Disney Buys Lucasfilms

Walt Disney is buying Lucasfilms to the tune of 4 billion dollars. Now only that, they're also planning to release a new Star Wars movie (Episode VII) in 2015. I’ll let that sink in for a moment. Aall I have to say is wow. Over the past few years, with the addition of Marvel and now Lucasfilms, Disney is positioning themselves to be a powerhouse in pop/geek culture for many years to come.

News of another Star Wars movie might be the meatiest part of the whole deal. This is news that every--if not most, myself included--Star Wars fans have been waiting to hear ever since they rereleased the original trilogy back in 1997 for the 20th anniversary. I remember when they announced the prequel movies how exciting and awesome it was too see more Star Wars movies on the big screen.

I won’t say that the prequel trilogy was a disappointment, but they weren’t too far off that mark. With a chance to use more advanced technology and able to create worlds that were unfathomable to think of back in 1977, George Lucas and friends did a set of movies that continued in the frame of the original three. Now Episodes I-III weren’t all-around bad movies, but they could have done them so much better.

As a big reader of pretty much every Star Wars book in the expanded universe they have a lot of material for a seventh movie to be based on. Or they can even take it into a totally different direction. The only catch with that is they cannot just create a whole new cast of characters, as most of the expanded book universe is based on the main characters of the original trilogy: Luke, Han, Leia, Chewbacca and those folks.

One big problem I see with making Episode VII is that there is already such a vast library of stories and events that have taken place after the original trilogy, it would be tough for Disney to come up with a whole new tale that maintains canon. From the amazing X-Wing series fighting the remaining Empire, the New Jedi Order series with the war against the Yuuzhan Vong or even the second Galactic Civil War. A whole slew of new characters have been introduced over the years, but the core characters from the original trilogy are all there. It seems like they might have to do a movie kind of like how they want to do Ghostbusters, where the original cast is there to pass the torch onto a new cast of characters to continue the story.

With the actors and actress who played them originally aren’t exactly their younger selves makes you wonder who they would cast to replace the ones who made those roles so perfect. They could go the route of setting this new movie so far into the future were the ages are more appropriate, but I think they would skip over so many great stories and happenings in the Star Wars universe to keep the original cast for this movie. That's the biggest worry I have after hearing they are making a new film, as I don’t think anybody is going to pull off a Han Solo like Harrison Ford did. Same goes for Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Peter Mayhew and so on.

With Lucas being a consultant on the new film (and not writing or directing), it will be interesting to see what Disney does. I'm afraid for what Disney is doing in deciding to make a new Star Wars movie, but I'm excited for what they are doing at the same time. I remember feeling this way when I heard Lucas was making the prequel trilogy and only time will tell how they recreate that magic and wonder that was Episodes IV-VI. Guess we'll find out in about three years time.