Rumors that Disney is in negotiations to sell Star Wars back to George Lucas!

[BrianL]

Lucas is 79 years old. He isn't making movies any more and he certainly doesn't want to get back into Star Wars at his age. Just a rumor from people who somehow think that everything they don't like about the way SW is going will be fixed if Lucas just gets back in the game.

Don't they remember the last time George was in charge? They hated everything he did too. That's why he sold in the first place!

 

[KayMichigan]

Yeah, I guess they forgot midichlorians and Jar Jar Binks.

 

[BrianL]

Yeah, I guess they forgot midichlorians and Jar Jar Binks.

Apparently his sequel trilogy ideas heavily involved Midichlorians too.

 

[RivShore]

I got distracted with correcting many of the financial misstatements on this thread and forgot to point out the obvious subject that a few of you have now breached - what the heck is so great about SW moving back under Lucas? He is the guy who gave us 9 hours (or is it 12) of quite possibly the most boring sifi ever put on celluloid. You all really wanted 3 sequels of the same quality as the prequals?
And is he not the guy who put KK in charge? This mess (if we can even call $5B in boxoffice a mess) all started with the guy you dream of taking it back. Please stop!

 

[shalom]

They can try, but they are rarely rewarded. The current popular culture ecosystem just doesn't have room for it. Fans get locked into these franchises that they support and they want to consume ALL of the media from it. With that media so readily accessible too, it keeps people focused on just those things. I'm sure an entire deep study could be done as to the reasons for all of that, but that's the current market.

Perhaps so, but Super Mario Brothers blew most recent Disney films out of the water, and even Puss in Boots, which went to streaming within a couple of weeks, made more than Lightyear or Strange World. I think there is an audience for new stuff, it's just that Disney isn't connecting with it.

I got distracted with correcting many of the financial misstatements on this thread and forgot to point out the obvious subject that a few of you have now breached - what the heck is so great about SW moving back under Lucas? He is the guy who gave us 9 hours (or is it 12) of quite possibly the most boring sifi ever put on celluloid. You all really wanted 3 sequels of the same quality as the prequals?
And is he not the guy who put KK in charge? This mess (if we can even call $5B in boxoffice a mess) all started with the guy you dream of taking it back. Please stop!

Very true! Although I know a lot of people in my kids' age range who adore the prequels. I don't know any kids now who're that rabid about the Disney versions.

To go back to the Hulu thing, Comcast is claiming the true valuation is 50 billion or more. That sounds high to me and I'm sure it'll go into arbitration, but I'm thinking Disney's going to end up paying a lot more than the nine or ten billion dollar minimum. Iger's determination to cut 5.5 billion in costs may signal he's thinking the same thing.

 

[BrianL]

Perhaps so, but Super Mario Brothers blew most recent Disney films out of the water, and even Puss in Boots, which went to streaming within a couple of weeks, made more than Lightyear or Strange World. I think there is an audience for new stuff, it's just that Disney isn't connecting with it.

But, Super Mario Bros. is hardly a new IP, maybe for movies, but it is very well known. Puss in Boots is also a series and a spin-off from Shrek. Yeah, it's been a while, but I wouldn't call them "new."

 

[shalom]

But, Super Mario Bros. is hardly a new IP, maybe for movies, but it is very well known. Puss in Boots is also a series and a spin-off from Shrek. Yeah, it's been a while, but I wouldn't call them "new."

Okay, I'll go with that (we've never seen Shrek and you make a valid point with Mario Brothers -- although their TV show didn't benefit much from the game's popularity). But then I compare the latest Minions movie to Buzz Lightyear and it seems to me Disney isn't doing so well with their own IP as others are with theirs. Buzz Lightyear bombed in a way I never imagined a Toy Story-related movie could.

 

[Brian Noble]

He is the guy who gave us 9 hours (or is it 12) of quite possibly the most boring sifi ever put on celluloid.

And the dialogue! Riveting stuff!

“Love won’t save you, Padme. Only my new powers can do that.”

 

[RivShore]

To go back to the Hulu thing, Comcast is claiming the true valuation is 50 billion or more. That sounds high to me and I'm sure it'll go into arbitration, but I'm thinking Disney's going to end up paying a lot more than the nine or ten billion dollar minimum. Iger's determination to cut 5.5 billion in costs may signal he's thinking the same thing.

No doubt Comcast is pushing for an unreasonable valuation and, if this were 2021, they might have an argument but all streaming valuations have been halved (or more since then) so I would think a neutral arbitrator would lean towards 30B rather than 50.

 

[BrianL]

Okay, I'll go with that (we've never seen Shrek and you make a valid point with Mario Brothers -- although their TV show didn't benefit much from the game's popularity). But then I compare the latest Minions movie to Buzz Lightyear and it seems to me Disney isn't doing so well with their own IP as others are with theirs. Buzz Lightyear bombed in a way I never imagined a Toy Story-related movie could.

