Disney Buys Lucasfilm, Announces New "Star Wars" Movie For 2015

[Sonofspam]

The new indy sucks balls, this movies might actually be good, maybe good movies don't have long lead times.
Like, didn't avatar take decades to make, but the story was clearly written in an afternoon.

The last X-men movie was rushed out pretty darn quickly and some would say that it was the best out of all of them.

[J. Robb]

the script MUST be ready besides minor issues or it´ll be the next bigest failure since the first catch of the day

Man, the guy who edited that is as obsessed with the bad guys shooting first as Lucas.

[sherlockbones]

The new indy sucks balls, this movies might actually be good, maybe good movies don't have long lead times.
Like, didn't avatar take decades to make, but the story was clearly written in an afternoon.

so do you don´t think they have a script ready or do you just want to express that i made a bad argument?

in that case, i want to return the favour, as avatar was the most expansive borefest i ever witnessed. i fell to sleep in the cinema.
more time on the script might have been a good thing for avatar

[Phil Clark]

another important thing i see nobody mentioning, is the short time frame for the next release. indy was hung up for 20 years because they couldn´t agree on the story, but we will have a new star wars in the next 35 months?
with a totally unique story?

Lucas met with Mark Hamil and Carrie Fisher a year ago to discuss episodes 7-9, so he an Kathleen and writers have been working for at least a year already on it. And it isn't as if they have a whole new universe to create and make decisions upon for its look either. They can finish the script and pretty much hit the ground running on the production. So if you figure 3-4 months of shooting (6 at the outside), and 9 months of post production and special effects work, that still gives them nearly 2 years to write the script and do the design work. Pretty much on par with the schedule for Avengers 2.

Indy's 20 year development was a lot of brainstorming, disagree, put it on hold. And the holds were the longest parts of the process, as Ford, Lucas and Spielberg all went and did other projects. Then one of them would have an idea, and the whole process would repeat.

Hell, the whole reason there was such a wait between Star Wars Episode 6 and Episode 1 was that Lucas was waiting for effects technology to catch up with how he wanted to be able to present the story. Which may be the better reason for many of the special edition films, testing the technology, and then not wanting to waste that development money.

[Number_5]

There's too many threads on this, maybe I should have posted here first.

Here's my take:

The droids should obviously be included. Back when I was a kid before the prequels it seemed to me that Star Wars was literally "crazy space adventures as witnessed by two droids who just stumbled into the middle of everything".

I think Star Wars is bigger than any one family. This concept just hasn't found its way into film yet, thanks to Lucas and his "epic tragedy" of Anakin Skywalker as told in the prequels (barf). When C-3PO said "No more of your adventures", nobody on this planet thought he was talking about flying around with preggers Padme while R2-D2 twiddled his retractable thumbs waiting for Anakin Skywalker to finish slaughtering those damned younglings. In fact, he couldn't have meant that since it's canon that C-3PO had his memory of the prequels wiped. So there's more to it than just Skywalker this, Skywalker that, even within just the droids' experience.

So, with that said, I think the new film should be a sequel and take place decades after ROTJ. It should be far enough into the future that the main cast is dead or really old (because they are old now). If there is a (human) member of the main cast to return, it should obviously be Mark Hamill as Luke. Carrie lost her looks long ago, and I highly doubt Harrison Ford would be interested. He wasn't interested back in the 80s.

In the new films, I think there should be a new generation of Jedi, founded by Luke, and he's either the oldest living master, a ghost, or a statue or something. This should not be his adventure. In fact, I don't even think this should be a Jedi's adventure, or a would-be Jedi's adventure.

IMO, the main character should be a female. That is, the main character that "leaves the farm and steps into a larger world" should be a female. I know we had Leia and Padme before, but they were both more or less already a part of the greater universe. Plus, we don't really need another princess-for-no-reason (other than to say "We have to rescue the princess!") and we also don't need another queen-for-no-reason (other than to be a living dress-up doll). Let the main character that goes out there, meets new people, and grows up over the course of the trilogy, be the female.

EDIT: That doesn't mean I want a female main character who is just all pouty-eyed and stuttering like in freaking Twilight, or all dead inside and fake like in goddamned Hunger Games. There can be some romance, but none of that tween, bad-example-for-younger-girls, angsty self-hating, semi-suicidal romance crap.

Furthermore, the main character (that will have the main character arc) should have no force talent whatsoever. We've already seen the farmboy who discovered he could become a Jedi, and then he became a Jedi. We've already had movies where the (debatable) main characters are Jedi from the start. This time, let's put the focus on some innocent farm-ish girl going out there and becoming a smuggler/rogue/gambler/bounty hunter/pilot/soldier/anything but a Jedi Knight instead.

