this, he's spent a lot of time and energy trying to erase the original versions.
I guess it depends how much he still cares. Hopefully he has just let go.
dan76 said:
I'm not sure about that. I could well imagine part of the deal involved not releasing the OUT. Lucas is fanatical about this, he's spent a lot of time and energy trying to erase the original versions.
I guess it depends how much he still cares. Hopefully he has just let go.
Disney paid 4 billion to Lucas, so I am 99.9% sure they can do whatever they want with the franchise at this point.
dan76 said:
moviefreakedmind said:
My point was that Lucas isn't in control anymore. Lucas owned Lucasfilm, which produced the movies, and Disney bought Lucasfilm. Yes Disney is still beholden to previous contracts and deals, i.e. Fox distribution rights, but I doubt Disney has any requirement to put up with George's "true vision" nonsense
I'm not sure about that. I could well imagine part of the deal involved not releasing the OUT. Lucas is fanatical about this, he's spent a lot of time and energy trying to erase the original versions.
I guess it depends how much he still cares. Hopefully he has just let go.
From what I've read though (and again that's mostly just speculation), Disney made sure to get everything from Lucas. Disney bought Lucasfilm, and Star Wars is owned by Lucasfilm. I have a hard time believing Disney would give a man 4 billion dollars and then continue to allow him to make business decisions for them. George is also a businessman, and I would hope he isn't naive enough to think you can sell someone something as valuable as Star Wars and then tell them what to do with it after you don't own it anymore. Basically, I just doubt Disney would sign a contract that specifically prevented them from releasing something of what would soon be their own property
CO said:
dan76 said:
I'm not sure about that. I could well imagine part of the deal involved not releasing the OUT. Lucas is fanatical about this, he's spent a lot of time and energy trying to erase the original versions.
I guess it depends how much he still cares. Hopefully he has just let go.
Disney paid 4 billion to Lucas, so I am 99.9% sure they can do whatever they want with the franchise at this point.
They could have paid Lucas 4 Trillion dollars, but if he doesn't own the rights the ball is still in Fox's court.
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Ryan McAvoy said:
They could have paid Lucas 4 Trillion dollars, but if he doesn't own the rights the ball is still in Fox's court.
I agree with you on the distribution rights owned by Fox, I was talking more about Disney being married to Lucas' vision about the OOT movies. Once he sold them the rights, he gave up any chance of holding back the OOT from future releases.
That is why I will always say, no matter how much Disney milks this franchise, if the one good thing is a release of the OOT, then it was worth all of the other BS.
Ryan McAvoy said:
CO said:
dan76 said:
I'm not sure about that. I could well imagine part of the deal involved not releasing the OUT. Lucas is fanatical about this, he's spent a lot of time and energy trying to erase the original versions.
I guess it depends how much he still cares. Hopefully he has just let go.
Disney paid 4 billion to Lucas, so I am 99.9% sure they can do whatever they want with the franchise at this point.
They could have paid Lucas 4 Trillion dollars, but if he doesn't own the rights the ball is still in Fox's court.
Well, yes Fox could prevent Disney from releasing any of the existing movies (except for I think the Clone Wars movie? but who really cares about that), but why would Fox block Lucasfilm now just because it's owned by Disney? From my understanding, Fox is just in control of distribution rights; they don't own anything other than that.
With Disney now owning Lucasfilm does that now mean they own all original footage? Can they re cut the original films? Theoretically you would think so, but it wouldn't surprise me that Lucas has clauses within the contract so they can't do that.
Again, I hope he's just let it all go, but being it's his life's work I doubt it.
Edit: don't know why this damn text is so small...
dan76 said:
With Disney now owning Lucasfilm does that now mean they own all original footage? Can they re cut the original films? Theoretically you would think so, but it wouldn't surprise me that Lucas has clauses within the contract so they can't do that.
Again, I hope he's just let it all go, but being it's his life's work I doubt it.
Edit: don't know why this damn text is so small...
Well, yes Disney does own Lucasfilm in it's entirety, so I'm 99.99% positive that they have every right legally to re cut and release the unaltered films, but I suppose there is a chance that they agreed to never release the OUT again but I find that incredibly unlikely for multiple reasons.
1. Disney plans on milking Star Wars for decades to come, and they don't want to be beholden to George's ever changing nondescript "true vision", especially given how unpopular the Special Editions are. And for the amount of money they paid, I doubt Lucas held onto anything.
2. Even if the unaltered films aren't a huge gold mine, I doubt Disney would agree to buy Star Wars without getting something as basic as the original films for some of the most successful movies in human history.
3. I've heard that apparently Lucas considered walking away from the deal just because Disney wanted to purchase EVERYTHING Lucasfilm related, obviously he didn't walk away though; I must stress that this 3rd point isn't any confirmed information but it's just stuff I've read that seems believable enough, but definitely take it with a grain of salt.