Rumors that Disney is in negotiations to sell Star Wars back to George Lucas!

[Princesca]

Okay, I'll go with that (we've never seen Shrek and you make a valid point with Mario Brothers -- although their TV show didn't benefit much from the game's popularity). But then I compare the latest Minions movie to Buzz Lightyear and it seems to me Disney isn't doing so well with their own IP as others are with theirs. Buzz Lightyear bombed in a way I never imagined a Toy Story-related movie could.

It wasn't really a Toy Story movie. It borrowed from the concept, but it wasn't the fantastic and whimsical bunch of talking toys that we all know and loved. It was a whole different concept. I saw it, but I waited til it was on TV. It takes a lot to get us to the theater, as toddler parents.

Come to think of it, maybe that's part of the problem? Traditionally, Disney movies cater to small children. Since COVID, everyone's gotten used to being able to see these things in the comfort of their own homes. These theater-only releases stink. There is no way I'm taking a 2.5 year old to the movies, and it's hard for us to find a sitter. Most parents I know would much rather watch a new release in their living room, where they don't have to worry about their children getting bored or wanting to leave or making constant demands for $20 boxes of popcorn. So unless it's something like Guardians, which we dragged ourselves out to see in the theater and which loses a lot on a smaller screen, we're just gonna wait. I think drops in movie revenue might be due at least in one small part to changes in habits. I can't imagine Disney makes as much if we watch Lightyear as part of our Disney+ subscription as it does if we go see it in a theater at release. Also, a movie is judged as a bomb or not based on the first weekend or week of revenue, and the PR just spins off that. Not only is it rare for us to get to a theater, but it's also nearly impossible for us to see a movie in the first week of release. It takes us that long to find a sitter.

 

[BrianL]

Finn was the one they did the most dirty. Teased him as a possible Jedi in the trailers and then relegated him to "guy who yells 'REY'". That's one decision of Rian Johnson's that I completely disagreed with.

Finn, actually got the most development in TLJ. It was Rise that let him down.

 

[BrianL]

It wasn't really a Toy Story movie. It borrowed from the concept, but it wasn't the fantastic and whimsical bunch of talking toys that we all know and loved. It was a whole different concept. I saw it, but I waited til it was on TV. It takes a lot to get us to the theater, as toddler parents.

Come to think of it, maybe that's part of the problem? Traditionally, Disney movies cater to small children. Since COVID, everyone's gotten used to being able to see these things in the comfort of their own homes. These theater-only releases stink. There is no way I'm taking a 2.5 year old to the movies, and it's hard for us to find a sitter. Most parents I know would much rather watch a new release in their living room, where they don't have to worry about their children getting bored or wanting to leave or making constant demands for $20 boxes of popcorn. So unless it's something like Guardians, which we dragged ourselves out to see in the theater and which loses a lot on a smaller screen, we're just gonna wait. I think drops in movie revenue might be due at least in one small part to changes in habits. I can't imagine Disney makes as much if we watch Lightyear as part of our Disney+ subscription as it does if we go see it in a theater at release. Also, a movie is judged as a bomb or not based on the first weekend or week of revenue, and the PR just spins off that. Not only is it rare for us to get to a theater, but it's also nearly impossible for us to see a movie in the first week of release. It takes us that long to find a sitter.

Yeah, and the thing about Super Mario Bros. being is huge hit is that it was likely mostly adults going to see it. Many won't do the same for a Disney princess movie (I will though!).

 

[HokieRaven5]

Finn was the one they did the most dirty. Teased him as a possible Jedi in the trailers and then relegated him to "guy who yells 'REY'". That's one decision of Rian Johnson's that I completely disagreed with.

TFA Finn was running from the First Order and trying to save Rey from entering into it and trying to get as far away from it as possible.

TLJ Finn began as that same person still trying to get to Rey and get her away from the First Order and got exposed to certain truths of the Galaxy in order to change from someone running from the fight to someone willing to actually choose a side and fight for a cause.

JJ Abrams throwing mystery boxes at the world as diversions because he’s a bad storyteller set a terrible starting point for the sequel trilogy.

 

[umichigan10]

“

And the dialogue! Riveting stuff!

“Love won’t save you, Padme. Only my new powers can do that.”

And don’t get me started about sand…

 

[nancipants]

TLJ Finn began as that same person still trying to get to Rey and get her away from the First Order and got exposed to certain truths of the Galaxy in order to change from someone running from the fight to someone willing to actually choose a side and fight for a cause.

