I think its because Disney wants to control it all and doesn't want someone else controlling any part of what they own.
Let's say they own the theme park rights and Lucus decides to sell the comic book rights to someone else. Disney now has no control over what that character does in the comics. They want it all from snout to tail.
boom...right there.
lets not underestimate what this actually means: these are the "bushes" and the "clintons" of merchandising deciding to marry and start making puppies.
nobody is better selling junk...in history. disney managed to build consumer products from a 5 dollar budget over 80 years and lucas invented modern commercial marketing with star wars....
this is about godzilla buying mothra and then making him work the giftshop selling his own face on tshirts.
And this also could be vastly different than marvel.
1. there is already the theme park relationship there...and it has suffered from differences of opinions that are now GONE.
2. Lucas once came up with great characters and stories...but couldn't sustain them when he was a media conglomerate who was mr. money...as opposed to a writer/producer/director....again - GONE.
3. Star Wars is established and needs a shot (as is painfully obvious considering how bad the stuff has been of late)...the marvel characters had never been made into modern high budget films...which means that disney doesn't have to interfere...the history of the characters and the technology to put it on the screen now made it easy.
Not so with the Skywalkers....they need a kick in the butt.
All this is cautionary though: the creative execs and the next CEO is critical. With the right people and the full monetary sword to swing...this could completely turn around what has been a listing (but ridiculously profitable) ship...
that is what we have to look for...who is gonna not screw it up and put some quality back into this thing?
The last thing is the announcement of a new film. Which is the most heart fluttering announcement. Obviously this was DISNEY who demanded it...not sir george. george has been a glorified sweatshop owner/accountant for awhile now. and his product has come off terribly. it seems obvious to longtime lucas fans that he just doesn't have the juice to keep it going...
So now disney says (my take)...lets put it back on the front page.
This could be a disaster (At World's End? John Carter? Herbie Fully Loaded?)...but obviously 4 billion puts it in everyones interests to make it "not suck"
And thank god....Epi SEVEN....no more of this stupid "back story" junk. Lucas always said the back story was "better"
Wrong, Georgie boy...you pooched it. You create NO lasting characters..zero...nada...zilch from 13 years of creative wheel spinning.
Not even a half a chewie...
The back story was bad (anyone else still waiting to find out who "name dropped" jedi master sypha dias is?) and the real future is in the past, baby...
Wookies, Rebels, Stormtroopers, Star Destroyers and Admiral Akbar.
It will be tricky to do a sequel with a different set of faces so long after...no doubt...how they are either A. Presented or B. Tied In/ Spun off to the original characters will be big...
But it is possible. Also, the short timeline - which many are going to have real angst over - i like.
Because Christopher Nolan managed to put three pretty damn good big franchise movies together in a year-year and a half timeframe.
Why? No 6,000 cgi shots. no digital compositing of EVERY frame.
And that you can do with just a healthy budget, fabric, a sewing machine, wood, fiberglass and nails....and of course some dynamite.
What the star wars movies of recent years failed the biggest at...other than bad acting, horrible dialogue, and no direction to the stories...was the insistence on using CG for every damn thing.
The matrix trumped the first one a month before it even came out....spiderman and lord of the rings buried the others in short order. and the main reason is that cg was used only when it HAD to be...not to provide bit characters in the background for no reason. It looks Terrible (the second one...the greatest love story not really ever told was on yesterday...matter of fact)...and it can be saved.
Shoot for lord of the rings...cg for the things that can't be done (battles, golum, monsters, etc) and get out the rubber suits and set pieces for the others...its just better. Looks better.
Mark Hamill might be the worst actor ever...but he looks like laurence olivier compared to the clowns from the new movies...probably because he isn't surrounded by green screen crap created by computer viruses every single second...that's when you know you missed (probably about 30 minutes into The Phantom Nothing was when i knew)
guess i'm done