Of course, that doesn't mean that there should be no Jedi at all. The main character could (and almost certainly should) meet a next-gen Jedi Knight along the way, and he/she could join the party. That's where the lightsaber fighting can come in, and since it's not the main character, the Jedi almost-main-character (like the role Han or Leia played) should have a compelling and developed background so that any full-on lightsaber fights will actually feel important or emotional, and be more than just glowstick shows (and these fights should be brief, much briefer than the prequels at least, jeez).

The next-gen Jedi should not wear robes. I thought the robes in the original movies were due to Tatooine and Dagobah, not Jedi knighthood. Luke did just fine in his black tunic, thank you very much, and his new Jedi would probably wear what they want, like he did.

The main plot should start somewhere in the seedy underworld of Star Wars, again, dealing with rogues and scoundrels and such. There wasn't enough of that in the prequels. I mean, seriously, what did we get of a seedy underworld in the prequels? A chariot race, a sports bar, and a 50s diner. And, I guess slavery, which made no damned sense to begin with.

The main plot should not be focused on politics, secret clone armies, democracy, tax disputes, budgetary investigations, separatism, etc. It should start small, as stated above. If it needs to be huge and epic, like planet-destroying huge, then sure, it can grow into that eventually. But please leave the space politics out of it.

If there is to be a war of some kind, since it's called Star Wars, then it should really be against some new enemy from the outside. There's plenty of folks who want to see remnants of the Empire trying to take back what's theirs. And I admit, I'd love to see me some future TIEs and stormtroopers. But really, we've already had two civil wars in two trilogies. Let's find a new enemy (I don't mean Yuzzhan Vong, or however you spell it, either).

Anyway, these are my thoughts, thanks for sloggin through them, if you did. Whaddya think?

[aNamored]

Lucas met with Mark Hamil and Carrie Fisher a year ago to discuss episodes 7-9, so he an Kathleen and writers have been working for at least a year already on it. And it isn't as if they have a whole new universe to create and make decisions upon for its look either. They can finish the script and pretty much hit the ground running on the production. So if you figure 3-4 months of shooting (6 at the outside), and 9 months of post production and special effects work, that still gives them nearly 2 years to write the script and do the design work. Pretty much on par with the schedule for Avengers 2.

Indy's 20 year development was a lot of brainstorming, disagree, put it on hold. And the holds were the longest parts of the process, as Ford, Lucas and Spielberg all went and did other projects. Then one of them would have an idea, and the whole process would repeat.

Hell, the whole reason there was such a wait between Star Wars Episode 6 and Episode 1 was that Lucas was waiting for effects technology to catch up with how he wanted to be able to present the story. Which may be the better reason for many of the special edition films, testing the technology, and then not wanting to waste that development money.

Really? That's too bad. I hoped Eps 7-9 would not be the old folks version of the original trilogy. I hope this gets switched to something else entirely.

There's too many threads on this, maybe I should have posted here first.

Here's my take:

The droids should obviously be included. Back when I was a kid before the prequels it seemed to me that Star Wars was literally "crazy space adventures as witnessed by two droids who just stumbled into the middle of everything".

I think Star Wars is bigger than any one family. This concept just hasn't found its way into film yet, thanks to Lucas and his "epic tragedy" of Anakin Skywalker as told in the prequels (barf). When C-3PO said "No more of your adventures", nobody on this planet thought he was talking about flying around with preggers Padme while R2-D2 twiddled his retractable thumbs waiting for Anakin Skywalker to finish slaughtering those damned younglings. In fact, he couldn't have meant that since it's canon that C-3PO had his memory of the prequels wiped. So there's more to it than just Skywalker this, Skywalker that, even within just the droids' experience.

So, with that said, I think the new film should be a sequel and take place decades after ROTJ. It should be far enough into the future that the main cast is dead or really old (because they are old now). If there is a (human) member of the main cast to return, it should obviously be Mark Hamill as Luke. Carrie lost her looks long ago, and I highly doubt Harrison Ford would be interested. He wasn't interested back in the 80s.

In the new films, I think there should be a new generation of Jedi, founded by Luke, and he's either the oldest living master, a ghost, or a statue or something. This should not be his adventure. In fact, I don't even think this should be a Jedi's adventure, or a would-be Jedi's adventure.

IMO, the main character should be a female. That is, the main character that "leaves the farm and steps into a larger world" should be a female. I know we had Leia and Padme before, but they were both more or less already a part of the greater universe. Plus, we don't really need another princess-for-no-reason (other than to say "We have to rescue the princess!") and we also don't need another queen-for-no-reason (other than to be a living dress-up doll). Let the main character that goes out there, meets new people, and grows up over the course of the trilogy, be the female.

