I unapologetically love Episode 1, Jar Jar and all, watched it last night with the commentary on, I am convinced GL is a genius with his themes and motifs and without him there will be no Star Wars
Not much hope for Disney
2/10 Made me reply.
Not a huge fan of Lucas. He has some great and very raw ideas, which carry the films through some dreadful characterisation. But I'm not at all optimistic about JJ Abrams taking over. Think he's pretty dreadful.
I think I might start a running counter for how many times this line of conversation comes up.
I like Lucas...there were parts of the PT where I was like, "Really??" But overall I love the stories and the characters. I like Abrams and I think he has directed well in every film & TV show that I've seen. I'm excited for the new stuff.
I think I might start a running counter for how many times this line of conversation comes up.
Proof that we desperately need some new game news badly.
I think I might start a running counter for how many times this line of conversation comes up.
Proof that we desperately need some new game news badly.
http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_upcoming.asp
Some news at least.
No matter what happens, the fans win. If Disney makes great movies, then we win. If Disney makes a few great movies and a bunch of ok movies, then we still win because at least we get more palatable Star Wars. If Disney makes terrible movies then we still win because we'll have something new to complain about instead of the Prequels.
GL is an idea man, and a good director. He is a horrible writer and full of himself and how good he thinks he is.
You guys know Lucas is still "in charge" overall right? Disney didn't replace any senior leadership at lucasfilm, and Lucas is still the lead creative consultant guy.
Basically Lucasfilm is still Lucasfilm, just with "A Walt Disney Company" added to the stationary. Lucasfilm made money hand over fist before being donated to the mouse, the mouse isn't going to change anything at all because it's in the rodent's best interest to keep that sweet lasersword cash flowing.
Now after the flanneled one becomes one with the force and a new challenger truly takes over the creative content, that's when things may get weird.
You guys know Lucas is still "in charge" overall right? Disney didn't replace any senior leadership at lucasfilm, and Lucas is still the lead creative consultant guy.
Is he? I had the impression he'd written the story treatments for 7-9, but I wasn't sure how much involvement he actually had anymore. Just curious where you got your info...?
George donated ALL the 4+ billion dollars he made from the deal to an educational charity. And Lucasfilm still exists, but Lucas is out of the picture. But he is not the dictator he was before.
You guys know Lucas is still "in charge" overall right? Disney didn't replace any senior leadership at lucasfilm, and Lucas is still the lead creative consultant guy.
Is he? I had the impression he'd written the story treatments for 7-9, but I wasn't sure how much involvement he actually had anymore. Just curious where you got your info...?
Just deduction based on my experience in the production biz. There was a guy on the show I worked that was known for bringing in ratings, and the execs bent over backwards to keep him on board, even when he showed up drunk as pants.
He's still on as "Creative Consultant" and has been for a while, and in other projects like Rebels and Clown Wars he regularly showed up and said things like "Mandos are pacifists now. This I command!"
He's probably not on set every day (which as we have said isn't a bad thing), but he's still the guy that can call the shots on story, concepts, and so forth if he decides to do so.
Like I said, there's absolutely ZERO reason for Disney to strong arm anything at all. After all, George essentially GAVE them his company for a bargain basement price, and I'm betting a big part of the point of that deal was to allow him to have fun making star wars carp without having to actually be the president of the company anymore. If anything the rodent probably has George going around to all the people he's eyeballing for future senior lucasfilm staff so they can pick his brain as much as possible. After all, the guy is gonna die eventually, so Disney probably wants to get as much of his ideas, concepts, attitudes, and beliefs ingrained into future show runners while he's still around to do it.
Thats where things are going to get ugly. Just look at other franchises that started strong and then had cruddy sequels when some new schlub took over. As long as GL is on as a creative consultant I think we'll see Star Wars continue at it's current grade. After he passes away or officially retires, or is forced to due to health reasons, THEN you can start screaming about the falling sky.
Until then I'm looking forward to EP VII: The Lens Flare Rises.
I'm optimistic because I think that, while I did like parts of the prequel trilogy, George Lucas succumbed to one of the biggest threats any creative person has to face--he got so successful no one could tell him "no." I read a few months ago about some discussions that Lucas had with Lawrence Kasdan about the role of the Jedi Masters and how Lucas' original concept was that they couldn't use the Force themselves, only teach it to others. Kasdan said up front he thought that was a stupid idea. Now think of how hard it would be for anyone to tell Lucas that his ideas are bad when he's the head of a billion-dollar industry with three films that have been proven to be not just significant in the science fiction genre, but culturally as well.
