Disney Acquires LucasFilm for $4.05 billion, Episode 7 in 2015, 8 and 9 to Follow, New Film Every 2-3 Years — Page 24

There's one questionsurprisingly no one asked about all this huge news... which is who the villain/antihero would be.

Of course they'll make some guy appear... but can a Star Wars movie belong without Vader's armor, or Vader's character as THE driving force? Yes, the prequels tried; we all knew that the prequels were just an excuse to see Vader again, to see how he got to his OT-self; same for ObiWan; but I think I'm not lying if I say the prequels failed.

I think that even with the oldies recast, when this new trilogy hits the charts we'll come to understand that the character that has printed the saga with his signature will no longer be there, even more, he'll be dead by the second act of the saga (the OT), and it would be very, very notorious for us fans. So yes, it's a big emotion, and I'm loving to know that Luke, Han and Leia will be back, but I honestly can't see how much of it will feel Star Wars without the main secondary (I know, it's a contradiction, but I wrote it on purpose) characters. Ben, Yoda, Vader are out of this story.

And it's a great interrogant, whether a SW movie can be driven with characters such as Admiral Ackbar and etc. without the ones we are used to. Because to me, (and so for Lucas, judging by the TV spots of all the prequels), the most beloved character of the Saga is darth.

The question has been asked and I answered it.

Tyrphanax said:

Ford could be interested.

I was just telling people the other day that "if the money was right..."

 

Be interesting to see more as it develops.

He probably saw the headlines reading "Disney buys Lucasfilm, Episode VII in 2015" and thought "no paycheck is too big," continued reading, saw "Lucas will not be writing or directing" and thought "I'm in!"

Haha

Anyway, this is my first post in this thread since the news broke just over a week ago. Here are my thoughts:

As several people have noted, we're looking at (potentially) the first live-action Star Wars (one with EPISODE in the title, even) to not have the 20th Century Fox fanfare. I guess it's not THAT big of a deal, but I must admit, against my better judgement, the nostalgic part of my brain just does not like that prospect.

I could almost see Disney doing the following:

Bartering with Fox to get home video distribution rights on the six existing films (TPM 3D hasn't even hit blu-ray yet!). Fox would probably ask a pretty penny for those rights, so to sweeten the deal, Disney gives them theatrical distribution rights for the upcoming sequels. Disney would hold on to distribution rights for Blu-ray/dvd/download/television etc which is where the REAL money is anyway. Also, let's not forget, Fox would only be getting a small cut of the gross. The bulk of the box office would go to LFL and therefore to Disney.

Still, it would give Fox the pride of continuing to release this legendary franchise in theaters, and nostalgic nerds like me will get to hear Alfred Newman's music when the lights go down.

Y'know what would also be nice?

Given what we've been told over the past week, it's not entirely unreasonable to think that George is no longer in a position to dictate terms of the OOT's release. Fox wants to make money, Disney wants to make money. You would certainly hope that 4.05 billion was enough to convince George not to be such a control freak. Seriously, if he included some ironclad clause about the older versions never again seeing the light of day that's just sad.

So here's what would be nice:

Whether it's from Disney or Fox, I'd like to see Ultimate Edition blu-rays of the six movies. Perhaps put them out one by one following their theatrical 3D releases. Starting with Episode I, an all-out set with the newest version and the original theatrical version. Same with Episodes II and III. For the OT, I would absolutely love it if we got all three theatrically-released versions of the three films, all in HD ala the Blade Runner set. Disc One would be whatever version ends up in theaters in a couple years, Disc Two would be the '97 version and Disc Three would be the original.

Are you listening, Disney (and/or Fox)?????

I will settle for nothing less!!!!

I'll save my thoughts on Episode VII for that thread.

Wasn't Buffy The Vampire Slayer made for WB but distributed by Fox?

Mithrandir said:

There's one questionsurprisingly no one asked about all this huge news... which is who the villain/antihero would be...

If I had any money (and I don't) I would put it on another dark jedi being the villian.  You kind of have to have a dark jedi to fight the good guy jedi's.  Maybe one of Luke's students switches over?

It won't be long until Disney owns Fox and Goofy is an anchor on Fox News.

So after being as surprised as everyone else about the recent Disney/Star Wars developments last week, this is the first chance I've had to add some thoughts here on how I feel about it all...

As someone who ended up wishing (in hindsight) that the 'live-action' Star Wars 'saga' had just *remained* being comprised of the PRE-'special edition' versions of ANH, ESB, and ROTJ after all...,I was initially conflicted about Disney's announcement to proceed with episodes 7, 8, and 9, along with further regular additional movies thereafter. 

However, that's where this thing is headed in future now, so I've decided to look forward to *all* of them with cautious optimism, in the hope that these 'Nu-Wars' movies in the years ahead will generate at least *some* worthwhile instalments amongst them.

But if George had *really* intended to go ahead with a follow-up trilogy after the events of ROTJ, then I just wish he'd done it about 10 years earlier when the surviving cast were still a little more in their 'prime'...because while I can certainly get onboard with seeing Mark Hamill as an aged 'Jedi master' as a 'bridging' character for the next movie(s), as well as C3PO & R2D2, I'm less sure about the idea of seeing a *much older* 'Han' and 'Leia' appearing at this stage also.  Especially if the recent speculation is true that Harrison Ford will only agree to reprise 'Han Solo' if he gets 'killed off'... 

