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Disney plans to bring not just one but three new Star Wars films to the big screen, and the companies “have a pretty extensive treatment of the next three movies,” chairman and CEO Bob Iger said in a conference call announcing its deal to acquire Lucasfilm. “Episode 7 will be released in 2015, the first under the Disney/Lucas banner,” he said, with Episode 8 and Episode 9 to follow. Disney plans to release a new Star Wars movie “every two to three years.” Disney also intends to pursue the Star Wars brand in their parks, with games and, “other initiatives,” CFO Jay Rasulo said. “Being that there hasn’t been a Star Wars film since 2005, a lot of the value we attribute to the deal is to come, added Rasulo. ”This gives us a great footprint in the consumer market, and we already had a good one,” said Iger of the licensing possibilities that the Star Wars franchise could represent for Disney.
Related: Disney Buys Lucasfilm; More ‘Star Wars’ Movies Planned
“We love the fact that this will take its place in our live-action strategy as a known and loved brand,” said Iger of his newest property. “We really like Star Wars’ potential on TV, and Disney XD would be a great home for that.” He did not provide any more details about future Stars Wars TV shows. He added that that the deal “combines two of the strongest family entertainment brands in the world.”
Disney announced today that it would be purchasing LucasFilms for $4.05 billion. Half the consideration is in cash; the other half is in issuing approximately 40 million shares based on the company’s October 26 stock price. The company said it intends to buy back all the shares in the next two years. This purchase includes rights to the entire Star Wars franchise, Industrial Light + Magic and LucasSound. Unlike Disney’s $4 billion acquisition of Marvel in 2009, this deal comes with few limitations on the company’s use of the purchased properties like the Star Wars characters. “There are some encumbrances with the first Stars Wars films with Fox and some encumbrances with Indiana Jones with Paramount,” said Rasulo. Iger said that, while he “loves the franchise,” the Indiana Jones films were not a big factor in the deal because of Paramount’s rights to the franchise. Fox has no future distribution rights to any further Star Wars films, the execs said.
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Deadline's Dominic Patten - tip him here.
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One thing everyone needs to realize is this is a continuation of the series. They should not use new actors, but use the originals. 7 should take place 30 years after the events on the moon of Endor. Well in the New Jedi Academy while Luke is in his 60′s.
So if Disney can buy Paramount in 5 years: It would have Marvel, Star Trek, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and LABYRINTH.
As it stands right now, the people smiling the most are Marvel( they donn’t have to pay a fee for rights to do Star Wars, Indiana Jones Comics), Lucas, and the Theme Park People.
In the contrary I loved Episodes 1,2,3.
Entertaining, which what movies are to me. Some people just need a life.
In comparison though, not as good as 4 and 5 being the best, certainly one of the best movies of all time.
So, in other words, Disney would rather pay $4,000,000,000.00 for a property and a few “treatments” than go through the headache of giving audiences original movies. “Ugh, find and develop an original story with original characters? What a pain! Don’t we have a few billion lying around to avoid that?”
You gotta think like a corporation for this to make sense. Disney is buying world famous brand names – “Star Wars,” “Luke Skywalker,” “Han Solo,” etc. So they will not just make Star Wars movies, they will make movies with the big brand names of the original trilogy. And since the movies must also have youth appeal, that rules out the original actors, which leads to only one conclusion: they’re recasting the roles.
If not, why did they spend four billion dollars on just Star Wars as a brand? It’s worth so much more with the original character names attached.
On “kiddie crap”, you can still make a film that appeals to children without Ewoks, Jar Jar, dumb dialogue, a 5 year old protagonist (grrr), and stiff acting. Remember the scene when young Anakin blows up the ship? omg. The source material is inherently appealing to youths even without the overtly cartoony elements. Most Marvel films, like the Avengers, don’t have these elements and are hugely popular with the younger demos. The issue with kiddie crap is that it shifts the brand too young IMO.
Exactly.
Let’s see, aren’t there studios that have made movies that both kids AND adults have enjoyed? Say Pixar for example, also owned by Disney? Same goes for Marvel.
Sure, they could stay in a “kiddie” direction but for live action movies there’s probably much more money to be made keeping out language and extreme violence but appealing mainly to teens and adults. Kid safe but not “kiddie”.
If they were smart, they’d do the storyline from the new jedi order book series. Its set forty years ahead of Jedi, and all the actors would fit the age, sorta. Plus, they all have kids. Only downside-Chewie dies on the first book.
