Lucas hands the keys of 'Star Wars' to Disney, can they replicate the success they had with Marvel?

He said there were nine films, but after completing the prequel trilogy, for George Lucas, the thought of doing three more (especially after the criticism he got, despite their financial success) seemed to fill him with dread.

The Man Who Created Star Wars had been saying he wanted to retire for years now and work on more projects that fulfilled him –his love of technology and what it can do has always fascinated him. And the success of his Star Wars Empire gave him the ability to expand those interests and become what he always seemed destined to be, a philanthropist.

But as long as we’ve all known his desire to leave the corporate world, it seemed he equally adept at putting it off. Today’s announcement, which caught the entertainment media off guard, put all of that to rest. While no word was given as to when talks between Disney and Lucas began, part of it seemed to start as far back as May, when Kathleen Kennedy announced she was stepping down co-head of the Kennedy/Marshall production company and become the co-chair of Lucasfilm with its founder and CEO, George Lucas. Kennedy, with her husband Frank Marshall, has had a long association Lucas dating back to late 1970’s when she was working with Steven Spielberg (and who help form Amblin Entertainment). It would seem then, Lucas really began to work on getting out of Lucasfilm altogether, leaving the day-to-day operations to someone he trusts implicitly, which seems to be Kennedy.

Since the success of A New Hope back in 1977 -and Lucas’ statement that he considered his series to be nine movies in all- the world wide fan base has been wondering if we would see all three trilogies. After 1983’s Return of the Jedi, fans waited to see something from Lucas, only to see nothing but promises that “eventually” he would return to the Star Wars universe. 

And in 1991, he did. Somewhat.

But it was not the media everyone wanted or expected. In May of that year, Bantam Books began what would be the first of many Star Wars related novels set after the events of Return of the Jedi (though there had been one original novel before that, Alan Dean Foster’s Splinter in the Mind’s Eye which came out in 1978 and was intended as a low-budget sequel to Star Wars if the original film had bombed. Interestingly, since Foster had “ghostwritten” the novelization to Star Wars, he had access to a ton of notes that Lucas had made during all the years of preproduction, most that were dropped as the film progressed. Foster took those notes and expanded on them for Splinter, which is probably why this novel remains one of the most influential of all the original novels that followed).  And while the Expanded Universe –as it eventually became known as- offered adventures of Luke, Leia and Han after the defeat of Darth Vader and the Empire (and would also, in time, offer adventures set during the original series, albeit taking place between filmed adventures) their actual impact on the movie franchise was never accepted. Like all book media of popular TV or movie franchises, the novels conical nature indicated that unless it happened on screen, the novels were seen as existing in parallel universe.  

Then came 1999 and The Phantom Menace. The first new Star Wars film in sixteen years was a huge hit, but hardcore fans, the first generation so to speak, found the first film in the prequel trilogy disappointing.  And while the novels continued and two more prequel movies followed, each one getting hated more and more by those First Generators (the second Generators seemed to take a less personal issue with these films, not questioning the lazy writing, the banal direction and the cardboard acting and just seeing a visually eye-popping film series) fans began to wonder if we would see episode 7 through nine, because nothing could be worse than The Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.

Like any huge corporate media company, Disney can be seen as soulless. But within that system of shareholder value at all costs, they had the smarts to buy Pixar and Marvel and then allow the brain trusts that ran those divisions the creativity, and (somewhat) the freedom to make commercial and very highly profitable films. And as George Lucas knew back in 1977, the key to any financial empire’s growth is merchandising. These ancillary products allowed Lucas the freedom he always wanted, while studios kicked themselves wondering why they never thought that this could be an easy revenue stream. And Disney, love them or hate them, has been doing this for generations. Since 1955, they’ve made a slick business out of selling products associated with their movies and theme parks; and handing the keys of Lucasfilm to them means decades more of profit and shareholder value.

Onto the new film, as Lucas mentions he has outlines for the three films in the final trilogy. I’m guessing Kathleen Kennedy will try to keep to those outline as much as possible, but since she’ll be hiring a writer to flesh those outlines out, it will be interesting where a better writer and even better director can take Episode 7, 8, and 9. 

I would assume that none of them have anything to do with the Expanded Universe, though many have said that Timothy Zahn’s Thrawn trilogy (the first novels to come out after Return of the Jedi) would make a great trilogy. And over time, Zahn’s Heir to Empire, Dark Force Rising and The Last Command became the third Star Wars movie series that never got filmed.

But there are still questions that need to be answered. What is the fate of the proposed live-action TV series that has been in development for years and years? According to dopey producer Rick McCallum (who hopefully will not be part of this transition), they had many, many completed scripts, but was waiting for some nebulas time in the future to able to produce them cheaper. Now that Disney controls it, and the ABC network that it would air on if it gets made, will we now see a stripped down version  of it sooner than later? And what of The Clone Wars, the CGI animated series currently running on rival cable channel The Cartoon Network? It’s currently airing its fifth season, and will surpass 100 episodes sometime in 2013. Will that show finally complete its arc –for those who don’t know, that series is set between Episode II and III of the movie franchise- this season and end or will it be renewed and stay in place? 

If I was a betting man, I suspect with this move, that show will probably end and begin airing reruns on a Disney run cable channel, though it could just as well produce a sixth season. 

In the end, this can be nothing but good news for Star Wars fans, whatever generation you come from. With Episode VII now scheduled for 2015, let the speculation begin with who’ll write from Lucas’ treatments and who is worthy of a director to bring another Star Wars film to the giant movie houses for the next generation of fans. If this new trilogy is run like The Clone Wars TV series, then I have faith that –at least creatively- the franchise will have a chance to put aside the bitterness left by episode I, II, and III.