If that's the case, I'd rather Harrison *wasn't* involved, so that the idea of 'Han's character remains forever young and brash in the public's imagination, rather than see him disposed of for the sake of it.  Time will tell how things pan out, but it seems like Disney is very interested in involving a lot of the *original* well-known characters in future, rather than just coming up with new characters under the 'Star Wars' moniker.

I guess it could be worse, as they might have decided to just 're-cast' the original characters altogether, 'Han' included.  *Shudder*

While Peter Mayhew may be unable to run around in his 'Chewbacca' suit anymore, I'd like to think that Anthony Daniels will still be able to squeeze into his 'C3PO' costume once again.  And while the possible lack of Alfred Newman's '20th Century Fox' fanfare would be missed, one of the *main* things I'd definately like to happen for this next trilogy, would be for John William's to be involved once again.  Future live-action 'Star Wars' movies will initially seem very incomplete without his distinctive scores behind them, no matter how many good composers there are out there...but this initial 'add-on' trilogy would sound especially strange without him in my view.

As far as George himself is concerned, while I'm relieved he won't be the one to come up with the final scripts in future, I kinda wish he could *still* be the one that would have the final say when it comes to choosing *all* the final character/ship/set designs etc. when it comes to this next trilogy...because just as replacing John Williams would dramatically change how things sound on the next trilogy, so will replacing George's taste in how things should look.  I'd be happy to see what future Director's come up with for 'Nu-Wars' *after* this latest trilogy, but I'd far prefer to see this initial trilogy tie-in with George's particular 'production design' tastes to 'finish' things off.

Anyway, along with the storylines, it's gonna be an interesting journey to see what kind of 'cinematography' will be used on future instalments by *whoever* directs them in future.  Will we get a slew of 'crazy angles' and lots of 'slow motion' & 'long, extreme zoom-ins' from now on?  Who knows...but things are likely to look *very* different in the forthcoming live-action 'Star Wars' movies from now on.  And that's not necessarily a bad thing I guess, as long as the stories and scripts are worthwhile. 

So here's a couple of animated, NON-George Lucas directed 'Star Wars'-themed sequences I happen to like, which hint at just *how* 'different'-looking the camera-work could potentially end up, depending on whichever Director is involved in future -

1.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tBM2ZfncoU  (I'm not keen on the 'suddenly disappearing' TIE pilot helmets or the lack of 'purely black' starfields in this personally, but great work by this guy nonetheless I thought)

2.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3I1GTI753Y

Lastly, if it turns out that George's deal with Disney somehow leads to cleaned-up, re-mastered, high-def versions of the PRE-'special edition' Original Trilogy being released finally, then great.  Terrific in fact.  But it won't alter the fact that the inferior-in-many-ways 'special editions' will likely *still* be the 'default' versions that continue to play on TV, fill the store shelves, and get re-released on the big screen in future. 

The time for the 'original' cuts to have been properly released in a high quality format by George with the appreciation they deserved by him, was *many* years ago as far as I'm concerned...*before* he added his misjudged 'additions' to them.  So if it happens, it happens, but I've already got a 'new hope' for an amazing-looking treatment of the Original Trilogy to look forward to now anyway, in the shape of adywan's 'Revisited' versions.  And I only wish that it were possible for the *widest* possible fans of 'Star Wars' to enjoy what *he* has in store with his versions, to be honest.

ImperialFighter said:

... I kinda wish he could *still* be the one that would have the final say when it comes to choosing *all* the final character/ship/set designs etc. when it comes to this next trilogy...because just as replacing John Williams would dramatically change how things sound on the next trilogy, so will replacing George's taste in how things should look.  I'd be happy to see what future Director's come up with for 'Nu-Wars' *after* this latest trilogy, but I'd far prefer to see this initial trilogy tie-in with George's particular 'production design' tastes to 'finish' things off.

Anyway, along with the storylines, it's gonna be an interesting journey to see what kind of 'cinematography' will be used on future instalments by *whoever* directs them in future.  Will we get a slew of 'crazy angles' and lots of 'slow motion' & 'long, extreme zoom-ins' from now on?  Who knows...but things are likely to look *very* different in the forthcoming live-action 'Star Wars' movies from now on.  And that's not necessarily a bad thing I guess, as long as the stories and scripts are worthwhile...

I agree, I think that having Lucas involved in not just the basic story but the aesthetic is important for consistency.  If the new ones don't have that classic feel, complete with Williams score and old fashioned wipes, etc, I don't think they'll feel like the same universe at all.

ImperialFighter said:

...

1.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tBM2ZfncoU  (I'm not keen on the 'suddenly disappearing' TIE pilot helmets or the lack of 'purely black' starfields in this personally, but great work by this guy nonetheless I thought)

While I don't like this for the look of the sequels this is pretty awesome animation, I'd like to see a series like this!  What is this from??

It's a fan animation iirc.

Yeah, I agree with Harmy, I think Lucas consciously tried to move his style away from the OT to try and break boundaries, he could continue this decision and make the new films even more different....leaving the OT more isolated

J