Tag: george lucas

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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.

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George Lucas plans to put Lucasfilm’s $4B purchase price towards education

A spokesperson tells The Hollywood Reporter that George Lucas plans to put most of the money he received from Disney – $4.05 billion dollars – towards “a foundation which will primarily focus on educational issues.”

This could mean a new foundation, but Lucas is already the chairman of Edutopia, a organization that fosters innovation in schools, part of The George Lucas Educational Foundation. He’s used the Foundation to make donations to various philanthropic causes in the past, including a record-breaking $175 million to USC in 2006. In 2010, Lucas was among the first to sign the Giving Pledge, vowing to give away at least half his wealth to charitable causes.

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Disney buys Lucasfilm, plans sequel trilogy to start in 2015

disney-lfl-iger-lucas

Yes, it’s official and it is 100% for real: Disney has acquired Lucasfilm. (Here it is on StarWars.com.) We’ll know more details in a few minutes but some of the points from the press release and conference call:

  • George Lucas to be “creative consultant” on franchise; Kathleen Kennedy will continue to lead company under Disney.
  • Offer is for 4.05 billion dollars – half in cash, half in Disney stock.
  • Star Wars: Episode 7 is targeted for release in 2015 with more films in the future – “every 2 to 3 years.” New movies are in “early stage development.”
  • Parks, games and television ARE on the menu. Disney “really likes” the franchise’s potential on TV. Speculation: Live action series on ABC? Star Wars folks on Once Upon A Time? Eek!
  • Lucasfilm’s value is almost all on the Star Wars franchise. Shocking!
  • Indiana Jones has “encumbrances” due to Paramount, so I wouldn’t expect to hear anything solid quickly.

Here’s a video where George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy talk about the future of the movies:


  Per the release employees will be remaining at their currently locations, so hopefully this is all great news for our friends at Lucasfilm. On the official blog, Pablo Hidalgo writes a bit about the winds of change; Steve Sansweet has weighed in as well, and J.W. Rinzler looks at the ‘history’ of Episodes VII-IX.

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EUbits: Canon, continuity, and all that jazz (again.)

Let’s do the time warp again. Over at Tosche Station, Brian is the latest to weigh in on continuity and perspective in the Expanded Universe. If you’re with us in just shrugging at the latest Clone Wars kerfuffle (which Brian references – but he spends more time on Sword of the Jedi and Brian Wood’s Star Wars comic) you’ll enjoy it. If not… Well. I’ve already said my bit on all this.

Upcoming. Knights’ Archive spotted a brief blurb for Dawn of the Jedi: Into the Void. (I’m a little surprised to see it’s a hardback, though I’m honestly not sure if we knew that already.) Also interesting is that Dark Horse is collecting the three Infinities mini-series into an omnibus… I’m hoping this will lead to one (or two) that collect all the best (funny!) bits of Star Wars Tales.

The blogside. Over at the StarWars.com blog, J.W. Rinzler talks about laying out The Making of Return of the Jedi, Tim Zahn shares some of his memorable experiences with books, and Daniel Wallace shares endnotes for the Book of Sith.

Reviews. EUCantina and Lightsaber Rattling take a look at The Essential Reader’s Companion.

Nonfiction. Matt Staggs reveals some of what Camille Paglia has to say about George Lucas in her upcoming book, Glittering Images.

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Rent the house where George Lucas apparently wrote The Star Wars

Curbed LA spotted this Craigslist entry for a Beverly Hills one-bedroom “once occupied by George Lucas,” claiming he “wrote the script for Star Wars here. But that was back in 1974 and the house, although habitable, is now very old and needs work.”

Curbed did a little digging to verify that Lucas had indeed rented a house on the street in question back in the day, and 1974 is indeed the year he wrote the first draft of the movie that eventually became Star Wars.

The house needs a lot of work and the owners are looking for a long-term tenant with a handyman streak. For $2000 a month, (it only cost Lucas $80) it could be yours.

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Celebration VI: Steve Sansweet nabs Cupcake Wars TIE; Dave Filoni recaps the con

Wondering what happened to the TIE Fighter that displayed all the sweets you saw on Cupcake Wars the other night? Well, wonder no more: It’s headed to Steve Sansweet’s Rancho Obi-Wan, of course.

(On that note, Food Network has posted the recipe for the Spiced Black Pepper Cupcakes, if you want to try them yourself.)

In other CVI news, Dave Filoni posted about his own experience in Orlando.

