On Oct. 13, it was announced that Disney had purchased LucasFilm for a whopping $4.05 billion. Or to be more realistic, Disney has purchased the Star Wars franchise for a whopping $4.05 billion. As a lover of all things Star Wars myself, I had a lot of conflicting feelings about this, but after some deep thought and soul-searching I realized that this really is not anything to be concerned about. Other than some books, comics, and a lone animated series on Cartoon Network, the Star Wars franchise has been dead in the water. Not helping this is the extremely low opinion on Star Wars nowadays thanks to the abysmal reaction to the prequel films.
This purchase comes only as a blessing for the franchise. Lucas has, sadly, long since been the best thing for the Saga and some new direction and fresh blood is something Star Wars desperately needs. The initial shock of the new direction being manned by Disney is a strange new feeling (not helped by the fact that Leia is now a Disney princess of all things), but it is one that is actually relieving. Remember that a few years ago, Disney completely bought out all of Marvel Comics and all we got from that is the greatest superhero movie of all time and some financial backing for marvel ambitious cinematic plans.
But what does this mean for Star Wars? If Disney wants to get on the good side of Star Wars fans, both young and old, they will stay at arms length from running it. Expect to see Disney act as more of a “benevolent benefactor” to LucasFilm rather than a driving force behind the creative process, a lot like the relationship they already have with Marvel. And if they want to win over the older saga fans then they had better get cracking on a blu-ray release of the original trilogy, unedited and uncut.
What about this “Episode VII” Disney is promising in 2015? Chances are high that it will either be an adaptation of already existing Expanded Universe material (fingers crossed for the Thrawn trilogy!) or a completely new take on post-Return of the Jedi events. The first one is much more likely, because of the inevitable fan outcry sure to happen if they start ret-conning the good Star Wars material out of existence. I would love to see the new film be about Kyle Katarn and his adventures, but chances of that are slim.
The only negative I can see from any of this is the inevitable cynical outcry of Disney growing in power and slowing starting to own everything and everyone on the planet. As for me, I intend to sit back, relax, and trust in the will of the Force. And if nothing else, I hope this means we can expect to see Star Wars join Marvel in Kingdom Hearts III.
