The Force Awakens Sale to Disney- Planned or Unplanned?

Discussion in 'Star Wars: Episodes VII - IX' started by LegendAssemble, Nov 1, 2012.

?

Phantom Rerelease Box Office affect the sale of LF?

  1. Yes! The numbers were not promising

  2. No! The success of the release was irrelevant to the sale.

  3. Who cares!

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  1. LegendAssemble Registered

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    As many of you may have read Lucas told Mark Hamil and Carrie Fischer his plans over a year ago. Well for several years I have been seeing articles like the one below claiming that the Star Wars saga is to continue after the 3D rereleases and that they were to inpart fun and prepare the audience for the new trilogy. Sort of the same way the special edition screenings and shadows of the empire crossover sales did.

    http://furiousfanboys.com/2010/10/star-wars-sequel-trilogy-due-in-2019/

    Well after the Phantom Menace was rereleased to less than exciting results things began to change. Instead of one film a year Lucas now planned to release II and III back to back. It seems like a lot of effort went into promoting the release too, Lucas even gave the command (yes reports cite him as the source) for the Clone Wars team to bring back Darth Maul for the end of Season 5 ending early in 2012. They even left him alive and left his story reasonably open ended.

    As we all know now Disney has officially purchased Lucas films a few days ago and now openly plans to produce a sequel trilogy. Is this a result of a the poor response to the 3D releases and a fear that the marketability of Star Wars maybe going down? Perhaps Lucas just decided he needed some help? Or maybe Red Tails truly was the last straw and he realized he was alienating his own fan base?

    Whatever reason it may be do you believe there is any correlation?
     
  2. MistaBinks Registered

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    It is really hard to pass judgement on TPM3D's box office receipts. It made $44 million domestically. This was in February of this year. Most families had just dropped $80'ish on the Star Wars BluRay box set the previous December. That is a lot to ask of a family. Especially considering the cost of a 3D movie ticket. Sure, Disney was doing something similar with their 3D re-releases but they weren't selling box sets.

    I find it hard to believe that LucasFilm was banking on box office receipts from Red Tails to fund any future projects. That was a passion project through and through.

    This is one of those things were we might not ever know the true details, or, it could be one of those things were absolutely everything is spilled. In reality though, I think it is pretty safe to say LucasFilm could finance three sequel movies w/out needing to generate funds beforehand.
     
  3. LegendAssemble Registered

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    Oh damn 44 mil is actually a bit better than I'd thought, but either way it's more of a topic for discussion than a factual matter. Theres really no way to know for sure.
     
  4. MistaBinks Registered

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    I dig the dialogue and discussion. I have been a member here since 2009 and only now am I posting.

    Worldwide, it made about 102 million. So it was profitable. Especially after all the money they made off the Blu Ray sets.
     
  5. ericadawn16 Registered

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    George Lucas has been talking about a longterm plan in terms of passing his stories on and wanting them to be in good hands since 1999. Disney was a logical choice since he had worked with them so extensively over the years with attractions and films. They also have a sound economic future which many of the studios do not.
     
  6. MistaBinks Registered

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    Over the years, he has definitely contradicted himself many times. It is odd though, the majority of stuff I have read featured him saying the movies were over, Luke never gets married, the Emperor never resurrects, and that even his will instructs everyone to leave the movies alone.

    That is what made the sale so shocking (to me).
     
  7. Mace Dolex Powerful User

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    The disappointment of The Phantom Menace 3-D may have been for the reasons already discussed (ticket prices, Bluray box set) but we're not kidding ourselves in knowing the real reason is because TPM sucked, Lucas would've been smart enough to release episodes IV, V, VI first.
     
  8. Gianakin_ SW Prequels Defender

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    Strong rumours of the Sequel Trilogy have been around sicne last year. I think it was planned.
     
  9. Spider-Vader Mercin' & Workin'

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    I don't think a deal this big could have started in March & is now finalized. I think it probably took much longer to get everything set.
     
  10. LegendAssemble Registered

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    If you've ever been to disney world you understand how this deal makes perfect sense. Theres Star Wars everything there, I'm pretty sure i have a Jedi Mickey still.

    However I don't think George was ever entirely sure what he was gonna do. He's said a lot he's not giving up Star Wars that it's "his thing". He also has been very adamant saying it's always been six films, when originally it was a 3 act screenplay and then it became a 12 part story, then after his fallout with Kurtz and his spit with Maria he got sick of it and cut it off at movie 3 for awhile.

