Fandom is in uproar. Everyone has woken up to the news that Disney has purchased Lucasfilm, with varying degrees of panic.
George Lucas said that, “It’s now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of film-makers.”
Disney are planning to release a new Star Wars film, episode seven, in 2015, followed by episodes eight and nine, and then hopefully a new film every two or three years.
Let’s hold up guys before we start freaking out. This could actually be really good for the Star Wars franchise. Let’s look at this sensibly, before we start imagining Sith lords belting out villain songs and cute critter companions.
Disney has a great record with films. They’d be putting the Pixar and Marvel films writers onto the Star Wars films, and we all know they’re some of the best screenwriters in the business. More than that, they’re screenwriters with a deep love of the original films. They’re the generation who grew up on these films – these films inspired them to write and create stories!
This deep admiration for the original films could also avoid some of the problems of the new trilogy. George Lucas had some great ideas, but also had some great ideas about how to meddle with the ideas. No repeats of Jar Jar Binks. No more deep conversations about sand. No more adjusting and readjusting the original films. Disney will look after the legacy of Star Wars, because it’ll be in their best interest to do so. They won’t reedit the original to include song and dance numbers, and they certainly would make another Christmas special (although they might try to release the original).
The extended Star Wars universe is ripe for adaptation and being seen on the big screen. Much like the extended Doctor Who universe, there are hundreds of stories detailing the further adventures of Luke, Leia and Han Solo. We’ve all seen how the story started, now we get to see how they continue.
Disney purchasing Lucasfilm could be the best thing for the Star Wars franchise. It could also lead to the fifth Indianna Jones film being made and not involving giant crystal aliens. It’s pretty much win-win.
I agree that if Star Wars to continue, the last person to do it should have been Lucas. But Disney? We’ll see.