Disney today announced the $4 billion acquisition of Lucasfilm, including the apple of George Lucas's eye, the Star Wars franchise.
According to USA Today, the acquisition concludes a year-and-a-half pursuit by Disney of the lucrative franchise. Disney announced that they would begin production of a new Star Wars film immediately, with a release date sometime in 2015, with subsequent films every few years. Three years turn-around isn't that much in the high-stakes world of multi-million films, and the expectation of something staggeringly good has created a surge of interest among fans.
io9 has already speculated about the possible direction future films could take, and have offered several thoughtful ideas. Among the ideas for Star Wars VII are stories set in the Thrawn universe, following the exploits of a fledgling New Republic battling the deeply embedded forces of Admiral Thrawn. The books offer ties to the Clone Wars, and having the benefit of a pre-existing story, are a strong bet for future films. Written by sci-fi master Timothy Zahn, they're also the first foray by Lucasfilm into the Star Wars universe post-Jedi, what's come to be called the Expanded Universe. I think this is the best bet for Disney story-tellers if they're looking for something quick and easy, with the benefit of "canon" status.
Other avenues, of course, are available, and speculation ranges from a Darth Vader centered movie, to a Boba Fett spin-off. While I would love to see something featuring Mara Jada (Luke's eventual wife in the Expanded Universe), I can't imagine that anything set within a few years of Jedi would have the appeal of later stories. An Old Republic movie might be appealing. Seeing the Jedi in their prime sounds fun on paper, but stories of political intrigue are dubious at best. Lucas already tried that route and it failed miserably; trying to recapture the grandeur and opulence of the Old Republic might be beyond Disney's grasp--although, they've surprised me before.
While I'm excited to see Star Wars go off in a new directions, I'm of two minds about the whole thing. First, we know that Star Wars without George at the helm is not a bad thing. In fact, neither Empire nor Jedi were directed by him and Empire is considered the strongest of the three. But George represents a locus of vision; it's his world and we're all just playing in it. Although he's said that he'll stay on as a creative consultant, the machinations of corporate greed will play a much stronger role. Maybe we'll get something good, maybe we'll get Episodes I, II, and III. But the fact that Empire and Jedi didn't have George at the helm gives me hope that something good
will come out of this. I've been saying for years that a Star Wars absent George, given the love and attention only a true fan can give, would make for better Star Wars films.
*Update:
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Lucas is donating all that money to education. Who would have thought? I wasn't really expecting that.
What do you think? Excited, worried, irritated? I've got room for rants in the comments section.
I will choose to remain cautiously optimistic. I'll admit, when I saw the pic of Mickey and his cronies all "Star Wars'd" up, I felt my stomach churn a little bit. It's the fear that crass commercialism will be the primary thing to come from this joining of entertainment juggernauts; both of them certainly have churned out more than their fair share shallow merchandising and shoddy projects in the past. But. They are primarily loved for their creative successes which come from the pooling of talents that genuinely care about their work. And they spent too much time and money on this merger to waste it, so I expect them to come out of the gates swinging. Optimism. With caution.
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