Now that the dust is settled a little from yesterday’s bombshell, we can all take a deep breath and… Continue to freak out about how there are going to be more Star Wars movies. Um.
A good place to start would be Slashfilm’s roundup of yesterday’s conference call with Russ Fischer. It addresses and expands (and yes, in some cases, speculates) on some of those lingering questions you may have on Indiana Jones, Episode VII, Industrial Light & Magic and more.
One thing I haven’t seen widely reported – though I may very well have missed it in the conference call – is Bleeding Cool’s report that Fox retains the distribution rights to the existing films.
One take I found rather interesting – if a bit paranoid – is from The Daily Intel’s Kevin Roose. He speculates that the deal is a financial dud and that Disney is getting Lucasfilm “for a steal.” I doubt this is the last we’ll hear on the financial side of this – and it’s clearly written from the perspective of a Star Wars cynic – but it’s something to keep in mind, at least. In another corner of New York Magazine, Vulture’s Kyle Buchanan and Margaret Lyons have 7 questions about Episode VII.
But overall, I think the reaction has been fairly positive, as Disney is able and – apparently – willing to let fresh eyes take on the franchise
Of course, there’s speculation on the new trilogy everywhere. ThinkProgress’ Alyssa Rosenberg weighs in on how Disney could make Episode VII awesome with 5 ideas plucked from the pages of the Expanded Universe, while Forbes’ Alex Knapp has three options and AMOG’s Keith Veronese has five. (IGN even pulled one up from their archives.) I’m sure we’re going to be seeing everyone and their vat-grown clone throw their favorite book/comic/Boba fetish into the hat for the foreseeable future. We talked a bit about this on Tosche Station last night, but you’ll just have to wait on that one!
Outside of the news sites, we’re seeing lots from the fans – and pros! – on this as well. Author Jason Fry took to Tumblr, as did Bria and Jay. Fansite proprietors at Geek My Life, NJOE and Knights Archive. And, of course, SF/F godfather John Scalzi had some thoughts as well.
“Overall, I think the reaction has been fairly positive…”
I would like to read at least one positive comment that isn’t just an excuse to attack George Lucas.
Hear, hear.
I’m so happy about this! I often dreamed someone else would take over and bring Star Wars back to it’s best. And its actually happened!
Thank you George for recognising it was time to move on and thank you Disney for having the boldness to do this.
That’s sad. Most everything I’ve seen has been really good about the news.
I can’t take any report seriously that can’t spell Lucasfilm correctly.
After the initial shock of Ep 7 happening and some sleep- I’m really excited and looking forward to what happens in the GFFA over the next few years.
Right now it means more Star Wars and that, even if it’s mediocre, is better than no Star Wars. Star Wars also has the opportunity to have involvement by imagineers, Pixar’s crew, and customer service wizards. There’s no way George would have sold out to a typical movie company if he could help it, selling to Disney with their marketing and merchandising experience gives them the lead on how to handle a property like Star Wars.
I can not wait till 2015. :)
Well, as a person whose Star Wars fandom is almost entirely based in the books and comics from the pre and post films EU, I’m personally disappointed. I’ve never been able to get into Lucas visual media that much (Clone Wars, films, etc) and I had kind of hoped that Lucasfilm would spend its more mature years developing and expanding the EU without existential capitalist pressures dangling over their heads… So much for that. So for me, the only upside is maybe they’ll finally produce films I’ll enjoy without wincing every few scenes, as who knows what will become of my book universe…
As I said on EUCantina, I’m pretty sure now that “our” EU as we know it has just become “history,” both as a living entity and as an artistic product. We probably won’t see much more (any?) development past what’s already been announced for the next 1-2 years (they’d better bring out “Kenobi”!) and I’m hopeful that the existing EU can be used as a historical base for what comes next. Pablo Hidalgo’s recently released compilation thus unintentionally has become a beautiful memorial to this almost 3 decade universe.
While speculation will be rampant, I’m hoping they start new trilogy work after FOTJ. It’s perfect. You have the upcoming novel wrapping up the “Big Three,” lots of progency with famous names (Skywalker, Solo, etc), and at least a century or so before the established work in the Legacy comics. So my hope is that this blank century becomes their playground. Of course, they’ll probably just put it right after the movies, “reboot” the franchise, and blow up the whole EU (sigh). Again, let’s hope.
Don’t forget that Disney also own Marvel. So they can bring the experience of making blockbuster movies like The Avengers and Iron Man to the table. Not to shabby…
Actually, only Avengers was a Disney film. And by all accounts, the only input Disney had was the money and distribution. If anything, their most important contribution to The Avengers was giving Marvel the freedom to get on with it.
As someone pointed out on the TFN boards, we shouldn’t look at this as “Disney are making new Star Wars films”. They’re not. Lucasfilm are making new Star Wars films. Disney are just paying for them.
I can’t help feeling that if the announcement yesterday hadn’t mentioned Disney, the reaction from fans would have been quite different…
One thing I haven’t seen come up yet is how important it’ll be to have John Williams on board for as long as possible. Williams turned 80 this year, and he joked in the 90’s that Lucas was “threatening” to make new SW movies, so there’s no guarantee that he would be willing to come back. Even if he is willing, it’s possible Disney will try to save money on someone cheaper. Now I realize there are plenty of talented composers out there — the music for the post-JW Harry Potter films was just fine, and any of us could rattle off a number of names of folks who’ve successfully forged their own style in the epic Hollywood mode that Williams revitalized. And, of course, with the loss of the 20th Century Fox fanfare, the new movies will certainly feel different no matter what. But remember that for a lot of original trilogy purists, JW’s music was the only good thing about the prequels. And his absence was definitely a part of what made the Clone Wars movie such a forgettable experience for me. Bringing in a new composer would absolutely damage the soul of the movies. I think the fan community needs to be a loud voice on the absolute necessity to have Williams a part of this, at least for the first three episodes.