Tagged: star wars

Disney bought “Star Wars,” will make more “Star Wars” movies

I’ve been mildly busy with all things Hurricane Sandy (by which I mean “reporting on Hurricane Sandy,” and also not having power, and so obviously I hope everyone suffering to whatever degree from the storm is doing as well as possible) (I am sure you are now 100 percent okay, now that someone wished you well on a blog), but anyway I had to note this craziness: George Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney for $4 billion dollars.

Under the deal, Disney will acquire ownership of Lucasfilm, a leader in entertainment, innovation and technology, including its massively popular and “evergreen” Star Wars franchise and its operating businesses in live action film production, consumer products, animation, visual effects, and audio post production. Disney will also acquire the substantial portfolio of cutting-edge entertainment technologies that have kept audiences enthralled for many years. Lucasfilm, headquartered in San Francisco, operates under the names Lucasfilm Ltd., LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic, and Skywalker Sound, and the present intent is for Lucasfilm employees to remain in their current locations.

There are three major components to consider here. First, the “Star Wars” angle, which I will return to in a moment, which in hindsight makes it kind of silly that I listed it first but whatever, moving on. Also, there’s the ILM/Skywalker Sound angle, which means Disney just acquired the visual effects goliath responsible for the spectacle you saw in “Jurassic Park,” the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies and, obviously, the “Star Wars” films.

The “Star Wars” thing is the biggest part of this whole story, because of this: Continue reading →

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The Economics of a Death Star

Somebody finally stops and thinks about the economic costs behind building the Death Star:

What’s the economic calculus behind the Empire’s tactic of A) building a Death Star, B) intimidating planets into submission with the threat of destruction, and C) actually carrying through with said destruction if the planet doesn’t comply?

[Overthinking It via Andrew Sullivan]

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“Star Wars” in 3-D is really happening

Honestly, 3-D isn’t for everybody, and 3-D updates of older (and, in some cases, classic) films has an odd feeling about it. This news is either good or bad, depending on your perspective. The good news, if it’s your brand of whiskey: The first 3-D “Star Wars” movie has a release date of Feb. 10, 2012. The bad news: It’s “The Phantom Menace.” [StarWars]

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George Lucas thinks the world is ending in 2012, will somehow re-release “Star Wars” a few more times in the interim

George Lucas apparently really, truly believes the world will end in 2012. So says Seth Rogen, who went to a meeting with Lucas and Steven Spielberg and listened to Lucas’s thoughts on the subject for around 25 minutes. In retrospect, it makes Lucas’s decision to re-release a 3-D version of “Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace” in 2012 that much crueler. Why not just skip to “The Empire Strikes Back,” if we’re only going to see one before you think the world will end?

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“Star Wars” hits Blu-ray

Well, it’s official. You can buy the “Star Wars” trilogy on Blu-ray this September, or if you want you can buy the entire series on Blu-ray and burn the first two movies, if that’s your particular cup of tea. So in case you haven’t spent enough money on those movies over the years, please make a donation to George Lucas’s Bleeding My Fans Dry fund. [Star Wars]

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Rest In Peace, Irvin Kershner

Irvin Kershner, most famous for directing “The Empire Strikes Back,” has died at age 87.

Kershner worked in television before making his way through the Roger Corman School of Hard Knocks. He directed the excellent Peter Finch-Charles Bronson movie “Raid on Entebbe,” and his most famous pre-”Star Wars” credit was probably the George. C. Scott comedy “The Flim-Flam Man.”

But “The Empire Strikes Back” in 1980 will remain the first-line-of-his-obituary high point of his career. The first sequel to “Star Wars” was a project that could have been screwed up any number of ways, chief among them being the obvious urge to just remake “Star Wars” with a bigger budget. Instead, he made a film that set the standard for modern blockbuster sequels: it’s different from the original, but not so different that it has no resemblance; it expands the universe and builds upon what came before; and everything is bigger, better and (as has become de rigueur for such things) darker.

(Oddly, despite being the best film in the series and the template for countless big-budget sequels, “Empire” was actually the worst-performing “Star Wars” film at the box office. [It earned nearly $100 million less in its initial run in the U.S. than its predecessor had made.] This set a weird standard that other franchises have followed: “The Godfather, Part II” and “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,” both the creative apexes of their respective series, were also the low points at the box office.)

After “Empire,” Kershner went on to direct 1983′s “Never Say Never Again,” the redheaded stepchild of the James Bond series. (A remake of the prior Bond film “Thunderball,” it was the only Bond flick not made by the producers who ran the franchise.) Sean Connery, who had retired from the series in 1971, returned for this final go-round and was joined by Kim Basinger as the Bond Girl and Max von Sydow as Blofeld. Several years later, Kershner again dipped into the franchise well to far lesser results, helming the weak “RoboCop 2.”

(Of note: Kershner follows Leslie Nielsen, who died over the weekend and also had a career breakthrough in 1980. Kershner’s was “Empire,” Nielsen’s was “Airplane!” Both remain among my all-time favorite films, and both talents will be missed.)

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“The Empire Strikes Back” was spoiled in 1978

This is a hell of a thing. David Prowse, the guy who was physically Darth Vader in the original “Star Wars” movies, spoke to some fans in 1978 about the sequels to “Star Wars.” There would be two, he said! And he also mentioned that Darth Vader was Luke’s father. In 1978, two years before it became one of the most famous surprise endings in film history. Ha! That’s terrific. If somebody did that kind of thing nowadays, George Lucas would have them killed. [This started with the Retroist]

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Lucasfilm shoots down report of new “Star Wars” trilogy

IESB reported on Friday night that George Lucas is prepping a new set of live-action “Star Wars” movies to come out after the first six films are re-re-released in 3-D. Lucasfilm immediately shot down the report, telling Wired it wasn’t happening. So that’s all we have to go on.

Lending credence to the IESB report: George Lucas will always find a way to wring more bucks from his “Star Wars” cash cow. And it was his work on rereleasing the original trilogy in 1997 that led him to work on the prequel trilogy. And, again, Lucas would never, ever leave “Star Wars” money on the table.

But: The 3-D releases will run through 2017. According to the report, Lucas would want to get the first new film out by 2019. He’ll be 75 at that point. It took Lucas eight years to pop out the prequel trilogy (I’m only counting actual writing and production and release work, not the decades spent talking about potentially maybe making ‘em). Unless he’d hand over the directorial reins to somebody else (finally), does he want to be making “Star Wars” sequels until he’s well into his 80s?

Anyway, the report was shot down, so it’s moot until Lucas vaguely muses about new films while promoting the 3-D releases of the six extant films to stir up interest that goes nowhere, just like he did about “Star Wars” sequels way back when, the end.

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