It's very hard to argue with success, and it's easy for someone who has achieved Lucas-levels of success to become biased to the fact that they're doing things right most of the time. This is why Stephen King, for instance, insists on having editors call him out on parts of the story if they feel they're not working well and why at least most of the time people don't talk about him having jumped the proverbial shark. The Star Wars movies weren't solely the product of George Lucas, but also the result of Lawrence Kasdan, Irwin Kershner, Richard Marquand, Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Anthony Daniels, and...well, we're all Star Wars fans here so I suspect we could all rattle off the names in unison.
I'm optimistic because J.J. Abrams is a pretty good director, and I think he'll bring out more life than George Lucas could in his actors. Lawrence Kasdan has been proven to write a fantastic script, George Lucas has proven he can come up with stories that come close to epics and legends, as well as having a team of creative geniuses that can come up with memorable worlds and vehicles. So I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do.
You guys know Lucas is still "in charge" overall right? Disney didn't replace any senior leadership at lucasfilm, and Lucas is still the lead creative consultant guy.
Is he? I had the impression he'd written the story treatments for 7-9, but I wasn't sure how much involvement he actually had anymore. Just curious where you got your info...?
Just deduction based on my experience in the production biz. There was a guy on the show I worked that was known for bringing in ratings, and the execs bent over backwards to keep him on board, even when he showed up drunk as pants.
He's still on as "Creative Consultant" and has been for a while, and in other projects like Rebels and Clown Wars he regularly showed up and said things like "Mandos are pacifists now. This I command!"
He's probably not on set every day (which as we have said isn't a bad thing), but he's still the guy that can call the shots on story, concepts, and so forth if he decides to do so.
Like I said, there's absolutely ZERO reason for Disney to strong arm anything at all. After all, George essentially GAVE them his company for a bargain basement price, and I'm betting a big part of the point of that deal was to allow him to have fun making star wars carp without having to actually be the president of the company anymore. If anything the rodent probably has George going around to all the people he's eyeballing for future senior lucasfilm staff so they can pick his brain as much as possible. After all, the guy is gonna die eventually, so Disney probably wants to get as much of his ideas, concepts, attitudes, and beliefs ingrained into future show runners while he's still around to do it.
Thats where things are going to get ugly. Just look at other franchises that started strong and then had cruddy sequels when some new schlub took over. As long as GL is on as a creative consultant I think we'll see Star Wars continue at it's current grade. After he passes away or officially retires, or is forced to due to health reasons, THEN you can start screaming about the falling sky.
Until then I'm looking forward to EP VII: The Lens Flare Rises.
No he isn't. I read a business article that interviewed the CEO of Disney and it was explained to him he isn't the final word on decisions. He is a consultant but in no way has decision making power. There was a moment when the contract was signed where the CEO said he could tell that was when it first dawned on Lucas he was not in charge anymore.
Iger understood Lucas’s concerns. “George said to me once that when he dies, it’s going to say ‘Star Wars creator George Lucas,’ ” he says. Still, Iger wanted to make sure that Lucas, who was used to controlling every aspect of Star Wars, from set design to lunchboxes, understood that Disney, not Lucasfilm, would have final say over any future movies.
Edited by 2P51
I'm cautiously optimistic, as long as Abrams gets over his love of all space consisting of one or two shots fired by the ships followed by the order for boarding action or ramming speed, and a strong part of me hopes that was the writers of the Star Trek films he directed rather than being his idea.
I'm optimistic because I think that, while I did like parts of the prequel trilogy, George Lucas succumbed to one of the biggest threats any creative person has to face--he got so successful no one could tell him "no."
Ever watch the Red Letter Media Star Wars PT review? Good stuff. Each one is around an hour long and goes into depth into why the PT are bad movies. Not just bad Star Wars movies, but bad movies in general based upon movie and storytelling standards. No one being able to say "no" to Lucas was one thing he brought up and backs it up with video from during the creation process.
http://redlettermedia.com/plinkett/star-wars/
It has been a while since I've watched the reviews. I forget if there was NSFW language, but some of the jokes do run with darker adult themes. So, younglings and those at work, beware.
