1. "It's now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers"
October 30, 2012. The Walt Disney Company would acquire Lucasfilm for $4.05 billion. Lucas himself would serve as creative consultant for the new trilogy and even provide an extensive story treatment for at least Episode VII.
"Whaaaaaaat?" we all said. "
When did this happen? How has this been kept so quiet? Wait there's more StarWars films coming? Six in six years???!!" Then we got news that J.J. Abrams is directing and Michael Arndt is writing the screenplays. Suddenly this was all feeling very real. Since then Lucas has confirmed that in August 2012 there were meetings with Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill, and even Harrison Ford and since then we've had nothing but rumours surrounding how these negotiations went or indeed how they are still going. Lawrence Kasdan, writer of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi, and Simon Kinberg are said to be writing and will produce Episode VIII and Episode IX. The Hollywood Reporter later reported that Kasdan and Kinberg would be working on future Star Wars projects, but not necessarily on Episode VIII and Episode IX. It was also reported that Disney would release Star Wars films "every two to three years. Beyond that, it's a waiting game on news. The rest is, as they say a lot of late " to be confirmed". So there we are. A long time fan's look at the road to this new Saga. I for one thinks George had every intention of completing all nine films one way or another but somewhere around the prequels realised that he wasn't getting any younger and the hassle of fans questioning his every move and the ever changing nature of expensive filmmaking made him re-evaluate. Talking down the prospect of more Star Wars just made us want it more. The franchise's solid hold on all its merchandise wasn't letting up and on a financial front Star Wars has never really failed. Maybe Lucas always intended to pass on Lucasfilm when the time was right. Maybe the movie game has changed so much this was the only way to ensure the future of his work would remain at the top of the game. Of course the money helped in his personal cause for education and it's good to hear he's getting married soon to. Many have chastised Lucas for being all about money but really in the world of movie making on the scale that Star Wars set a benchmark in, is there really any other goal? And really, its not like he's the only one playing by those rules, he's just the only one who's mastered it with a product so many have loved. Lucas unlike many has done so much with his fortune and influence and like it or loathe it, he helped to change cinema in ways no other filmmaker has really managed and probably won't ever again. Anyway, that's enough from me. Now it's over to you. The big question is; Has George Lucas played out an independent filmmakers perfect career? Starting small and ending big by selling his creation to one of the biggest players in the business. Was his intentions to carry out three trilogies himself but the gap between IV-VI and I-III ended up being just that little bit too long, After all Lucas focused heavily on his personal life after the original trilogy and seemed to focus on improving filmmaking techniques via ILM amongst other ventures. Is it just a case of fate playing out as it often has the knack of doing or was it a case of Star Wars being so big and so popular that Lucas could pretty much say anything was next on the to do list and the money would always have found its way to the project? Please leave your thoughts on nearly 40 years of Star Wars conjecture below and thanks for reading...