TLJ annoys me for many reasons, but one of the things I can't get over is Rose lecturing Finn about why the First Order is bad. Like, seriously??? HE KNOWS. HE WAS THERE. HE WAS A LITERAL SLAVE.

Finn ended TFA having stood up to Kylo Freaking Ren. He deserved WAY more in TLJ than just trying to find Rey and going on a mission with Rose that didn't accomplish anything.

I will never, ever understand why Rian Johnson decided to start TLJ literally the day after TFA ended. The characters and world had no room to breathe and grow in between movies.

 

[umichigan10]

TLJ annoys me for many reasons, but one of the things I can't get over is Rose lecturing Finn about why the First Order is bad. Like, seriously??? HE KNOWS. HE WAS THERE. HE WAS A LITERAL SLAVE.

Finn ended TFA having stood up to Kylo Freaking Ren. He deserved WAY more in TLJ than just trying to find Rey and going on a mission with Rose that didn't accomplish anything.

I will never, ever understand why Rian Johnson decided to start TLJ literally the day after TFA ended. The characters and world had no room to breathe and grow in between movies.

In fairness to the last part, abrams set up the end of TFA with that shot of Rey/Luke meeting. He kinda HAD to pick up right where it left off

 

[mdmost]

TFA Finn was running from the First Order and trying to save Rey from entering into it and trying to get as far away from it as possible.

TLJ Finn began as that same person still trying to get to Rey and get her away from the First Order and got exposed to certain truths of the Galaxy in order to change from someone running from the fight to someone willing to actually choose a side and fight for a cause.

JJ Abrams throwing mystery boxes at the world as diversions because he’s a bad storyteller set a terrible starting point for the sequel trilogy.

I did not enjoy the Canto Bight portion of TLJ even though I prefer it of the 3 ST movies. I didn't want him and Rey being broken up and the casino portion was just prequel levels bad to me. But yes, I should lay more of the blame at JJ's feet since he just tossed all these mystery boxes out with no explanation and then left it for the next director/writer to figure out. And then to just completely relegate Finn in the final movie was terrible. He should've been a Jedi. That's what you teased in the trailer. It didn't have to only be Rey. And please don't get me wrong, I love Rey. It speaks volumes that I've watched 4-6 thousands of times, 1-3 dozens of times, 7 and 8 a handful, and 9 only once. I have no desire to watch 9 ever again. I will be there on opening night for the new Daisy Ridley movie.

 

[BrianL]

TLJ annoys me for many reasons, but one of the things I can't get over is Rose lecturing Finn about why the First Order is bad. Like, seriously??? HE KNOWS. HE WAS THERE. HE WAS A LITERAL SLAVE.

Finn ended TFA having stood up to Kylo Freaking Ren. He deserved WAY more in TLJ than just trying to find Rey and going on a mission with Rose that didn't accomplish anything.

I will never, ever understand why Rian Johnson decided to start TLJ literally the day after TFA ended. The characters and world had no room to breathe and grow in between movies.

I don't think she was lecturing him on why the First Order was "bad" it was more about why we have to fight them. At that point, he just wanted to get away from them. He knew they were bad, but he wasn't dedicated to the cause yet, not if he could get away to somewhere safe where the conflict wouldn't affect him. Of course he learned that the conflict affects everywhere to some extent and he realized he and Rey would never be safe from it.

 

[HokieRaven5]

TLJ annoys me for many reasons, but one of the things I can't get over is Rose lecturing Finn about why the First Order is bad. Like, seriously??? HE KNOWS. HE WAS THERE. HE WAS A LITERAL SLAVE.

Finn ended TFA having stood up to Kylo Freaking Ren. He deserved WAY more in TLJ than just trying to find Rey and going on a mission with Rose that didn't accomplish anything.

I will never, ever understand why Rian Johnson decided to start TLJ literally the day after TFA ended. The characters and world had no room to breathe and grow in between movies.

Kylo Ren was also badly injured from Chewie’s bowcaster and Finn was using his training as a Stormtrooper as best he could to protect his friend. Also a reason why he lost to Rey is he was trying to capture her and not outright kill her, where she was acting purely out of rage and anger.

Rose is trying to convince him to join a side because all she knows of him to this point is he’s a false hero who is doing nothing more than trying to run from the First Order. DJ acts as the opposite side of that coin trying to convince Finn that joining a side is pointless.

Blame Abrams for setting it up on a cliffhanger with Rey meeting Luke. Basically had to start there. Have to explain why Luke essentially disconnected himself from the Force and chose to not show up and save his friend who decades earlier would abandon training and risk his life to save.

