Renault on 31/10/2012 at 06:11
Quote Posted by heywood
These companies are the key assets of this sale. Not a couple of tired old movie franchises that peaked in the 1980s.
Yeah, how about NO and WRONG. Do you really think freaking ILM/Skywalker Sound are going rake in anywhere near what a new trilogy plus merchandising plus a new movie every 2-3 years after that can for Disney? Wake up dude. I don't know where you get your delusions.
The prequel trilogy might have sucked bad, but there's no doubt it made an big gigantic assload pile of money for Lucas. Way more wealth than you can imagine.
(see what I did there)
icemann on 31/10/2012 at 06:39
Quote Posted by Vasquez
Years ago this would've made me weep and wail, but now I see it as a good thing.
This.
I was soooooooooooo looking forward to the new trilogy before they came out. But then to see how average they were. Well I quite liked the 3rd one but still. My love of Star Wars pales in comparison to what it used to be. Lucas has ass raped the franchise to the point that people barely respect it at all anymore which I find quite sad.
I hope that Disney can turn things around. Really happy to hear that George doesn't have his hands on it anymore.
heywood on 31/10/2012 at 06:42
Quote Posted by Brethren
Yeah, how about NO and WRONG. Do you really think freaking ILM/Skywalker Sound are going rake in anywhere near what a new trilogy plus merchandising plus a new movie every 2-3 years after that can for Disney? Wake up dude. I don't know where you get your delusions.
The prequel trilogy might have sucked bad, but there's no doubt it made an big gigantic assload pile of money for Lucas. Way more wealth than you can imagine.
Do you have ANY idea how many major blockbuster movies these companies have worked on? It's enough to make the six Star Wars movies look insignificant. ILM in particular is credited in hundreds of films not to mention TV shows and commercials. It is *the* most important production company in the industry and you're comparing that to one movie franchise?
The Lucasfilm empire is private and doesn't disclose financials, so we have no way of knowing for sure how much profit the last trilogy made compared to the other business units such as ILM, SS, and LucasArts. But I did find this quote on (
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-30/disney-agrees-to-buy-lucasfilm-for-4-05-billion-in-cash-stock.html) Bloomberg
Quote Posted by Bloomberg
Lucasfilm will generate 25 percent of its revenue this year from its film library and a slightly higher percentage from consumer-product licensing, Jay Rasulo, Disney's chief financial officer, said on the conference call. The balance comes from the company's video games, effects and sound businesses.
In 2005, when Lucasfilm released the last “Star Wars” picture, the company generated $550 million in operating income, Rasulo said.
The acquisition will dilute Disney's earnings per share by “low-single digit percentage points” in the current fiscal 2013 and 2014 and add to profit the following year when the new picture is released, he said. The company plans to repurchase an amount of shares equal to the 40 million issued in the next two years.
Lucasfilm's consumer-products revenue this year will be comparable to the $215 million Marvel generated in 2009, when Disney acquired it, Rasulo said, suggesting 2012 sales of about $860 million for all of Lucasfilm. Disney seeks to expand “Star Wars” merchandise beyond toys and sees international markets, now 40 percent of consumer-product revenue, as a growth opportunity, he said.
So if their annual revenues are around $860M, and about half of that comes from ILM, SS, and LucasArts, then these businesses are worth ~$400M annual income. Compare $400M annually to the $550M one-year income from Revenge of the Sith.
nicked on 31/10/2012 at 08:56
The way I see it, even if Disney make a Star Wars 7 starring no-one but Mickey Mouse and some ewoks, it will still be better than anything George Lucas would put out.
N'Al on 31/10/2012 at 09:22
The future is bright light.
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demagogue on 31/10/2012 at 09:44
I was already in shellshock about Star Wars 10 years ago so... I'm kind of already looking at this glassy-eyed without much left to twitch about. Actually what I think about more is why we haven't seen any more grand epics that could inspire a whole generation and make the imagination soar... I don't want to think Star Wars was such a fluke that people can never be inspired like that again. Who's taken up that cause? Let the next generation make their mark on history. That's what I want to see.
henke on 31/10/2012 at 10:09
Quote Posted by demagogue
Actually what I think about more is why we haven't seen any more grand epics that could inspire a whole generation and make the imagination soar...
The Matrix
Can't think of much else. (LOTR doesn't count, right?)
Ostriig on 31/10/2012 at 10:21
Quote Posted by fett
No wait, what? There doesn't need to be anymore SW movies. The last three were so fucked up it would have been better left alone.
Man, it's like watching Thi4f get announced all over again. We all get attached to works we like, but it gets counterproductive when you'd rather have nothing new ever come from a franchise rather than risk a disappointing title being churned out. Especially with something like Star Wars, a pretty vast universe, at this point, with plenty of room for telling new stories with new casts and all.
Seriously, if the trailers come out for an Episode VII featuring Jar Jar Binks having buttsex with Ewoks while Dart Vader screams
NOOOOOOOOOOO, then we don't watch it. But if the planets align and Disney puts out a good new Star Wars movie - I'd reckon they have a better shot than Lucas at this point - score.
Melan on 31/10/2012 at 10:32
Maybe they will make a third Star Wars movie. That would be cool.:D
demagogue on 31/10/2012 at 11:42
Quote Posted by henke
The Matrix
Can't think of much else. (LOTR doesn't count, right?)
The Matrix was a bit sullied by its sequels, but take those away and it was definitely thought provoking. Not quite "May the Force be with you" quasi-religious inspirational -- where some people are building an entire worldview & way of life on it, even if they don't say that's what they're doing -- but it was something. (There is more to reality than what we see, and what we do see, normal suburban life, is just a cynical facade to keep us from our true potential. Nice little commentary on life.) As far as popular culture goes, though, people are more likely to mention *Inception* to talk about mind-bending reality, even though I don't think that movie offered as much. But I don't know if The Matrix left much in its wake culturally except people remember it was a thought provoking movie, and slow motion superhuman kung fu looks cool.
LOTR would definitely count. It's in the DNA of basically all post-war fantasy. But I don't know that the movies added much on top of what was already there from the original books, and (re)popularizing it.
As far as kid's movies go, I'll give credit to Pixar for always having top notch & meaningful stories. But so many of the interesting adult movies to me this decade have been almost documentary-like, Syriana, Charlie Wilson's War, Primer (trying to be "realistic" even when it's fantasy), or The Wire (to take a tv show)... not really inspirational to a higher world, or offering any world view, as just very true to life & not shirking from the world we've got.