George Lucas sold my childhood.
For those who haven't heard, George Lucas recently sold Lucasfilms Ltd. to the Walt Disney Company for $4.05 billion in cash and stock shares. That means that Disney now owns everything Star Wars - action figures, television shows, comic books, video games and, of course, the entire galaxy far, far away.
But the announcement did not just end at the purchase of Lucasfilms.
A seventh Star Wars film is already in the works with an expectant release date of 2015.
Star Warsis being Disney-fied.
About a week ago, when I found out that Disney now has the property rights to Han Solo, Darth Vader and the Millennium Falcon, I was taken aback. All I could picture was how the company was going to incorporate the Death Star into the Kingdom Hearts franchise.
I love the original three Star Wars movies. There's a storm trooper bobble head on my desk, there's an original Return of the Jedi poster hanging above my bed and my bounty hunter on the MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic could put Boba Fett to shame.
But in the hands of Disney, what will Star Wars become? I wasn't too sure, and I wasn't the only Star Wars fan with mixed feelings about Disney's purchase of the franchise - a lot of people believe this marks the death of a masterpiece.
To those people, I have to ask: did you see the prequels? Seriously, though, how many people can say - with a straight face - you actually enjoyed them (Natalie Portman fans aside)?
I cannot be the only person that remembers re-watching the first three movies (because I was too young when they first came out to appreciate anything other than cool explosions and Ewan McGregor's beautiful face) and ended up utterly disappointed.
From Hayden Christenson's deplorable acting to the casting director who must have accidently hit her head - because that's the only logical explanation as to why she thought he was an acceptable Anakin Skywalker - Episodes I, II and III were just awful.
The action relied too heavily on special effects and the prequels lacked the romance and comedic aspects that made the originals so classic.
"I love you."
"I know."
I won't even mention Jar Jar Binks.
It took me a couple of days to actually process the information that Lucas sold my favorite franchise of all time. After quite a bit of deliberation, I'm hopeful for the future of Star Wars.
How could Disney take Star Wars anywhere but up after the prequels?
"It's now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers," Lucas said in a statement when he sold the company. "I've always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime."
Can anyone really say Lucasfilms was doing a good job with the franchise? I'll admit I never watched Star Wars: The Clone Wars, the animated television series, so I cannot comment on its success. But Disney can only improve on the series given the disappointing and downright pathetic place the movies were left off.
Also, people aren't giving the new owner of Star Wars enough credit. Look past the Disney princesses and look at what the company has done with Marvel's The Avengers. Look at all of the comic book movies that are being released.
All it takes is good judgment when picking the writers, directors and actors of the new Star Wars movies. Disney needs to find the equivalent to Marvel's director Joss Whedon. Disney needs to balance the special effects with the story line - something Episodes I, II and III were most definitely missing.
I've always wondered what it felt like to be sitting on the edge of my seat in the movie theater, being one of the first people to hear those monumental words: "I am your father." I'm jealous of the generation that was able to experience, in my opinion, one of the greatest moments in cinematic history.
Now we have that chance.
Have optimism in the revival of Star Wars. It looks like Disney is our only hope.
Email: lyzi.white@ubspectrum.com