    I'm really happy Lucas is passing the torch, I highly respect the man and his stories were what got me into movies in the first place, but he's lost his connection to reality. All will work out in due time.
     
  11. Gianakin_ SW Prequels Defender

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    Lucas is lying all the time. There WERE 12 movies, no matter how much he wants to deny it from time to time with various BS.
     
  12. DigificWriter Registered

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    It is really sad that I keep having to say this, but Lucas didn't tell Carrie and Mark about plans for the Sequel Trilogy 'over a year ago'; he told them about plans for the ST 4 months ago (August of this year).

    Per the question at hand, though, why would the plans to produce the Sequel Trilogy have anything whatsoever to do with the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney? The two things are not dependent on one another, nor are they cause-and-effect oriented.
     
  13. LegendAssemble Registered

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    I think there may have been 6 at one point. Interviews with Gary Kurtz "the other primary force behind Empire and A New Hope", reveal a different return of the Jedi that had a very different ending. He said that Han was to die, the Emperor was to appear on the Planet of Haad Aabadon (later become Courescant in the prequels) but not fully, and Luke was to fail and walk into the sunset a lone to rebuild the order. The sequels would deal with Luke training the "other" yoda referenced.

    However Lucas got tired of Star Wars and after his marriage to Maria fell apart he wanted to be done with it, so he rewrote Jedi to include things from Star Wars IX to end the saga for the time being. I don't even think he planned on doing the prequels, I think he more or less just did them for his kids.
     
  14. Llama_Shepherd Registered

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    I thought he was usually open about it? Or at least about 9 film series, before he changed the story of Jedi.
     
  15. Gianakin_ SW Prequels Defender

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    Nah, not really, he kept changing the story.
     
  16. Gabe99 Registered

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    From io9: This May Be The Star Wars Movie You're Looking For




    From Wiki:
    From TheForce.Net:

    From STARKILLER: LOOKING BACK TO THE FUTURE OF STAR WARS
     
  17. Gabe99 Registered

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    The Long, Winding, and Shapeshifting Trail to Episodes VII, VIII & IX
     
  18. Gabe99 Registered

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    From JHM:
    Never mind about Star Wars 7. Who is going to be Bob Iger's No. 2?
     
  19. Gabe99 Registered

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    From Variety:
    Disney sees Q4 profits rise, touts Lucasfilm integration - Bob Iger says acquisition of 'Star Wars' brand will 'further fuel Disney's creative engine'
     
  20. LegendAssemble Registered

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    EPISODE 1: Was to focus on the origins of the Jedi Knights and how they are initiated and trained

    EPISODE 2: Introduction and development of Obi-Wan Kenobi

    EPISODE 3: Introduction and life of Vader

    This sounds so much better than the actually trilogy. I still think the biggest flaw was no focusing the story around Obi-Wan Kenobi.
     
  21. Octoberist point blank

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    That's my problem with the Prequels. We didn't have a main character that we connect to. Anakin was an eye roller of a character, so disconnected and unlikable that I wish we saw the story more from Obi's point of view as the mediator.
     
  22. HowardStark Registered

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    Yoda seemed to be poorly used as a side kick character again in these movies. Like extended cameos in 1 and 2. I think Yoda and some more Jedi Council stuff should have been used.
     
  23. TheVileOne Registered

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    I'm sure it was in the works for a while. At the very least Lucasfilm had a pretty strong longstanding relationship with Disney. Lucas had talked about retiring before and also doing more experimental indy films. He doesn't seem to have an interest in directing anymore. He didn't even direct Red Tails.

    I mean, does it really matter if the prequels in 3D under-perform or not? They are just 3D re-releases, not sure if you should expect like $200 million from them. I mean Titanic was pretty beloved for its time and won 11 Academy Awards.
     
  24. HowardStark Registered

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    Guess his kids was not interested in keeping Lucas legacy so he made plans and gave it to a company. Disney really is the only option in my mind because Fox and WB are companies that really deliver many stinkers.
    Disney had a few hick up too with Prince of Persia and John Carter but I think something like this could break there bad luck summer movie wise streak. Also Marvel also went with Disney and look what Avengers gave Disney out of the gate.
     
  25. Octoberist point blank

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    The Lucas kids are too busy fighting in MMA. ;)
     

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