Yeah, Lightyear is such a werid thing. I think the movie suffered from an identity crisis, and that came through in the marketing. It also just wasn't all that good, so, you know, that'll affect it.

Super Mario Bros. haven't have a media project in like 30 years. Back when their old show came out the games were newer - though it was still quite popular and huge for kids of the generation. That's why they used the theme song in the new movie!

 

[mdmost]

Yeah go look up the initial script for Indiana Jones 4. It was so terrible. Sci-Fi alien invasion Indiana Jones.

And yes, his sequel trilogy idea was to have hermit Luke who got disillusioned and a female protagonist who tries to recruit him to help out. Kinda the same plot of The Force Awakens.

I got distracted with correcting many of the financial misstatements on this thread and forgot to point out the obvious subject that a few of you have now breached - what the heck is so great about SW moving back under Lucas? He is the guy who gave us 9 hours (or is it 12) of quite possibly the most boring sifi ever put on celluloid. You all really wanted 3 sequels of the same quality as the prequals?
And is he not the guy who put KK in charge? This mess (if we can even call $5B in boxoffice a mess) all started with the guy you dream of taking it back. Please stop!

I would argue Iger was more the problem with the Star Wars movies than KK. She didn't want 2 years between movies because she knows you can't rush them like a Marvel movie. The average time for the OT and PT movies was 3 years. Now, you can argue she should've made the Filoni/Favarue move much earlier but if you need a guy to reboot your series, you get JJ (even though he's a bit of a hack). But Iger rushed through all the movies and made the terrible decision not to move Solo off the December release schedule. You can argue she made mistakes with hiring/firing directors but I would counter that Iger made everything that way by try to churn out movies when Star Wars movies take time, planning, and tons of editing.

 

[mdmost]

Yeah, Lightyear is such a werid thing. I think the movie suffered from an identity crisis, and that came through in the marketing. It also just wasn't all that good, so, you know, that'll affect it.

Super Mario Bros. haven't have a media project in like 30 years. Back when their old show came out the games were newer - though it was still quite popular and huge for kids of the generation. That's why they used the theme song in the new movie!

I enjoyed Lightyear but it wasn't a kids movie. It was an animated version of Interstellar with the same mature themes. I think it's the same reason people didn't like the Last Jedi version of Luke Skywalker. You're used to the plucky hero from the previous movies and not at all into them becoming jaded or having terrible things happen around them.

Super Mario Bros was great but it didn't tread new ground. It leaned so much into winks and fan service but that is exactly what the audience wanted. I doubt a sequel will be as successful because the only nostalgia point left that hasn't been explored is Yoshi.

I chuckle a bit at we mostly want Disney to do more nostalgia well at the same time breaking new ground again yet we don't support it when they try to break new ground like with Strange World.

 

[BrianL]

I enjoyed Lightyear but it wasn't a kids movie. It was an animated version of Interstellar with the same mature themes. I think it's the same reason people didn't like the Last Jedi version of Luke Skywalker. You're used to the plucky hero from the previous movies and not at all into them becoming jaded or having terrible things happen around them.

Super Mario Bros was great but it didn't tread new ground. It leaned so much into winks and fan service but that is exactly what the audience wanted. I doubt a sequel will be as successful because the only nostalgia point left that hasn't been explored is Yoshi.

I chuckle a bit at we mostly want Disney to do more nostalgia well at the same time breaking new ground again yet we don't support it when they try to break new ground like with Strange World.

The problem with Lightyear is that it had mature themes, then sort of devolved into silliness with the rag-tag team, then tried to be serious at the end, but it came off weird. I WANTED to like Lightyear so much, but it was just okay. I think it should have picked one direction.

Yeah, while Super Mario Bros. is new to movies, it is exactly the kind of comfortable thing that audiences want from sequels and remakes, etc.

I really dug Strange World, but it's my kind of thing and I know it's niche. I could tell that right off the bat.

 

[BrianL]

Yeah go look up the initial script for Indiana Jones 4. It was so terrible. Sci-Fi alien invasion Indiana Jones.

And yes, his sequel trilogy idea was to have hermit Luke who got disillusioned and a female protagonist who tries to recruit him to help out. Kinda the same plot of The Force Awakens.

I would argue Iger was more the problem with the Star Wars movies than KK. She didn't want 2 years between movies because she knows you can't rush them like a Marvel movie. The average time for the OT and PT movies was 3 years. Now, you can argue she should've made the Filoni/Favarue move much earlier but if you need a guy to reboot your series, you get JJ (even though he's a bit of a hack). But Iger rushed through all the movies and made the terrible decision not to move Solo off the December release schedule. You can argue she made mistakes with hiring/firing directors but I would counter that Iger made everything that way by try to churn out movies when Star Wars movies take time, planning, and tons of editing.