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Celebration VI: The Clone Wars: Young Jedi

So while a lot of focus was on George Lucas at The Clone Wars panel this morning at Star Wars Celebration VI, and the Friday night premiere of the season five opener, fans got another peek at something upcoming in The Clone Wars with Young Jedi. In the Calling All Kids panel, (where all adults had to be accompanied by a child under 11), Dave Filoni introduced Young Jedi, an eighty-four minute screening that is likely to be a four-part story arc on Star Wars: The Clone Wars this season. (Or at least it appears that it could be easily separated into several episodes) With fans getting popcorn and George Lucas sitting in the crowd watching the reactions of the kids and adults in the audience, we were taken on a thrill ride aimed at the children who are the core audience
of the show.

Continue reading “Celebration VI: The Clone Wars: Young Jedi“

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Dunc’s recap of Saturday at Celebration VI, part I: George Lucas, The Clone Wars and AOTC 3D

I saw George Lucas this morning! Granted, a lot of people can say that today: He also appeared at The Clone Wars and Detours panels… So far. But I saw him leave the show floor. So at least I have something.

I did get a chance to see the Rancho Obi-Wan exhibit, which includes a Jader-made set of custom Barbies made up as Amidala and handmaiden showgirls.

Almost quirky
After roaming the floor for a bit, chilling in the Star Wars Lounge for a while and catching up with a few folks, I headed over to the Behind the Scenes stage for the Quirky Point of View panel. It was really fascinating, and I’m sorry I had to leave early… To not see George Lucas at The Clone Wars panel. (Sigh.) I did catch the final trailer, which was justifiably pretty neat. But I missed the George chat. C’est la vie. But Tosche Station was there!

Attack of the Clones in 3D
Following The Clone Wars was the first of three panels highlighting the 3D Attack of the Clones with John Knoll and Dennis Muren. Again, Tosche Station and Amy Ratcliffe did nice recaps, but I will say that the AOTC footage they showed was fantastic. It was more of a sizzle reel than an actual trailer, so we saw bits of scenes with Padme’s ship landing/explosion, the Coruscant chase, Kamino, Dex’s Diner and the big ending scene with the clonetroopers, Palpatine and Bail Organa. The 3D did indeed seem deeper than it did on The Phantom Menace, but overall it seems to fit.

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A fifth Indiana Jones? Frank Marshall points to “not happening”

Interviews with producer Frank Marshall seem to indicate that Indiana Jones 5 seemes unlikely to happen. Marshall is likely to be pretty close in the loop on such things, as one of the producers on all four films in the Indiana Jones series and husband to Kathleen Kennedy, fellow Indy producer and recently named to be George Lucas’ successor at Lucasfilm.

Talking with Collider, Marshall responded that there’s no MacGuffin for a fifth film, and that Lucas, who is retiring from the reins at Lucasfilm, isn’t that interested in another flick for the archaeologist:

“Yeah, no he isn’t [hungry to do another Indiana Jones]. And he’s obviously passing the baton to my wife, so.”

Earlier in the week, Marshall told Crave that Lucas wasn’t working on the screenplay to an Indiana Jones film, claiming that a “really good story” is “hard to do”. With Lucas not at the helm of the franchise, does this mean that that Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was Indy’s last hurrah? Marshall seems to think so:

“I say, for me, [Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is] the last hurrah.”

Meanwhile, the Blu-ray release of Indiana Jones: The Complete Adventures (there’s a fitting title if Marshall’s talk proves correct) comes out September 18.

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EUbits: To Crucible or not to Crucible?

Crucible The upcoming post-Fate of the Jedi is on everyone’s mind. Roqoo Depot’s Skuldren takes a look at Scoundrel’s Luck, the 1990 WEG gaming adventure that author Troy Denning hinted holds a clue to the book’s villain. Meanwhile, Nanci at Tosche Station – not exactly Denning’s chief cheerleader – implores burned fans to give Crucible a chance.

I myself remain rather ambivalent on the book, but I can pretty much guarantee I’ll read it. Or try to, anyway, which is more than I can say for the other SDCC announcements.

The blogside, pro edition. Over at the Star Wars Blog, Leland Chee explains the Holocron, while Jonathan Rinzler introduces himself and writes about interviewing George Lucas. And this morning, Pablo Hidalgo gives us a tour of the new Insider

Nonfiction. The new book by super-collectors Gus Lopez and Duncan Jenkins, Gus and Duncan’s Guide to Star Wars Prototypes, will be available in August.

Interviews. John Jackson Miller chats with the Wisconsin State Journal about Star Wars and his new book.

Chat. There’ll be a Twitter chat with Tom Taylor on Thursday.

Charity. EUCantina is selling t-shirts for their A Force for Childhood Literacy program.