Thoughts on Disney buying "Star Wars"

At the end of October Disney bought Lucasfilms from founder George Lucas for $4.05 billion. Disney plans to make three more Star Wars films every two – three years over the next decade. Along with Star Wars franchise, Disney also acquired Indiana Jones franchise, special effects house and LucasArts, a video game company. Lucas will be a creative consultant for the Star Wars movies. The producers have yet to announce who the director will be.

Disney is considering turning Star Wars into a TV show, which would most likely air on Disney XD. Disney is interested in potential adding more Star Wars related rides and theme parks.

This is not the first company Disney has bought. They have bought ABC (costing $19.7 billion), ESPN, Marvel ($3.96 billion), FOX Family ($5.2 billion) and Pixar ($7.6 billion). The late Steve Jobs bought Pixar from Lucas and then later sold it to Disney.

Disney and Lucas were immediately bashed for their deal by angry Star Wars fans. I have seen all the Star Wars movies, however I am not a big fan. I am actually a big fan of Disney though. I do not support Disney buying Lucasfilms because it is only going to create problems and controversies. My biggest question, which is probably the biggest question, is who is going to be a part of the cast? James Earl Jones, who is the voice of Darth Vader, is 82 years old! They cannot guarantee that he will be alive for the next three films. The other actors are all far too old to be in this kind of movie. Harrison Ford (Han Solo) is 70 and Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia) is 56. Yoda and R2-D2 are too old, too. 

         Technically, Princess Leia is now a Disney princess along with Cinderella, Snow White, Rapunzel, etc. She will never be a Disney princess to anyone. Sure, I suppose she has all the "typical" Disney princess characteristics, but she just is not the same. She is strong, independent, can fight for herself, but she is not exactly dressed like a Disney princess. This leads me to wonder what Disney is going to do to her and other characters to make them more Disney-like or Disney-friendly.

I actually have not heard a single person say they think this is a good idea. Of course, I doubt Disney would ever let something like the public's opinion affect their decisions, but I cannot imagine this will end well. Many people are worried that Disney will have writers come in and make up a completely new story-line without using any of the Star Wars books or anything. Disney just added a new writer to their creative team for the next Star Wars movie. He has written Little Miss Sunshine, Catching Fire (from the Hunger Games trilogy and Toy Story 3. The poor guy is receiving so much bad-mouthing for being a part of the Toy Story 3 writing team. Everyone needs to give him a chance; people can write for both children and adults. Even if the Star Wars movies have too much Disney influence on them, they will at least be funny or have little snide comments or jokes hidden in them like all Disney movies do.


~ Kelly Haynes (staff writer)