Yes, I think they got overly aggressive with Star Wars - it was just too much. It's not like Marvel where there are so many disparate characters. Each Star Wars should feel like an event! Honestly, I feel tha tthe stories were just fine - not perfect or anything, but generally good.

 

[mdmost]

Yes, I think they got overly aggressive with Star Wars - it was just too much. It's not like Marvel where there are so many disparate characters. Each Star Wars should feel like an event! Honestly, I feel tha tthe stories were just fine - not perfect or anything, but generally good.

It wasn't all bad. We got Rogue One out of it which eventually gave us the best Star Wars content since Empire in the Andor series. Now, I'm just hoping Filoni doesn't overdose us on winks and callbacks to Clone Wars, prequels, and Rebels too much with Ahsoka. I'm really excited for Skeleton Crew (supposed to be a Star Wars Goonies) and The Acolyte (Sith-centric story set 800 years before the prequels and is more of a thriller) as those could actually truly tread new ground in the Star Wars universe. I am not a fan of prequels in general as you know the fate of the characters already so the stakes just aren't as high. Andor at least builds a compelling world around the character and shows the more mature side of Star Wars that I would like to see as an adult. Nostalgia is fine but it can't be the only thing keeping you watching.

And I'll stick up for Kathleen Kennedy every time because I know exactly what drives those who hate her and it's not simply because she let Rian Johnson direct Last Jedi and everything to do with wanting more diversity in Star Wars. There's a segment of the fanbase that's incredibly toxic and treats themselves like shareholders who are to have their every whim catered to and not just viewers and fans who are there to absorb content or move on if you don't like it. The ownership some Star Wars fans feel is terribly misguided.

 

[BrianL]

It wasn't all bad. We got Rogue One out of it which eventually gave us the best Star Wars content since Empire in the Andor series. Now, I'm just hoping Filoni doesn't overdose us on winks and callbacks to Clone Wars, prequels, and Rebels too much with Ahsoka. I'm really excited for Skeleton Crew (supposed to be a Star Wars Goonies) and The Acolyte (Sith-centric story set 800 years before the prequels and is more of a thriller) as those could actually truly tread new ground in the Star Wars universe. I am not a fan of prequels in general as you know the fate of the characters already so the stakes just aren't as high. Andor at least builds a compelling world around the character and shows the more mature side of Star Wars that I would like to see as an adult. Nostalgia is fine but it can't be the only thing keeping you watching.

And I'll stick up for Kathleen Kennedy every time because I know exactly what drives those who hate her and it's not simply because she let Rian Johnson direct Last Jedi and everything to do with wanting more diversity in Star Wars. There's a segment of the fanbase that's incredibly toxic and treats themselves like shareholders who are to have their every whim catered to and not just viewers and fans who are there to absorb content or move on if you don't like it. The ownership some Star Wars fans feel is terribly misguided.

You are right about Kathleen Kennedy. She's fine as the leader. Most of the creative decisions don't even come from her, though she does approve things. She is fine and an accomplished film producer. My only issue with how she has run Lucasfilm is that she announces projects too early, before things are really in palce, then the projects get cancelled. It's a bit of a bad look to be chasing the hype. I think ALL of the content under her watch has been enjoyable though.

I can't agree with you on, "Best Star Wars content since Empire," though. I mean, Jedi is at least a higher benchmark. There's also Episode I, so.... Actually, I just think Empire is overrated. It's hardly the best one to me, and the way fans gush over it makes me like it less. Rogue One is the same. It actually is very good, but sometimes fans make it out to be better than it is. Solo is actually probably the better movie.

 

[starlite_]

I think my main problem with the ST is that they had all these amazing new characters that went nowhere. It focused so much on ...whatever was going on with Rey and Ben that all the surrounding cast was left behind and forgotten.

 

[mdmost]

I think my main problem with the ST is that they had all these amazing new characters that went nowhere. It focused so much on ...whatever was going on with Rey and Ben that all the surrounding cast was left behind and forgotten.

Finn was the one they did the most dirty. Teased him as a possible Jedi in the trailers and then relegated him to "guy who yells 'REY'". That's one decision of Rian Johnson's that I completely disagreed with.

 

[kylenne]

KFC tier. Still baffles me that anyone takes these random angry nerds online seriously

 

[mdmost]

I can't agree with you on, "Best Star Wars content since Empire," though. I mean, Jedi is at least a higher benchmark. There's also Episode I, so.... Actually, I jus tthink Empire is overrated. It's hardly the best one to me, and the way fans gush over it makes me like it less. Rogue One is the same. It actually is very good, but sometimes fans make it out to be better than it is. Solo is actually probably the better movie.