Iger understood Lucas’s concerns. “George said to me once that when he dies, it’s going to say ‘Star Wars creator George Lucas,’ ” he says. Still, Iger wanted to make sure that Lucas, who was used to controlling every aspect of Star Wars, from set design to lunchboxes, understood that Disney, not Lucasfilm, would have final say over any future movies.
The problem is that you can't tell what exactly that means. I'm in the PR biz and I love quotes like that because I can make them mean anything I want.
So I can have that say: "Disney owns Star Wars now"
or
"Disney decides when and on what schedule the new movies are made"
or
"George is still the man, but if we get halfway through production of 1313 and George comes in and decides it should be about Boba Fett instead of some new character we've already done most of the work on we can tell him where to stick it."
And the counterpoint can easily be:
“I’ve never been that much of a money guy,” Lucas says. “I’m more of a film guy, and most of the money I’ve made is in defense of trying to keep creative control of my movies.” Lucas is speaking by phone, giving a reluctant interview about the sale of Lucasfilm.
and
Iger personally negotiated the deal with Steve Jobs, who was then Pixar’s CEO. As part of the deal, Iger kept the creative team, led by John Lasseter, in place and allowed them to continue to operate with a minimum of interference in their headquarters near San Francisco. “Steve and I spent more time negotiating the social issues than we did the economic issues,” Iger says. “He thought maintaining the culture of Pixar was a major ingredient of their creative success. He was right.”
and several others.
The point of the article is that George sold his company, but that Disney has a track record of not meddling with already successful acquisitions. They just keep them on task, and help push the sales.
Neither of those things is the sky falling, it's just that the "New Star Wars Movie every year" thing is actually gonna happen, and that they are in all likelyhood going to work very very hard to keep Georges core vision intact, largely by not getting in it's way unless that vision include a certain Gungan that shall not be named.
George Lucas does not own Lucasfilm or the IP any longer. There is nothing unclear about that.
George Lucas does not own Lucasfilm or the IP any longer. There is nothing unclear about that.
Except his exact role in the company and how much clout he actually holds. There's a lot we just don't know. But we do know he still has a hand in productions, he didn't like giving up Star Wars, and Dis has a record of not meddling.
Yes we do, this is the management org chart of Lucasfilm. http://lucasfilm.com/our-team
Lucas does not own it. He is not an employee of it. He is not an employee of Disney.
There is no secret status, it is now part of a publically traded company and it's all open book.
GL isn't directing or writing. He is far from in charge.
Not much faith in Disney? Take a cold hard look at ALL the product Disney has been putting out and you'll see that it is of higher quality than any other studio overall. Period. It's not a matter of taste. It is what it is. Why do you think GL sold to them?
However, since you enjoyed Episode I, Jar Jar and all take solace in knowing that if the new films are of a .... different quality than what you're accustomed to (better) Episode I, will be there on your Blu-Ray shelf to comfort you as long as you like. Jar Jar and all.
Yes we do, this is the management org chart of Lucasfilm. http://lucasfilm.com/our-team
Lucas does not own it. He is not an employee of it. He is not an employee of Disney.
There is no secret status, it is now part of a publically traded company and it's all open book.
And if he doesn't show up in anything anymore except to say he's no longer involved, I'll happily lick my core rulebook and admit I was wrong. But that chart just says he's not he big boss anymore, which we know. We don't what what he actually is, what he actually does, and what kind of clout he still maintains.
Is he just a treatment writer? Does he still get to do Rebels story meetings with Filoni and pals? Is he still going to have Exec Producer Credits on the new films? Will his wife and kids still get cameos? Was he required to get a tattoo of Mickey on his buttocks?
That's things we don't know, and only time will tell for sure. But for now I'm stick to my guns and saying that there's no reason to think that George doesn't have a significant role in the future of the IP. Just because it's not officially his doesn't mean that Mickey is locking him out, and if history is any indication, Mickey's probably at least still letting him shoot the quadlasers.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2488496/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast
Staff and cast info. He has his creative consultant credit at the bottom for the rough story treatments he had done. He is not a producer of any kind which means he has zero decision making authority at all, let alone the sole person calling the shots.