Shockingly, Disney buying Lucasfilm continued to dominate Twitter. Get your share of the snark now. Continue reading “It’s the circle of life, and it moves us all: Last week’s best #StarWars and #SWEU tweets”
Rumor: Disney looking into buying Hasbro?
Anti-trust lawyers must be wringing their hands with glee at this one: MTV Geek is saying that after acquiring Lucasfilm (pending approval) Disney will be turning to Hasbro. Or rather, that they’re having “discussions.”
Buying Hasbro would give Disney the rights to Transformers, G.I. Joe, Dungeons and Dragons, and My Little Pony, among others. And by folding in the toys, they’d be getting a bigger share of the Star Wars pie as well.
Let’s review: What do we really know about Star Wars VII-IX?
Tomorrow it’ll be a full week since the biggest Star Wars news since the mid-90’s dropped: Not only Disney buying Lucasfilm, but that they’d be making a new trilogy – the sequel trilogy and perhaps beyond.
And amid all the rumors and fan hopes? There’s not really all that much info that’s actually solid. So in order to help stem at least a little confusion, I’ve created a page to keep track of what we actually know about Episodes VII-IX so far. It’ll be updated as we get further information.
Report: George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy meeting with “well-known screenwriters” to pitch ideas for Episode VII
Today in Episode 7 reports, we have the Los Angeles Times’ Steven Zeitchik and John Horn saying that “several different screenwriters paid visits to Lucasfilm’s Northern California compound to pitch George Lucas and his co-chair Kathleen Kennedy their ideas for the new live-action installment.” Their source went on to say “they were well-known screenwriters with experience creating big-budget Hollywood films,” and the stories were not adapted from existing Star Wars books. (via)
Their source is anonymous, but this does dovetail neatly with something Kennedy said in the video released Tuesday: “We’re sitting down with a couple of writers and we’re starting to discuss ideas; We’re starting to talk about what those stories might be.” I feel comfortable putting this one in the ‘fairly plausible’ column.
Does the Disney deal mean no more Star Wars Happy Meals?
There is one side to the Disney deal that I haven’t seem much bandied about: It means there probably won’t be any more Star Wars Happy Meals. In 2006, Disney stopped their partnership with McDonalds, and they have in recent years done tie-ins with healthier options like Subway, which they have teamed up with for Brave and Frankenweenie. Head into a Subway today and you’ll see promos for Wreck-it Ralph. (Hat tip to CJer Rach for noticing!)
McDonalds has done Star Wars Happy Meal promotions based around The Clone Wars in 2008, 2010 and earlier this year. In 2005, Revenge of the Sith toys appeared at Burger King; Taco Bell had toys for the Special Editions and teamed up with corporate siblings Pizza Hut and KFC for The Phantom Menace promotions. (Attack of the Clones sat the fast food market out.) And the GenXers among us will remember Burger King’s Return of the Jedi glasses from 1983.
George Lucas and his post-Star Wars life
EOnline caught up with George Lucas to ask what and how he feels about moving on from Lucasfilm and Star Wars.
“It was 40 years of work,” Lucas said when we caught up with him at the Ebony Power 100 Gala at Lincoln Center’s Frederick P. Rose Hall. “It has been my life, but I am ready to move on to bigger and better things.”
He also talked about his charity work and said he’s going to keep making “littler personal films,” but “the ones I am working on now will never get into the theaters.”
“The books were always just the books:” Timothy Zahn on the Star Wars sequels and fan hopes for Heir
Entertainment Weekly caught up with Timothy Zahn to talk about the week’s big announcement and the amount of mainstream attention that the Thrawn trilogy has been getting due to all the speculation – and what he knew of possible plans for a trilogy after Return of the Jedi.
That means Zahn’s books won’t be directly adapted, but the author says that was always the case: “The books were always just the books.”
But years ago, he was briefed on Lucas’ plans for sequels, and how the Thrawn books would fit in. “The original idea as I understood it— and Lucas changes his mind off and on, so it may not be what he’s thinking right now – but it was going to be three generations. You’d have the original trilogy, then go back to Luke’s father and find out what happened to him [in the prequels], and if there was another 7th, 8th, or 9th film, it would be Luke’s children. The Thrawn Trilogy really would have fit into the gap,” the author said.