They should do side stories like one on jabbas palace or one following boba fett
WOW YOU KNOW WHAT THIS MEANS?? The Star wars holiday special MAY FINALLY GET A RELEASE. I know this sounds crazy but Diensy just spent all that money so they may want to release this and make some fast bucks, Maybe Diney will give the original trilogy a BLU RAY RELEASE
Mark Hamill LOOKS like a 800 year old Jedi Master, so there’s no problem at all with having Luke in the next episodes as a main character. As far as Ford and Fisher…not so much. A 70 year old Han Solo? No thanks. And Fisher is a loooong way from the ROTJ metal bikini. Obviously the droids would return and the next sequels would involve the kids of Han, Leia, Luke, etc…with Luke still playing a major role. I haven’t read the books and don’t feel any new films need to be tied to that canon at all. Just look to “Empire” as a template and they’ll do fine (and less CGI please…the prequels looked like cartoons).
Pray for CGI my friends…. PRAY FOR CGI.
Disney should sell the rights back to 20th Century Fox for a fast profit. I will pay Disney $8 Billion to get Star Wars back where it belongs as part of my News Corp. octopus.
In Iger’s mind, there can only be five core brands, so expect him to downplay ESPN.
Walt Disney will incorporate Star Wars into Walt Disney theme parks. That’s indicative of a PG rating and kiddie stuff. Reboots use age appropriate actors. There will be plenty of cameo opp’s for the alumni when the newbies use The Force. We can only hope that Disney, the new director and scribe use The Force as George intended in the treatment.
If there’s a way to screw up Star Wars then Disney will do it. Iger made an investment and now they have to maximize their profits by exploiting it and merchandising it. They don’t really care about Star Wars or even like Star Wars. What they like is something they see as $tar War$ they only see dollar signs. Hopefully Kathy Kennedy will have sole creative control and Disney won’t be able to interfere the same way Kevin Feige has sole control over the Marvel movies. All Disney does is release the films and that’s the only way to maintain a semblance of quality for the new Star Wars movies. The moment Disney is allowed to insert themselves with “creative suggestions” is the moment the Dark Side really will have won.
What? No John Carter reference?!
So Lucas wasn’t content with trashing the memory of Star Wars with the atrocious EP 1,2,3. Now he’s going directly for the throat and prostituting the original main characters.
This is great news. My biggest problem with the prequels (and prequels in general), is that you know the ending, making ep 7-9 gives them total freedom. I would love seeing storylines similar to the Forced Unleashed games just not that tied to the previous films.
Anyroads: these are going to be huge! Hope they gather some real talents to these!
Would love to see Disney do these films, but fill in the release gaps by introducing another dimension of the Star Wars Universe by doing a darker, more adult exploration of the origins of the sith. A trilogy of books, set 2500 years or so before the time of the current movie series, explore the ideas and perverse morality of the Sith order, and what little we know about it, such as The Rule of Two – the name of the middle book of the series, came about. Done with enough detail to show how twisted and madness inducing the Dark Side and Sith way of thinking is, with all the great violence that it entails, it would satisfy those that wish to see a darker genre of films, but still be able to fit into the PG-13 rating and all the adolecent dollars that would provide.
Nathon Fillion as Han Solo?
Here’s a plot idea … a Jedi scientist in the future goes back in time, locates Shmi Skywalker, and KILLS Anakin in the womb! BANG! A RESET OF THE SAGA!
Of course, the idea of going back in time to reset the storyline has already been done recently … ala Star Trek …
Definitely a new creative force was needed to proceed with the Star Wars franchise. Lucas had lost his passion and focus on the series. A JJ Abrams would be a nice add.
In the sequel books that Lucas authorized, Luke married Mara Jade and they have a son named after Obi Wan his name is Ben Skywalker. Han and Leia now have a son and a daughter twins actually who they name Jacen and Jaina. Jacen turns to the dark side and becomes a Sith Lord named Darth Caedus. Presto an identical trilogy good vs. evil and the three original actors will make cameo appearances. There are some great stories in the sequel books that Lucas could have turned into movies long ago. He should have done the final trilogy himself but he lost interest in continuing the films. Selling to Disney is the best way to bring it back to life.
Thanks for someone finally bringing up the info on the kids. Didn’t the Solo’s have a sone named Anakin. Wasn’t also a whiz with mechanical things?
I’d like to see the Thrawn trilogy done as movies. If they did that they’d have to recast the characters.
I like the idea of setting the plot around the children.
They can still use original actors in small parts like Abrams did with Nimoy.
Think they could get Peter Jackson to direct? LOL
Yes they had a son named Anakin that was about two years younger than the twins but he was killed off in the New Jedi Order series so wouldn’t be alive for the above story idea which takes place after NJO.
Luke, Leia and Han have far bigger roles in that story than mere cameos so that wouldn’t work.
Let’s get JGL as Han, NPH as Luke, and directed by Christoher Nolan.
Timothy Zahn wrote some pretty solid follow ups to the original trilogy in the early 90s involving a Jedi clone trying to win over and seduce Luke Skywalker back to the dark side while the empire (now in the position of the rebellion) try to make a comeback. They’re probably not following that path.
…the Jawas at Disney pick through the scraps and sell the overpriced nuggets to unsuspecting hicks in farm country….