EDIT: That doesn't mean I want a female main character who is just all pouty-eyed and stuttering like in freaking Twilight, or all dead inside and fake like in goddamned Hunger Games. There can be some romance, but none of that tween, bad-example-for-younger-girls, angsty self-hating, semi-suicidal romance crap.

Furthermore, the main character (that will have the main character arc) should have no force talent whatsoever. We've already seen the farmboy who discovered he could become a Jedi, and then he became a Jedi. We've already had movies where the (debatable) main characters are Jedi from the start. This time, let's put the focus on some innocent farm-ish girl going out there and becoming a smuggler/rogue/gambler/bounty hunter/pilot/soldier/anything but a Jedi Knight instead.

Of course, that doesn't mean that there should be no Jedi at all. The main character could (and almost certainly should) meet a next-gen Jedi Knight along the way, and he/she could join the party. That's where the lightsaber fighting can come in, and since it's not the main character, the Jedi almost-main-character (like the role Han or Leia played) should have a compelling and developed background so that any full-on lightsaber fights will actually feel important or emotional, and be more than just glowstick shows (and these fights should be brief, much briefer than the prequels at least, jeez).

The next-gen Jedi should not wear robes. I thought the robes in the original movies were due to Tatooine and Dagobah, not Jedi knighthood. Luke did just fine in his black tunic, thank you very much, and his new Jedi would probably wear what they want, like he did.

The main plot should start somewhere in the seedy underworld of Star Wars, again, dealing with rogues and scoundrels and such. There wasn't enough of that in the prequels. I mean, seriously, what did we get of a seedy underworld in the prequels? A chariot race, a sports bar, and a 50s diner. And, I guess slavery, which made no damned sense to begin with.

The main plot should not be focused on politics, secret clone armies, democracy, tax disputes, budgetary investigations, separatism, etc. It should start small, as stated above. If it needs to be huge and epic, like planet-destroying huge, then sure, it can grow into that eventually. But please leave the space politics out of it.

If there is to be a war of some kind, since it's called Star Wars, then it should really be against some new enemy from the outside. There's plenty of folks who want to see remnants of the Empire trying to take back what's theirs. And I admit, I'd love to see me some future TIEs and stormtroopers. But really, we've already had two civil wars in two trilogies. Let's find a new enemy (I don't mean Yuzzhan Vong, or however you spell it, either).

Anyway, these are my thoughts, thanks for sloggin through them, if you did. Whaddya think?

Your last two points I completely agree with. There should be literal Wars going on, not the political yawn helped knock the prequels down several pegs.

Me, personally, I'd rather see Star Wars: Legacy (if they are going to do future Skywalkers, use Cade - he's Luke AND Han in one character) than the aforementioned original trilogy cast. I don't want to see those characters older (part of the reason why I never read an EU novel past the first Timothy Zahn triology.

I want to see Jedi and Sith fighting for more than two-five minutes at a clip that mixed with the underbelly of the Star Wars universe would be fun.

Although if del Toro was hired I watch him do a whole movie on anything (even if it was a day in the life of the Tattooine Cantina)

[Phil Clark]

Really? That's too bad. I hoped Eps 7-9 would not be the old folks version of the original trilogy. I hope this gets switched to something else entirely.

The meeting may have only been to let them know that he was moving forward with the third trilogy, out of respect. And to gauge their willingness to be available for small roles. The stories may not center around Luke and Lea, but their children instead. The whole point of my statement was not to suggest anything story related though, but to state that this whole thing has been in the works for a year already. So the time-frame is not that tight. It is actually quite reasonable.

[ChrisIII]

Somebody else wearing the Vader mask/suit could be interesting.




Perhaps there could be a sort of mystery to this imposter's identity, with a shock akin to "I am your father" or KOTOR's reveal but not the same. Of course you could have it be Luke (Ala the ESB cave scene with a bit of "Dark Empire") but that might be too obvious.

[J. Robb]

Lucas met with Mark Hamil and Carrie Fisher a year ago to discuss episodes 7-9, so he an Kathleen and writers have been working for at least a year already on it.

I keep seeing people say it was a year ago, but the Hamill interview says "this past summer", less than three months ago.

[Vibranium]

Somebody else wearing the Vader mask/suit could be interesting.




Perhaps there could be a sort of mystery to this imposter's identity, with a shock akin to "I am your father" or KOTOR's reveal but not the same. Of course you could have it be Luke (Ala the ESB cave scene with a bit of "Dark Empire") but that might be too obvious.

