A New Hope?

Yesterday it was announced that the Walt Disney Corporation had agreed to buy LucasFilm for $4.05 billion. For those of you who may be unfamiliar, LucasFilm was started by George Lucas and has the ownership rights of the "Star Wars" franchise, as well as the character of Indiana Jones and several other films which have become cult classics, including "Howard the Duck" and "Willow." Disney had been trying to get their hands on these money-making machines for years, so I don't know what ultimately prompted Lucas to cave, but either way it's theirs now. Keen to start making money back on their investment, Disney also announced they had already completed the first rough draft of a 7th "Star Wars" movie which will be out in 2015 and will be followed by Episodes VIII and IX in relatively short order. (I believe the lines are already starting to form outside select theaters.) So far no word on whether or not they will give Indiana Jones another try after the last movie was a bomb, but I wouldn't be surprised. Disney certainly didn't buy this company to sit on their hands.

You would think the idea of another "Star Wars" trilogy would be considered amazing news for fans of the franchise who gobble up any thing with the "Star Wars" label on it, but surprisingly the announcement was met with skepticism. I don't need to tell you that "Star Wars" is a beloved franchise and it appears its rabid fans are nervous about the Mouse being in charge. I can understand why, as Disney doesn't have the best record when it comes to sci-fi. The other fear is they may attempt to make the next round of movies appeal to a wider audience, which would mean more of the stuff the hardcore fanatics didn't like about the first two trilogies, specifically characters like the Ewoks and Jar-Jar Binks. Also "The Return of the Jedi" appeared to have tied everything up in a neat little bow the new writers could go in almost any direction they want and there is an above-average chance the new direction will be underwhelming. It would hardly be the first movie franchise that saw a reboot which underwhelmed the audience and turned away a legion of previously-adoring fans. Considering "Star Wars" fans are notoriously hard to please to begin with (they pretty much hate everything new the first time they see it and then find it brilliant after a few views), Disney may be taking on more responsibility than they bargained for.

But, all is not lost for those who love these movies. First off all they should be comforted by the knowledge that money is clearly no object to Disney. When they want something they will get it. Since everyone in Hollywood has a price that means they will get pretty much whomever they want in their movies. Harrison Ford may have spent the last 30 years trying to distance himself from the franchise, but I think he'll be all to happy to put the Han Solo vest back on if they offer him $20 million to fly the Millennium Falcon one more time. And what if they turned the franchise over to Peter Jackson? I'm pretty sure that would ease everyone's fears. On top of that, no one pimps a movie better than Disney. "Star Wars" fans love their toys and with Mickey and crew in charge they can expect an entire new armada of things to buy with every new movie, to say nothing of the cross-promotion of new rides, t-shirts and video games. If you thought "Star Wars" was on every conceivable kind of item before, you ain't seen nothing yet. Lastly, you would assume Lucas won't be completely hands-off. After all, he was the one who built this little empire up out of practically nothing, so hopefully he wouldn't let any one else take ownership until he was absolutely sure they would continue to guide it on a path he was comfortable with. I'm sure there were times when he would liked to have been thought of as more than the guy who created "Star Wars" but I don't think those moments would be enough for him to kill his own creation.

It's perfectly natural to be apprehensive when there is change at the top of an operation which is doing just fine. You know the new guy will want to put their own stamp on things, but it seems foolish to mess with a successful formula. It's like when an amazing player retires after winning a championship - will you be the Denver Broncos, who still haven't recovered from John Elway's retirement or will you be the San Antonio Spurs, who never missed a beat after David Robinson hung up his sneakers? The fear is that Disney will change everything that made the trilogies (at least the first one, anyway), so amazing and ruin the memories of seeing those movies as a kid. (Personally, I'm worried they will limit access to people like "Family Guy" or "Robot Chicken", both of whom did great parody episodes.) It may seem irrational but I understand their fear because over time I think it has become far more apparent that the fans have started to care more about the legacy of movies than the people who make them. Seeing a set of mouse ears on R2-D2 would just be too much. In that case I can only offer one solution - don't see the new movies when they come out. I'm sure it would be hard for the hardcore fans to ignore it, but it might be the only way to leave the memories alone. Because as far as I know we're still years away from being able to wipe people's memories with a Jedi mind trick. "These aren't the movies you're looking for..."