Disney acquires Lucasfilm

Rob Williams · 10-30-2012, 05:03 PM

This seems like pretty significant news:

http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/disn...-lucasfilm-ltd

Burbank, CA and San Francisco, CA, October 30, 2012 – Continuing its strategy of delivering exceptional creative content to audiences around the world, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) has agreed to acquire Lucasfilm Ltd. in a stock and cash transaction. Lucasfilm is 100% owned by Lucasfilm Chairman and Founder, George Lucas.

Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney stock on October 26, 2012, the transaction value is $4.05 billion, with Disney paying approximately half of the consideration in cash and issuing approximately 40 million shares at closing. The final consideration will be subject to customary post-closing balance sheet adjustments.

Big Red Machine · 10-30-2012, 09:42 PM

I will let my Sith master speak for me: CLICK

Rob Williams · 10-30-2012, 10:03 PM

So... what's the bad part of this? I am not particularly a "fan" of either company, so if people are up in arms, I'm not sure why. Also have seen some flack against there being an Episode VII, though I am not sure that's coming from actual SW fans or not.

Big Red Machine · 10-30-2012, 10:49 PM

LOVE Star Wars, but HATE Disney. I hate Disney's soulless, money-grubbing corporatism. They used to be a creative juggernaut, making art and other beautiful things. I'm annoyed beyond words that they've appropriated other people's creative endeavors, put their spin on things, then somehow get recognized as the originators of the material. As proof, I offer The Little Mermaid, Pocahontas, Sleeping Beauty...

I am horrified with the idea that Star Wars will become corrupted. Say what you will about Lucas being as corporate as Disney, but at least Lucas (and Lucasfilm) genuinely create their own original art. I would argue that George Lucas has revolutionized cinema like few others have in the history of film. Say what you will about Lucas' shortcomings as a filmmaker, but his influence, inventions, and creations will continue contributing to the art of cinema forever. For Disney to now have an avenue of appropriating everything Lucas has done horrifies me no end.

That's pretty much the long and short of it for me.

Doomsday · 10-31-2012, 02:28 AM

^
I find your lack of faith disturbing!

Execute Order 4.05 Billion!!

DarkStarr · 10-31-2012, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Disney CEO Bob Iger said the company plans to release a new "Star Wars" film every two to three years after "Episode 7."

Exploitation FTW

madmat · 10-31-2012, 01:35 PM

FWIW, Lucas had originally planned to make it a 9 episode series. That is after he changed the first from a stand alone film to Episode IV, A New Hope.

Episodes VII, VIII and IX were to address the changes to the republic after the death of the emperor as well as look at the family of Han and Leia as well as Luke's revival of the Jedi order.

Doomsday · 10-31-2012, 01:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by madmat

FWIW, Lucas had originally planned to make it a 9 episode series. That is after he changed the first from a stand alone film to Episode IV, A New Hope.

Episodes VII, VIII and IX were to address the changes to the republic after the death of the emperor as well as look at the family of Han and Leia as well as Luke's revival of the Jedi order.

Hehe, will he still dis-allow marriages and relationships?!

Rob Williams · 10-31-2012, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by madmat

FWIW, Lucas had originally planned to make it a 9 episode series. That is after he changed the first from a stand alone film to Episode IV, A New Hope.

Episodes VII, VIII and IX were to address the changes to the republic after the death of the emperor as well as look at the family of Han and Leia as well as Luke's revival of the Jedi order.

Given DarkStarr's quote though, it almost sounds like there could be a lot more than just 1-9 in the end. Not sure I like the sound of that. SW has been a series where new movies just haven't been expected, and now they want to start releasing them all the time it seems. Just a bit odd...

Big Red Machine · 10-31-2012, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by madmat

FWIW, Lucas had originally planned to make it a 9 episode series. That is after he changed the first from a stand alone film to Episode IV, A New Hope.

Episodes VII, VIII and IX were to address the changes to the republic after the death of the emperor as well as look at the family of Han and Leia as well as Luke's revival of the Jedi order.

Thing is, that road's already been traveled with the Expanded Universe novels and comic books and other formats. All those stories are considered canon for the most part.

Knowing Disney's penchant for exploitation in the name of the almighty dollar, I'm afraid they will disregard what's been very carefully crafted into the canon and retcon everything just to satisfy THEIR own needs/desires. Either that or make the post-Ep VI material into films, which is rather pointless, IMO.

