Apparently it takes a 4 billion dollar
deal to get me blogging. That’s okay, though, because if the news
of Disney buying Lucasfilms can’t do it, I may as well close up
shop.
So yeah…
Disney inked a deal to buy Lucasfilms
for 4.5 BILLION dollars. That purchase includes Industrial Light and
Magic and Skywalker Sound. Lucasfilms, in case you don’t know, is
the studio that has the creative rights to Star Wars and Indiana
Jones.
As you can imagine, as a Disney fan, I believe this is
the awesomest thing in the history of awesome things. Both film
franchises feature original trilogies that are easily among the 5
best trilogies in film history. Not only are they awesome, but
they’re also insanely profitable. In fact, maybe 4.5 billion
dollars isn’t enough money to pay George Lucas.
So yeah, Disney can’t lose.
But
what do I say to all of the obsessive Star Wars fans who are afraid
that Disney will ruin the legacy of The Force?
Well…
First, let me defend my beloved Disney against all of this
“Disneyfied” nonsense. I’ve seen around the internet this idea
that suddenly Disney is going to somehow over-commercialize or
over-cutesy the Star Wars creative property.
Um… Have
these people seen the Star Wars legos, and video games, and toys and
toys and toys? George Lucas was the all time greatest ever at
wringing out every tidbit of cash out of literally ever corner of his
kingdom. My long-time buddy, The Scary Pinecone used to collect the
Star Wars figures, and there were tons of figures of characters I had
no recollection of from movies I’ve seen dozens of times.
George
Lucas created Ewoks. George Lucas created Jar Jar Binks (for Pete’s
sake!) He forced poor little innocent Jake Lloyd to shriek “Yippee!”.
Do they really want to get into this “Disney=Cutified”
thing?
Anyway, here are my points in favor of the deal:
1)
As many others have pointed out… There’s absolutely no risk from
either side of the deal. Disney will make boatloads of cash no matter
what, and they’ll also have the extremely valuable studios of ILM
and Skywalker Sound. Lucasfilms risks nothing in terms of quality,
because let’s face it… The last good movie to come out of
Lucasfilms was Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade in 1989. The last
good Star Wars movie was in 1983. I was 3 years old. I will be 33 in
February. The recent Star Wars movies have been worse than mediocre,
and my preference is to just forget that Indy 4 never happened at
all. Disney can’t make it worse. There’s only one direction to
go, and that’s up.
2) George Lucas conceptualized Star Wars
as a 9 Part Story, and only 6 parts have been created. He’s openly
said that he’d never make Episodes 7 to 9, and that’s a shame,
because if they use the Timothy Zahn “Heir to the Empire” trilogy
as a basis, the fans are truly missing out. Those stories are
awesome, and they introduce some spectacular characters, aliens, and
worlds. It could be awesome, and Lucas doesn’t have the creative
juice to do it. Even if he did, let’s just be honest and admit that
the biggest problems with the recent films is that he had too much
control. Disney is arguably the only studio to have the bandwidth,
talent, and funds to do it right. I’m excited. I say give the reins
to J.J. Abrahms or Rian Johnson or Joss Whedon and sit back and enjoy
the ride.
3) Disney, with their enormous scope, can offer the
Star Wars fans an opportunity to love their stories for years to come
in dozens of different medias. I’ve already heard talk of Star Wars
themed attractions at the parks. New movies. New cartoons. It’s a
way to keep the stories alive and bring them to even more audiences.
I mean… who wouldn’t love to go to Disney World at ride the hot
new roller coaster “The Millenium Falcon and the Kessel Run”?
(That’s my idea, Disney… HIRE ME!)
4) Nobody’s
really talking much about the Indy movies, and maybe that’s because
Harrison Ford is old, Shia LeBouf is… unsuitable to take over the
franchise, and you can’t really do “Indy” without “Indy”.
That’s fair, but a buddy of mine asked me about Disney’s track
record with Sci-Fi, and I have to admit, it’s not that great.
Action/Adventure, however… I’d venture to say that the best
Action/Adventure movie of the past 10 years is the first Pirates
flick. The Avengers is pretty good too… I’d be interested to see
what Disney does with a property like Indiana Jones… Can they go in
a different direction without Harrison Ford in the spotlight?
5)
Speaking of “The Avengers”, I think that perhaps this is the best
example of why a Disneyfied Lucasfilm is going to be awesome…
Disney bought Marvel a couple of years ago, and every comic
book fan boy freaked the hell out. “Oh no! The Hulk will have
Mickey Ears! They’ll be “baby” versions of Iron Man and Captain
America.”
That hasn’t happened. Disney’s done a great
job of keeping true to the Marvel stories and characters. I realize
that there’s only been a small samples size to this point, but The
Avengers was stupendous. They did it right. They hired respected
“Geek Insiders” like Joss Whedon to write and direct. They made
sure the effects were tight. They treated their stars right, so we
know they’ll be back. It was masterfully done, and nobody can
complain. Maybe someone doesn’t love the plot, but all-in-all, it
was an enormous success. Also they made 1.5 Billion dollars.
Look…
There are no guarantees, but Disney is the one company out there that
combines the technical prowess, the creative talent, and the
ridiculously deep pockets to do it right.
Let me put it this
way…
If we knew that Lucas wasn’t going to be available to
make another Star Wars movie, but we knew there would still BE a Star
Wars movie… what studio do you want taking over?
Disney is
it.
