Disney buys Lucasfilm for $4bn, new Star Wars movie in 2015

[Syt]

[Phillip V]

"This year a quarter of Lucasfilm's revenue—around $200m—will come from licensing toy droids, Sith Lord helmets and the like. That is not bad for a year which has not, alas, seen a new "Star Wars" film."

http://www.economist.com/news/business/21565649-disney-buys-out-george-lucas-creator-%E2%80%9Cstar-wars%E2%80%9D-wishing-upon-death-star

But the real prize in Lucasfilm may be its technology. Hollywood today is in a "special effects arms race", says the boss of a major studio. Lucasfilm's THX sound systems and Industrial Light & Magic special-effects unit are regarded as the best in the business. (Pixar sprang from Lucasfilm's animation technology.) Video games, which rely on special effects, are a bigger part of the business than ever.

Jeffrey Katzenberg, who co-founded DreamWorks Animation with Mr Spielberg and David Geffen after being forced out of Disney in 1994, recently described new animation technology as "maybe the most powerful paintbrush ever put in the hands of artists". In the past four years, Dreamworks, whose hits include "Shrek" and "Madagascar", has joined forces with Intel, a chipmaker, to devise even zappier technology.
...
In 2005, when the last "Star Wars" film was released, Lucasfilm generated around $550m in operating profit. Disney is hoping for similarly vast rewards.

[Scipio]

Then you don't think there is a difference between nostalgia fueling a love of Casablanca and nostalgia fueling a love of Nickelback?

Does anyone love Nickelback?

Fixed.

[Ideologue]

Stupid ass Last Crusade.

Second best of the series.

No way, that would mean "Raiders" is only the third best. 

You can't be claiming Temple of Doom or the fourth is the best, because that would be awful, just awful.  Such crappy movies.

Temple of Doom is the best.  Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is the fourth best.  But both are great-to-excellent.

Thing is, Raiders is great too, but it lacks the plus factors possessed by Temple (horror) and Crusade (father-son bonding), that make them more engaging, more entertaining, and all-round better films.  Raiders has been traditionally overrated simply because it was the first.

[Neil]

No, Raiders has something that none of the others have:  The awesome power of the Ark turned loose to judge Nazis and Frenchmen.

[Ideologue]

Doom is pretty great but the lameass save the children bit keeps it from reaching raiders heights.

Actually, that was another thing that Raiders lacked.  Doom has an arc.  It's easy to forget Doom is a prequel; Jones starts out Doom a total asshole, concerned almost entirely with pursuit of treasure (you'd think for placement in a museum, but he's selling that priceless find for cash in the Chinese nightclub sequence, so he's clearly hit a bit of a personal ethical low).  Doom actually gives him a character arc, and he winds up a vaguely heroic asshole, who gives a shit about human suffering.

(Crusade also has a character arc, two in fact, which may be why it's second-best.)

[Ideologue]

Anyway, back to the main topic, I've heard that Disney won't be making Episode 7 based on the Zahn novels.  Now, they weren't high literature, and my hazy memories of them record some problems I had with them even back as young as 14, but I do recall them being pretty good, and ripe for adaptation, so this kind of sucks.  Moreover, if they decide to completely ignore all of the material that could be drawn from those novels, notably Admiral Thrawn (probably the best original character in the expanded universe), that would be a real shame.

[Queequeg]

Arc of Raiders is Indy learning to respect the supernatural. The Kali rocks cheapen that.

[Ideologue]

Arc of Raiders is Indy learning to respect the supernatural. The Kali rocks cheapen that.

I'm trying to remember if he doubts the ark's power in Raiders.  I believe he does, but at the end he seems fully prepared to treat it at face (lol) value.  He reacts with calm and prudence in regards to YHWH jumping out of His box and failing to prevent the Holocaust.

[Queequeg]

He thinks thenArc is worthless until the "close your eyes, Marian" scene.

[Neil]

Arc of Raiders is Indy learning to respect the supernatural. The Kali rocks cheapen that.

I'm trying to remember if he doubts the ark's power in Raiders.  I believe he does, but at the end he seems fully prepared to treat it at face (lol) value.  He reacts with calm and prudence in regards to YHWH jumping out of His box and failing to prevent the Holocaust.

Remember when he's talking with Marcus before he gets on the flying boat to Nepal?  He's not finding an Ark, he's finding faith in something.

[Phillip V]

Disney is looking to resurrect another piece of pop culture history. Following the news that the Mouse House had purchased Lucasfilm (and thus, the "Star Wars" franchise) for $4 billion earlier this week, the Disney Channel is in the early stages of developing a "Boy Meets World" sequel series.

The show, titled "Girl Meets World," would reportedly center on the preteen daughter of Cory Matthews and Topanga Lawrence, the stars of the original series. Sources tell TV Line that the network is currently courting Savage and Fishel to reprise their roles.

"Boy Meets World" ran for seven seasons on ABC from 1993-2000, ending with Cory and Topanga getting married and moving in together.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/02/boy-meets-world-sequel-series-disney_n_2068602.html

[celedhring]

Anyway, back to the main topic, I've heard that Disney won't be making Episode 7 based on the Zahn novels.  Now, they weren't high literature, and my hazy memories of them record some problems I had with them even back as young as 14, but I do recall them being pretty good, and ripe for adaptation, so this kind of sucks.  Moreover, if they decide to completely ignore all of the material that could be drawn from those novels, notably Admiral Thrawn (probably the best original character in the expanded universe), that would be a real shame.

I have always thought they were more TV series material than film, if you ask me. Still have secret hopes that if Disney really whore this out, they'll eventually try to do a TV series and pick up expanded universe material for it.

Admiral Thrawn ruled, I was giddy when he was featured in the Tie Fighter videogame.

[Neil]

I dunno.  The Expaded Universe sort of shit itself.

[celedhring]

Well, I didn't read past the first few sagas they released, but the Thrawn series is/was great, and the others all have interesting ideas to pick up. I was also a teenager.