♦
art by Jonathan Moore
Now that Disney has bought Star Wars for over $4 billion, this piece of fan art by Jonathan Moore doesn’t seem so far fetched anymore, considering that Disney also owns Marvel Studios. Still, I’d rather keep this type of mashup in the fan world, not in actuality.
With that said, with Disney at the helm of the Star Wars universe and their plans to release a very long awaited Star Wars Episode VII, there’s lots more to consider in this merge. The talk of a live action TV series has been around for ages as well, although nothing’s really been done about it. Granted, who knows what kind of money a Star Wars TV series would entail (the Halloween special that was supposed to be a TV series, Mockingbird Lane, cost $10 million to create just that one episode, and the amount of visual effects would probably be on par with that show, if not more so).
Another thing to consider is what kind of Star Wars will we see coming from Disney? Will it go the kids/family friendly route along the lines of The Phantom Menace, or will it go the more mature route long the lines of Empire Strikes Back?
I would love for them to go somewhere along the lines of Empire Strikes Back, where there’s a strong mature storyline, and have a mix of both CGI and organic effects. It’s not impossible, but seeing how Disney just loves CG stuff, it’s more likely they’ll stick with digital.
They’ve been successful with the Marvel franchise, though, in staying pretty true to character, so here’s hoping the same thing can be said 3,5, and 7 years from now when Episodes 7, 8, and 9 are projected to screen respectively [HeyUGuys].
There will be a huge amount of backlash from the purists (and even some of my own friends will be quite adamant about it), but that can be said with any franchise. The bottom line is that Disney has had major success with Marvel and Pixar, despite those who still don’t like how the movies turned out. Basically, those people will have to bite the bullet and deal with it. What’s done is done, and you can only hope that it will all turn out well in the end.
Try not to think how this will ruin your childhood, because it won’t. The Star Wars universe is not just for the generation that got to see Star Wars in the theaters for the first time. It’s about making it last for generations to come, and Disney can help with that.
Besides, I’m usually optimistic in general. I can only say this to Disney – May the Force be with you!
Below, George Lucas explains his decision for the future of Star Wars.