I could see someone else...maybe someone Vader was training in secret trying to assume the identity of Vader

not sure how that would go over, but it seems a plausible route

[Mat001]

Lucas, like most people, has probably said many things that he meant at the time but that turn out not to be true. And now that Disney owns the whole magilla, he really doesn't have final say over it anymore.

Not if Lucas didn't put clauses in stating that there were to be no resurrections of key characters, when the contracts were signed.

which is a thing i dislike about zahn´s. if i recall correctly, it was an officer that failed to keep luke in a tractor beam. luke had been prepared for such a scenario and escaped the trap, only to fall into the hands of criminals.

Smugglers on Mykr. Luke wasn't prepared, but he was able to get out of the trap on the fly.

it´s a cheap storytelling trick imho, comparing your new character against an expected reaction of an established character. it is often used in comic books.

Yes, but it is something that a military personal would say over someone who wasn't exactly military. Thrawn didn't know that Vader was a Jedi General, or even if he had, he didn't hold him in high regard. Much like Admiral Motti didn't right before Vader had to "choke a bitch".

as far as i recall, the guy that didn´t shot the droid´s escape pod in a new hope wasn´t executed either...

Neither of them knew that droids were on board. If there had been a living being on board and he opted not to shoot, then Vader would have killed him.

I find it hard to believe that Disney is going to spend 40 billion dollars for a Star Wars movie and not have the most iconic villain of all times in it.

It would be too risky.

Lucas made a trilogy without Vader until the final five minutes of the last film and it still made money. Disney knew what it was getting into when it signed the contracts and met any demands that Lucas would have laid down. Vader can still appear in other avenues and still be profitable that way.

Man, the guy who edited that is as obsessed with the bad guys shooting first as Lucas.

Nah, it's part of a parody series doing that. There was also one with the garbage masher doors shooting before Han does and one with the communications microphone shooting at Han, before he shoots it.

Lucas met with Mark Hamil and Carrie Fisher a year ago to discuss episodes 7-9, so he an Kathleen and writers have been working for at least a year already on it. And it isn't as if they have a whole new universe to create and make decisions upon for its look either. They can finish the script and pretty much hit the ground running on the production. So if you figure 3-4 months of shooting (6 at the outside), and 9 months of post production and special effects work, that still gives them nearly 2 years to write the script and do the design work. Pretty much on par with the schedule for Avengers 2.

When Lucas was making the PT, he spent about a year writing the script. Four months shooting it. A year editing it. Then a month reshooting stuff. And then have it out by the following May. 18 months of post production work. So far, the pattern seems to be holding true.

Hell, the whole reason there was such a wait between Star Wars Episode 6 and Episode 1 was that Lucas was waiting for effects technology to catch up with how he wanted to be able to present the story. Which may be the better reason for many of the special edition films, testing the technology, and then not wanting to waste that development money.

That and Lucas wanted a break between trilogies. The divorce was taking a lot out of him and it was exhausting working on the OT for ten years.

Really? That's too bad. I hoped Eps 7-9 would not be the old folks version of the original trilogy. I hope this gets switched to something else entirely.

Well, VII-IX was only going to be a few years after VI's ending. X-XII's plot would be much later. It seems as if the two will be merged together. Obi-wan was an old man in ANH and he was still out there doing what he could. Same with Mace, Dooku and Palpatine in the PT.

[Alex]

so do you don´t think they have a script ready or do you just want to express that i made a bad argument?

in that case, i want to return the favour, as avatar was the most expansive borefest i ever witnessed. i fell to sleep in the cinema.
more time on the script might have been a good thing for avatar

No, it would have been bad no matter what.
I think Lucas had an outline and they have enough material from decades of new stories that they can crib something together very quickly.

[sherlockbones]

...that they can crib something together very quickly.

spider senses are tingling
but to quote mr. jon bon jovi, keep the faith

[kalorama]

Not if Lucas didn't put clauses in stating that there were to be no resurrections of key characters, when the contracts were signed.

There's pretty much zero chance that happened. Vader is a major asset in the Lucasfilm catalog. I can't imagine a scenario where Disney would have agreed to any terms that prevented them from using him. (And if they somehow had, then that would have been the kind of major news that would have leaked out and been reported all over the place by now.)

Disney owns the rights to the Star Wars characters. That means they can do whatever they want with them. That's what ownership means. It's their property now, not Lucas'. He has no control over what they do with them. If you sell your house to someone, you don't get to tell them that they can't use the olympic-sized pool in the backyard after you move out.

[Alex]

spider senses are tingling
but to quote mr. jon bon jovi, keep the faith

Well, they promised 2015, so they must have something.