Rob Williams · 10-31-2012, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Red Machine

Knowing Disney's penchant for exploitation in the name of the almighty dollar

That's just it... it seems like they could bleed the series dry and piss off a lot of fans.

And also, no one seems to care about Indiana Jones, but that series is now under Disney also. Though I'd jump to conclusions and say that series lately actually flows with Disney better than Star Wars (the last IJ reminded me a fair bit of National Treasure).

Big Red Machine · 10-31-2012, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Williams

That's just it... it seems like they could bleed the series dry and piss off a lot of fans.

They haven't DONE anything yet, and I'm already pissed off. For the reasons why, just scroll up and re-read what I've already said about the matter.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rob Williams

And also, no one seems to care about Indiana Jones, but that series is now under Disney also. Though I'd jump to conclusions and say that series lately actually flows with Disney better than Star Wars (the last IJ reminded me a fair bit of National Treasure).

I think the Indy Jones franchise is less susceptible to exploitation in films, since it's more or less an eponymous franchise. That is, to say, without Indy, there is NO Indiana Jones. The most recent movie sort of explored the idea of continuing the Indiana Jones story beyond Indiana Jones himself (by introducing his son). Problem is, Indy is inextricably tied to Harrison Ford. And Mr. Ford is, what, approaching Yoda's age?

They could do a TV series on Indy, I suppose, but that would require a serious retooling of the storytelling model.

Anyway, I'm still full of serious trepidation about the whole thing.

madmat · 10-31-2012, 03:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big Red Machine

Thing is, that road's already been traveled with the Expanded Universe novels and comic books and other formats. All those stories are considered canon for the most part.

Knowing Disney's penchant for exploitation in the name of the almighty dollar, I'm afraid they will disregard what's been very carefully crafted into the canon and retcon everything just to satisfy THEIR own needs/desires. Either that or make the post-Ep VI material into films, which is rather pointless, IMO.

The reason there is the expanded universe novels and comics and not films 7, 8 & 9 is Lucas decided that he'd die before they were done so he opened it up to fans to fill in the blanks.

Just my humble opinion but I can't see Disney making any more mess of SW than Lucas did. 4 and 5 were great films. 1, 2, 3 and 6 were schlock. Teddy bears? Jar-jar? Then there's the dialog in 1, 2 & 3. Top it off with no real sets, 100% green screen with props, bleh.

4 was an epic movie because it broke ground. It moved science fiction away from campy fare and into the realm of believability. 5 continued that but 6 lost the track. It never seemed to get better with the subsequent installments.

So, meh, I can't say I'm disappointed. I can only hope that any future films will be made by someone with a love of the original Star Wars film who tries to live up to it rather than someone just trying to further the franchise because IMO, that's where it is already.

Rob Williams · 11-01-2012, 02:29 PM

One beneficial thing is to come out of this:

http://www.geeksofdoom.com/2012/11/0...ation-charity/

nKwoel · 11-22-2012, 02:03 AM

Lucas Film produced Sci-Fi movie but still bad in animation and Disney has great animation ever, if both of them combined into one, hope they can produce best movie in Sci-Fi or animation.

10-30-2012, 05:03 PM	#1
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,246	Disney acquires Lucasfilm This seems like pretty significant news: http://thewaltdisneycompany.com/disn...-lucasfilm-ltd Burbank, CA and San Francisco, CA, October 30, 2012 – Continuing its strategy of delivering exceptional creative content to audiences around the world, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) has agreed to acquire Lucasfilm Ltd. in a stock and cash transaction. Lucasfilm is 100% owned by Lucasfilm Chairman and Founder, George Lucas. Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney stock on October 26, 2012, the transaction value is $4.05 billion, with Disney paying approximately half of the consideration in cash and issuing approximately 40 million shares at closing. The final consideration will be subject to customary post-closing balance sheet adjustments. __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

10-30-2012, 10:03 PM	#3
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,246	So... what's the bad part of this? I am not particularly a "fan" of either company, so if people are up in arms, I'm not sure why. Also have seen some flack against there being an Episode VII, though I am not sure that's coming from actual SW fans or not. __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

