Worried About Disney Owning Lucasfilm? Don’t Be.
When it was revealed that Disney acquired Lucasfilm, there was a lot of fan reaction. While the reactions were mixed, they were mostly negative. People worrying that Star Wars will be too kid friendly, or that we’re gonna have Winnie the Pooh as a Hut with Piglet in a slave Leia outfit. I find myself in the indifferent to optimistic camp. When worrying about what will happen to Lucasfilm we can look at other companies and franchises that Disney owns or has owned.
Indiana Jones
Star Wars is not the first Lucas franchise to fall into Disney hands. Indiana Jones was the brainchild of George Lucas and Steven Spielberg as an homage to the 1930s action serials that the both of them loved so much as kids. Indiana Jones is a quintessential bad-ass and his films still hold up today as some of the best films ever made.
I’ve got to rescue this artifact from its homeland and take it home where it can sit in a crate in a warehouse.
I loved Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade as a kid and as an adult. I’m indifferent towards Temple of Doom, but I, like many fans, felt the series jumped the shark with The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I’m one of the few people that’s okay with the idea of aliens in an Indiana Jones movie, and I don’t think the infamous fridge scene was that much more crazy than the life raft parachute from Temple of Doom. While we can sit here all day debating the merits of the film, we know that Disney has never stepped in and said “No Nazi face melting! What if a kid saw that?”
We have nightmares and a respect for archeology, but mostly nightmares.
Disney is not the blame for anything good or bad within the Indiana Jones franchise. If anything, Lucas himself is his own worst enemy. He’s known for going back and altering his movies, much to the chagrin of his fans, and with how protective Disney is over their assets being modified, this may work out for the best.
Bonus TME Trivia: Alfred Molina
Seeing as this is one of my articles, it doesn’t feel right if I don’t include this fun bit of trivia. Alfred Molina, who most people know as Doc Ock in Spiderman 2, or as the evil wizard Maxim Horvath from the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, was in Raiders of the Lost Ark! Here he is in the famous “Throw me the idol, I throw you the whip” scene.
Miramax Film Studio
In 1993 Disney purchased Miramax for $60 million. For those worried that Miramax would be forced to go kid friendly, you would be mistaken. During the time Miramax was under Disney, they produced Pulp Fiction, Clerks, The Crow, Trainspotting, Chasing Amy, Jackie Brown, and Good Will Hunting, just to name a few. I don’t know about you, but I wasn’t seeing Mickey’s influence in Pulp Fiction.
Well, there was that musical number….
Marvel Comics
How quick many fans are to forget that Disney Bought up Marvel back in 2009, and since then have gotten much more funds to toss around to make their movies. While many didn’t feel Iron Man 2 lived up to it’s predecessor, I felt it was miles ahead of most of the other tripe being pushed out by other companies trying to manage Marvel characters, other than the amazing X-men First Class. I’m looking at you Ghost Rider Spirit of Vengeance.
Despite all my rage I am still just Nicolas Cage.
And of course we have the biggest piece of evidence that Marvel got extra funding and the free reign to do things right is The Avengers. Disney pretty much told director Joss Whedon, “You do what you do” and we have one of the best superhero movies ever and the culmination of one of the most ambitious multiple movie tie-in ever attempted. If Episode 7 is as good as the Avengers, I’ll be okay with it. In fact, if you think about it we had 5 movies leading up to The Avengers. That makes Avengers the Return of the Jedi for Marvel studios.
Our Episode 6 had alien battles, sexy female cast members, and family issues too!
Pixar
Many people I discussed the topic with had no idea that Pixar was not always Disney. Pixar was made by Apple, headed by Steve Jobs, and wasn’t purchased by Disney until 2006. Pixar already had Toy Story 1 and 2, Finding Nemo, and The Incredibles under its belt by that time. Since then Pixar has made WALL-E, Up, Ratatouille, and Brave, some my favorite movies.
They can make us love a cockroach for crying out loud.
If these are the sorts of things that can get made under the Disney umbrella I think Lucasfilm has nothing to worry about.
Bonus TME Trivia: Joss Whedon
Did you know that Joss Whedon, director of the Avengers and creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Firefly was one of the screenplay writers for Toy Story 1?
“GORRAM IT WOODY!” “Calm down Buzz, everything’s shiny…”
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