RichmondPhilsFan wrote:

Barry Jive wrote:so they're scrapping the 3D releases of Episode II and III in favor of focusing on the new series. #$!&@'s getting real

That makes me happy--stop the shameless money grabs and move forward.

At the same time though, I've never seen a single 3D movie (at least not since the new wave started), but the Battle of Coruscant (opening of Ep III) would have been incredible in 3D.

Prometheus is the only movie I've seen in 3-D. Not bad.

I was actually looking forward to the re-releases. Always fun to see those movies in the movie theater. Ah well.

mozartpc27 wrote:In being sold to Disney, it has gone from the closest thing to a novel written on film that I can think of to just another "franchise" property to be drug out every few years to make another guaranteed $400M or whatever.

you could have left out the part about disney

it would be like if Sony Pictures bought the rights to Citizen Kane and just started producing one sequel every three years. What does that really have to do with Orson Welles' story or vision?

i cannot think of a worse film for you to have picked for this analogy really

Barry Jive wrote:

mozartpc27 wrote:In being sold to Disney, it has gone from the closest thing to a novel written on film that I can think of to just another "franchise" property to be drug out every few years to make another guaranteed $400M or whatever.

you could have left out the part about disney

it would be like if Sony Pictures bought the rights to Citizen Kane and just started producing one sequel every three years. What does that really have to do with Orson Welles' story or vision?

i cannot think of a worse film for you to have picked for this analogy really

Sure you can, think harder.

I picked it because no one would ever dream of doing that, yet it's just as stupid. Star Wars is as much the singular vision of George Lucas as Citizen Kane was Orson Welles. Handing either storyline off to someone doesn't really ring right.

I suppose you could say that two things that really make Star Wars "Star Wars" are the sound design (Ben Burtt) and the music (John Williams), but in both cases both got a LOT of input from Lucas, and he of course hand-selected those people.

calling it "just as stupid" is ridiculous. George Lucas had a singular vision? Just because he made it himself doesn't make him Orson Welles.

I think moz misses a pretty big point... that Lucas's original vision was to tell a story inspired by the old pulp serials, where the overall story essentially had no beginning or ending and we were merely getting episodic glimpses of the full picture. No, he never wrote scripts (or possibly even outlines but accounts vary on that point) for films VII-IX or even X-XII back in the day, but his original vision was always a massive scope.

So no, your comparison cannot possibly be more incorrect.

Forgot to add: Lucasfilm already had Ep VII in pre-production and had a storyline for the three films developed at the time of the purchase. So there's your Lucas involvement.

i would be worried if Lucas was involved

that's mainly it. if Lucas were involved maybe it'd be more authentic but it'd also be an abomination

RichmondPhilsFan wrote:Forgot to add: Lucasfilm already had Ep VII in pre-production and had a storyline for the three films developed at the time of the
purchase. So there's your Lucas involvement.

I thought Lucas had said he wouldn't be doing episodes 7-9. The first I heard of a new Star Wars movie was the Disney purchase.

they were discussing the sale for a year, also were figuring out their long-term strategy...disney was not about to buy a dead franchise

pacino wrote:i would be worried if Lucas was involved

Agreed. I like this balance. He threw some ideas out there, his former people still have a lot of say, but at the end of the day much more talented people than George Lucas will be writing dialogue and filming the movie and he won't have veto power. The dude is a technical genius, but also an arrogant prick who won't accept input from anyone else.

I mean, look at his reactions to criticism of the prequels and the last Indy movie. He really doesn't get it.

Warszawa wrote:

RichmondPhilsFan wrote:Forgot to add: Lucasfilm already had Ep VII in pre-production and had a storyline for the three films developed at the time of the
purchase. So there's your Lucas involvement.

I thought Lucas had said he wouldn't be doing episodes 7-9. The first I heard of a new Star Wars movie was the Disney purchase.

Yeah like pacino said, Lucas was setting up a plan to make Lucasfilm a more desirable commodity for the purchase. Probably got him another billion simply by outlining a new Star Wars trilogy and agreeing that he wouldn't trash Disney for doing it. Plus he's too arrogant to leave it entirely to someone else.

For example:

http://news.yahoo.com/disney-star-wars-films-buy-lucas-co-210816699--finance.html

Disney CEO Bob Iger said Lucasfilm had already developed an extensive storyline on the next trilogy, and Episode 7 was now in early-stage development. He said he talked with Lucas about buying the company from him a year and a half ago, but they didn't decide on a deal until very recently as Lucas set in motion his retirement.

When I say a Star Wars movie "made by George Lucas," I don't necessarily mean directed by George Lucas, or with a screenplay written by George Lucas. But I feel like his ideas should be prominently involved. It sounds like they will be for the time being, though I wonder about the quality of any ideas that were cooked up solely to make the franchise "a more desirable commodity for the purchase."

6 inch figures. SIX INCHES.

Again, in all likelihood he at least had outlines and/or treatments from the late 70s as a starting point. He told many people at the time that he did. I wouldn't necessarily assume that they were created out of whole cloth in 2012.

Besides, if you gave me a year a group of us could write a pretty kickass treatment for three SW films (maybe not by Hollywood technical standards but still). It's not like we're asking him to decipher the Human Genome from scratch. A year is a long time, even starting from ground zero.

mozartpc27 wrote:When I say a Star Wars movie "made by George Lucas," I don't necessarily mean directed by George Lucas, or with a screenplay written by George Lucas. But I feel like his ideas should be prominently involved. It sounds like they will be for the time being, though I wonder about the quality of any ideas that were cooked up solely to make the franchise "a more desirable commodity for the purchase."

i don't think his ideas were that great for episodes 1-3 really

I don't understand how someone who saw them could give a rat's ass whether George Lucas is involved at all in the new ones

SICK