10-31-2012, 02:28 AM	#5
Doomsday Tech Junkie Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: KHI, PAK Posts: 1,539	^ I find your lack of faith disturbing! Execute Order 4.05 Billion!! __________________ PSU: Corsair AX850 - Case: Cooler Master HAF X - CPU:Core i7-2600k - Cooler: Cooler Master V6 GT - Motherboard: Asus Z68 Maximus IV Extreme Z - Memory: Corsair Vengeance 8 GB-1600Mhz - GPU: AMD MSI R6970 Lightning - HDD: WD Caviar Black 1TB, Seagate 2TB Barracuda Green - SSD: Intel 520 Series 120GB - K/B: Razer Lycosa Mirror - Mouse: Logitech G700 - MouseMat: Steel Series 4HD - LCD: Samsung 2333SW 23" - Speakers: Creative Inspire M4500 4.1 - Headset: Logitech G35 7.1 "Do not look at a man's prayers nor his fasts, rather, measure him by how well he deals with others, the compassion he shows his fellow man, his wisdom and his integrity" - Umar Ibn Al-Khattab Last edited by Doomsday; 10-31-2012 at 02:33 AM.

10-31-2012, 01:35 PM	#7
madmat Soup Nazi Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: No soup for you! Posts: 1,639	FWIW, Lucas had originally planned to make it a 9 episode series. That is after he changed the first from a stand alone film to Episode IV, A New Hope. Episodes VII, VIII and IX were to address the changes to the republic after the death of the emperor as well as look at the family of Han and Leia as well as Luke's revival of the Jedi order. __________________ M4N82 Deluxe Phenom II 940 Black Edition quad core @ 3.5Ghz 2x1 gig OCZ PC26400 Platinum, 2x1gig GSkill PC26400 EVGA GTX260 Buncha drives, Some other stuff, Even more stuff, If the automobile had followed the same development cycle as the computer, a Rolls-Royce would today cost $100, get a million miles per gallon, and explode once a year, killing everyone inside. --Robert X. Cringely, InfoWorld magazine Sign Me!

11-01-2012, 02:29 PM	#14
Rob Williams Editor-in-Chief Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Atlantic Canada Posts: 13,246	One beneficial thing is to come out of this: http://www.geeksofdoom.com/2012/11/0...ation-charity/ __________________ Intel Core i7-990X EE @ 3.43GHz, GIGABYTE X58A-UD5, Kingston 12GB DDR3-1333, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 2GB Kingston HyperX 3K 240GB SSD, WD VR 1TB, WD 2TB, Seagate 2TB, LG BD-ROM, ASUS DVD-RW, Corsair 1000HX, Corsair H60 Cooler Corsair 800D, Dell 2408WFP 24", ASUS Xonar Essence STX, Gentoo (KDE 4.10, 3.7 Kernel) "Take care to get what you like, or you will be forced to like what you get!" - H.P. Baxxter <Toad772> I don't always drink alcohol, but when I do, I take it too far.

10-30-2012, 09:42 PM	#2
Big Red Machine Hellfire and Brimstone Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: SoCal Posts: 81	I will let my Sith master speak for me: CLICK

10-30-2012, 10:49 PM	#4
Big Red Machine Hellfire and Brimstone Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: SoCal Posts: 81	LOVE Star Wars, but HATE Disney. I hate Disney's soulless, money-grubbing corporatism. They used to be a creative juggernaut, making art and other beautiful things. I'm annoyed beyond words that they've appropriated other people's creative endeavors, put their spin on things, then somehow get recognized as the originators of the material. As proof, I offer The Little Mermaid, Pocahontas, Sleeping Beauty... I am horrified with the idea that Star Wars will become corrupted. Say what you will about Lucas being as corporate as Disney, but at least Lucas (and Lucasfilm) genuinely create their own original art. I would argue that George Lucas has revolutionized cinema like few others have in the history of film. Say what you will about Lucas' shortcomings as a filmmaker, but his influence, inventions, and creations will continue contributing to the art of cinema forever. For Disney to now have an avenue of appropriating everything Lucas has done horrifies me no end. That's pretty much the long and short of it for me.

11-22-2012, 02:03 AM	#15
nKwoel Obliviot Join Date: Nov 2012 Posts: 20	Lucas Film produced Sci-Fi movie but still bad in animation and Disney has great animation ever, if both of them combined into one, hope they can produce best movie in Sci-Fi or animation.