Guess George needed some cash…

I have a bad feeling about this. We may look back at Jar Jar Binks with great fondness.

“We may look back at Jar Jar Binks with great fondness.”

No. Jar Jar Binks showed that Disney could do the sort of thing we fear they will with impunity, because George Lucas introduced Jar Jar Binks and inexplicably was not killed for it.

Four billion bucks. Wow.

“When you wish upon a Death Star…” Actually, what’ll probably happen is that Disney will inexplicably include an exhaust port the size of a womp rat in SW VII and the whole thing will blow up in their faces.

Who knows what Disney will wind up doing? Lucas was the story-teller behind Star Wars. He has left behind a legacy of special effects techniques that will be his legacy.

It will be interesting to see what happens next.

I’m sorry, I lost interest after the third of the original series, and it wasn’t anything to write home about.

Care factor?

In defense of Lucas, he is an astute businessman and technology innovator. Handing over the reigns for someone else to run Star Wars might be a good thing from a storytelling perspective (Lucas’ weakspot).

That being said, I with the man would stop messing with the films. It should end with this deal.

On the dark side, Disney is dragging Pixar into mediocrity. Marvel has been a success but that plan was put together before the Mouse swallowed them. I fear that Disney will actually do a worse job than Lucas.

Watch for the inclusion of toilet humor in Episode 7. Disney has included some kind of scatalogical incident in most of its movies for the past 15 years or so, and Pixar has done the same. I’d expect that at some point Luke will break wind while practicing with his light saber.

Liked the original. Sorta liked the second one. The rest mean nothing to me.

Am very glad that Tolkien stopped after the Ring Trilogy. The Hobbit should be the last in the series. No “The Ring, Part 27: Frodo Is Gay.”

Love all six of the movies in “The Thin Man” series, but William Powell and Myrna Loy knew when to stop and that was really long, long ago.

Can’t blame Lucas too much – if anyone wants to pay me megabucks to do the same thing over and over and over and over and over with little effort, I’ll be glad to “sign on the line.”

Wonder if the possibility of Obama tax increases entered into the decision?

@Chris -

I was always leary about the close relationship between Disney and Pixar. The last really good feature they made was Up, in my humble opinion.

There was a lot of negative criticism of Cars II, although I enjoyed it, I can see the critics point – and, yes, it revolved around some toilet humor.

So maybe you are right about that. Disney used to be a squeaky clean enterprise. Now I think it has gone the way of all wonderful and magical things: Someone else buys it and turns the magic into tawdriness.

I am glad to know that George has his legacy and his money. He worked hard for them and earned them. As long as he does not start doing political commentary, I wish him well.

“Am very glad that Tolkien stopped after the Ring Trilogy:

Well, there is that whole Silmarrilion epic, not to mention the Lost Tales, Unfinished Tales, et cet. There’s a lot of source material Tolkien wrote that can be mined for other movies. The fall of Numenor alone would be a grand tale for some director who wasn’t a hack.

Reminds me of when ep 4 was re-released to the big screen back in the late ’90′s, the attitude of the audience was that it was something obligatory (but you have to see it on the big screen!) and that they just needed to get it over with. I suspect that was the case with ep 2 and 3 as well. That can’t go on forever.

The first one or two movies had some magic, mostly unknown actors, improvised props, etc. Innovative special effects and the foresight to not use disco music. Since then, slap ‘star wars’ on anything and it will sell, but for how much longer? With Disney it will be about merchandise tie-ins, etc.

Can someone please have an original idea in Holywood? Anyone? Did all originality die when the ’80′s ended?

Jacob,

The answer to your last question…YES! unfortunately…innovation died a thousand deaths in the late 70′s/early 80′s.

Jacob Morgan’s inquiring mind wanted to know, “Can someone please have an original idea in Holywood? Anyone? Did all originality die when the ’80′s ended?”

The first Star Wars movie was an homage to the space serials (Flash Gordon, etc) of Lucas’s youth, so i don’t know how original it could be considered.

My assessment of Star Wars: the first movie was pure magic. Starting with the second movie, Lucas started to take everything too seriously and a lot of the magic was lost.

i concur on Jacob’s assessment of movies four through six: i went more because “you have to see it on the big screen” than because i was enthralled with the story and the characters.

I still think Empire was the best of the lot, as a movie. Phantom was so bad that I have refused to see episodes II and III.