Tim talks – vaguely! – about what kind of things he’d like to see in the new films.
Roundup: Does the Disney buyout mean The Clone Wars is headed for a new channel?
The Clone Wars. The Hollywood Reporter’s sources confirm that the cartoon will likely be making the move to Disney XD. Cartoon Network, which is owned by Turner/Time Warner, has the rights only up through current season. DisneyXD airs action-oriented shows and currently has a block dedicated to Marvel cartoons.
Episode 7 rumors. First Showing has a source denying the 1952 rumor, while Skywalking author Dale Pollock tells The Wrap that 7, 8 and 9 were the “most exciting stories.” And though there have been some rumblings from some hopeful to see Steven Spielberg finally take on a full Star Wars film, Spielberg fan Paul Bullock lays out some reasons why this is unlikely.
Ladies! Slate’s Alyssa Rosenberg on how women can save the Star Wars franchise. Like I said earlier, I would love a female protagonist heading this thing! It doesn’t even have to be someone we already know.
Reaction. Entertainment Weekly nabbed some big name Hollywood talent on how they feel about more Star Wars. Knights Archive has a nice collection of comments from Lucasfilm folks, authors, actors and other notables. MTV talked to TFN’s Eric Geller and Big Shiny Robot’s Bryan Young, while ABC News asked Devi Laskar, artist Tom Hodges, and yours truly. And our friends over the pond at Jedi News are talking to the U.K. media! But you don’t have to go to the news sites: Thoughts from fans like Michael Heilemann and Amy Ratcliffe. As for Expanded Universe fans, here are more thoughts from Tosche Station’s Brian, Knight Archive’s Ryan, and Fangirl’s Tricia Barr.
Speculation! Lists! People just can’t stop writing them. The Hollywood Reporter finds 15 potential writers, Slashfilm has 10 filmmakers to direct (and 5 who shouldn’t,) and Big Shiny Robot has yet more possible directors. Taking a different track, Screenrant has pros and cons of the deal, while Hitfix has some things to watch.
And now for something completely different… You know it’s not real news until crazy folks at NMA weigh in with a video. For something more serious, check out Empire’s infographic of who has what franchises.
Conspiracy theory: Brad Bird and Damon Lindelof to direct, write Episode 7?
An AICN reader has a theory: That Disney has been making moves towards Lost’s Damon Lindelof and Pixar’s Brad Bird as the writer and director of Episode 7. This all hinges on the mystery film 1952 as the new Blue Harvest. (Hat tip to our old pal Fatboy Roberts.)
Bird has directed The Iron Giant, The Incredibles, Ratatouille and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Lindelof is best known as the co-creator of Lost. He also produced 2009’s Star Trek and worked on the script for the sequel. He has writing credits for Prometheus and Cowboys & Aliens.
Bird is also listed on IMDB as director on 1906, a film in pre-production about the San Francisco earthquakes, but IMDB has never been 100% trustworthy on ‘early’ news of films.
What does 1952 mean to Star Wars? It’s the year Liam Neeson was born. In film history, it’s the year that High Noon and The Greatest Show on Earth and the first full color 3D movie were released. George Lucas was 8 that year – do any of these films ring a bell for Star Wars scholars?
UPDATE: First Showing has a source which claims that 1952 has nothing to do with Star Wars. (H/T to Justin Alicea.)
Hamill, Fisher told of sequel trilogy during the summer
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Mark Hamill reveals that he and Carrie Fisher were told about the plans for Star Wars VII, VIII, and IX last summer. (At Celebration, perhaps?)
So when he said, “We decided we’re going to do Episodes VII, VIII, and IX,” I was just gobsmacked. “What? Are you nuts?!” [Laughs] I can see both sides of it. Because in a way, there was a beginning, a middle, and an end and we all lived happily ever after and that’s the way it should be — and it’s great that people have fond memories, if they do have fond memories. But on the other hand, there’s this ravenous desire on the part of the true believers to have more and more and more material.
Well, you can’t say they haven’t had practice keeping secrets!
Carrie’s reaction to the news breaking has so far been contained to, um, her dog. Harrison Ford is, I expect, looking into trips to Antarctica.