Disney buying Lucasfilm, Star Wars Episode VII coming in 2015

[Drtooth]

That doesn't change the concept that they still have been trying to get out from under Disney's control though.

Pixar pulls more weight at Disney now than the other way around. To have they own in control of their theatrical animation input. And to completely stop the DTV cheapquels... that's letting them alone and doing what's right. All Disney does is collect their share of merchandising and box office gross. Pixar is making sequels on its own accord. That really accounts for something.

You seem to have this idea that no one company can survive unless they're completely owned and controlled by a larger, conglomerate company... there is such a thing as independence.

Tell that to Aardman. Even Dreamworks needs a distributor. For the longest time, that was Paramount. There are like, what... 5 or six big companies that own or partner with all the little ones? I highly doubt Pixar would have been able to distribute their own stuff. Fox or Sony would have partnered up with them for distribution, and they still would be at the mercy of another company. Disney buying Pixar was mutually beneficial. Otherwise, we'd have a lot of meh animated films released by Disney. Meet the Robinsons and Chicken Little were alright, I guess. But I doubt they would have had anything half as good as Tangled or Wreck it Ralph. Only thing that changed? American Dog became Bolt and was almost a completely different movie.

 

[D'Snowth]

Well, distribution and ownership are two different things (though I know in a lot of case, the distributors like to think that they own the content, *cough*Lionsgate*cough*WarnerBros*cough*).

 

[Drtooth]

They are, but Disney still owned characters Pixar created when they were distributing the movies. They were partners, and not owned by them the other at the time, but Disney still owned every movie that was made under them. Had Eisner not left, Pixar would be making movies for Fox or Sony or something... THOSE studios would own those characters, even though it would have been a partnership under them. Blue Sky doesn't own Ice Age or Robots, just look at the copyrights. And meanwhile, Disney could be free to make all the bad sequels of Pixar films it wanted to with inferior animation. Cars 2 under Pixar would have been Oscar worthy compared to some of the stuff that was floating around.

I'd agree if Disney had a tight leash on Pixar, but they know they're capable of making great animated films all by themselves, and they've left that entire branch to Pixar. What other company that buys another company would give them that much freedom to the point of the owned company having some control over the owners?

All I see out of Dreamworks's ownership of Classic Media so far is the Mr. Peabody and Sherman movie.

 

[Pinkflower7783]

 

[CensoredAlso]

At the moment, I have no problem with this decision. Lucas failed miserably with the prequels. He was mutilating the original movies (and yes I mean mutilating!) with no end in sight. Someone else deserves the opportunity to return the franchise to the quality it deserves. Disney is a conglomerate but it does put out good products.

 

[jvcarroll]

At the moment, I have no problem with this decision. Lucas failed miserably with the prequels. He was mutilating the original movies (and yes I mean mutilating!) with no end in sight. Someone else deserves the opportunity to return the franchise to the quality it deserves. Disney is a conglomerate but it does put out good products.

I didn't realize just how bad the prequels were until viewing them again on Blu-Ray. They're not very compelling and almost unwatchable compared to the originals. And Lucas is giving the profits from the sale to education! How wonderful and unexpected. The 99% appreciate this very much. I wish more rich people would behave this way.

 

[Drtooth]

Someone on Cracked pointed out the problem with the prequels. Other than having them, they should have cut right to Anakin as a Jedi Knight, with Obi Wan as his partner. The first movie does nothing but establish the scene, and the action between episode 2 and 3 could have fit into one movie. If anything, and this is being generous, there should only have been 2 prequels. I think Phantom Menace ruined the potential. Not only going too far back, but the whole long and drawn out pod race bit just establishes that he can fly.

Seems like the events of the first movie, if absolutely necessary, should have been told in flashback form. The fact that everything is in real time ruins the flow. And what's more, Darth Maul should have had more screen time. The Greg Proops voiced two headed announcer probably got more time. I found the second one to be an improvement, and the third to almost be there. But the first just set the stage for clumsiness. I can't even blame the story, just the story teller. If these were expanded universe comic books or novels or video games or something, the execution would have been better.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I didn't realize just how bad the prequels were until viewing them again on Blu-Ray. They're not very compelling and almost unwatchable compared to the originals. And Lucas is giving the profits from the sale to education! How wonderful and unexpected. The 99% appreciate this very much. I wish more rich people would behave this way.

As I recall I gradually started noticing the problems with Phantom Menace once I had it on VHS. Mainly it was how they had directed the child actor and I still feel very bad for him. But it certainly wasn't all his fault. The dialogue given to ALL the characters was just plain painful to listen to (same goes for the other two films) and the characters were bland and unlikeable. Frankly it made me question how much help Lucas had the first time around back in the '70s.

But that's great that the money is going to education. Something good should come out of all this, lol.

they should have cut right to Anakin as a Jedi Knight, with Obi Wan as his partner.

Absolutely, that's where the story was. A good man (not child) being seduced by evil. I'm convinced the only reason he started with Anakin as a child was out of some misguided notion that children go to the movies to see other children. It's simply not that simple.

 

[Drtooth]

Absolutely, that's where the story was. A good man (not child) being seduced by evil. I'm convinced the only reason he started with Anakin as a child was out of some misguided notion that children go to the movies to see other children. It's simply not that simple.

I forgot the entire article, but it sold me. I think George started it with a child because he thought he wanted to go that far back into Anakin's history. There's a lot of that which would have been interesting if it was some expanded universe stuff or told in flashback. But in real time, it was grass growing. The thing is, there's clunky dialogue and some awkward stuff in the original movies too, but we don't notice them because those movies were fun and they balanced plot expo and action. We notice the dialogue in these films because there's more of it, and there's too much exposition to explain things that could have been mentioned in passing. I think the third film fared much better, but that's because there's less talky talky time than the first 2.

Can't believe the cartoon series does a better job of that.

And yes, Lucas did have a lot of bouncing around ideas and excepting collaboration for the original three. We almost had Stan Freiberg as annoying Jewish C3-PO. Now, I LOVE Stan and I love Mel Blanc (also considered, supposedly), but established comedic voice actors? Even a nostalgia filler couldn't have gotten that to work. Not to mention ESB wasn't even directed by Lucas. And while everyone says "wooden acting," I say "wooden directing." Why is it that everyone thinks serious means deadpan?

 

[CensoredAlso]

We notice the dialogue in these films because there's more of it, and there's too much exposition to explain things that could have been mentioned in passing.

Exactly, unnecessary dialogue in the wrong places. Like for instance even back then as a kid I cringed at "You and the Naboo form a symbiont circle." That's a PowerPoint presentation, not dialogue.

We almost had Stan Freiberg as annoying Jewish C3-PO.

God, seriously, what the heck is wrong with Lucas, is he just totally insane? Probably the same thing that's wrong with Michael Bay, lol.

Why is it that everyone thinks serious means deadpan?

Well I will say that's not just the prequels. That's sadly the style right now which is why Hollywood is in big trouble.