 

[nancipants]

See, I completely disagree with the argument that TLJ had to start with Rey meeting Luke. I saw tons of speculation that the movie would start several months later after Luke had been training Rey for several months. I even wrote a fanfic on the subject. Or you could have them meeting, then skip ahead. Empire ends on a cliffhanger and Return of the Jedi picks up a year later. The entire Clone Wars happened in between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.

Plus, if there had been more time in between movies, who's to say Finn wouldn't have been fully fighting in the Resistance already, just like he was in Rise of Skywalker?

(I do agree that Abrams uses the mystery box WAY too much. But I also believe that there should have been a main storyline that everyone agreed on from the beginning. My biggest issue with the ST is that each movie feels completely separate from the previous. TLJ is a good movie, but it doesn't feel like a sequel to TFA, at least in my opinion.)

 

[RivShore]

“

And don’t get me started about sand…

Please please No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[HokieRaven5]

See, I completely disagree with the argument that TLJ had to start with Rey meeting Luke. I saw tons of speculation that the movie would start several months later after Luke had been training Rey for several months. I even wrote a fanfic on the subject. Or you could have them meeting, then skip ahead. Empire ends on a cliffhanger and Return of the Jedi picks up a year later. The entire Clone Wars happened in between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith.

Plus, if there had been more time in between movies, who's to say Finn wouldn't have been fully fighting in the Resistance already, just like he was in Rise of Skywalker?

(I do agree that Abrams uses the mystery box WAY too much. But I also believe that there should have been a main storyline that everyone agreed on from the beginning. My biggest issue with the ST is that each movie feels completely separate from the previous. TLJ is a good movie, but it doesn't feel like a sequel to TFA, at least in my opinion.)

My biggest issue with the ST is that it started with absolutely 0 originality and a completely safe $$ making Disney play going with JJ, just with new characters. Let’s just reboot A New Hope and rake it in!!!

I get the speculation, but if he were to be willing to train Rey he would’ve had to be connected to the Force still and willing to train and noticed that his longtime friend was in danger and chose to do absolutely nothing about it. That makes Luke worse IMO.

I get a lot of people don’t like the Luke of TLJ, and they’re allowed that stance all day. For me, the version presented made sense from the context that was set forth in TFA, and he went out doing the most Jedi thing any character has ever done in the saga, IMO. He chose a peaceful way to protect those fighting for righteousness.

 

[nancipants]

My biggest issue with the ST is that it started with absolutely 0 originality and a completely safe $$ making Disney play going with JJ, just with new characters. Let’s just reboot A New Hope and rake it in!!!

I get the speculation, but if he were to be willing to train Rey he would’ve had to be connected to the Force still and willing to train and noticed that his longtime friend was in danger and chose to do absolutely nothing about it. That makes Luke worse IMO.

I get a lot of people don’t like the Luke of TLJ, and they’re allowed that stance all day. For me, the version presented made sense from the context that was set forth in TFA, and he went out doing the most Jedi thing any character has ever done in the saga, IMO. He chose a peaceful way to protect those fighting for righteousness.

I actually don't mind Luke in TLJ. I think Mark Hamill is fabulous as both the curmudgeonly hermit and the wise Jedi. Him walking out onto Crait is one of my favorite Star Wars moments ever.

My problem comes with him dying immediately afterward for seemingly no purpose. I get that he allowed the Falcon to escape. But in the context of the movie, what does that matter? The rest of the Resistance is basically destroyed, and there's only a dozen people on the Falcon.

Also, this wasn't my opinion at the time, but I now believe it was not a wise decision to have Luke die in TLJ after Carrie Fisher died in real life. They knew they weren't going to be able to make the movie they wanted with her, so they should have written her out in TLJ and had Luke around in TRoS. Of course, it's hard to blame anyone for those decisions, because Carrie's death was so untimely and everyone was in mourning. I still yearn for a scene with Leia and Kylo together.

 

[mdmost]

I will go with the thought that ultimately the sequel trilogy just really didn't need to happen. I get why it did and I was excited as well but the Skywalker journey came to a very fitting conclusion in Return of the Jedi. It went from a hopeful look at the future to a bitter reality in the ST. Maybe I'm just getting sentimental but I didn't need Star Wars to get even darker and bleak. The struggle didn't need to be repeated. I would've much preferred a ST with Han and Leia's kid and maybe Luke gets married along the way (to Mara Jade) and has his own child. Then we see them as late teens and you reset the story with two Jedi teenagers. You have the older characters play their supporting roles against a new threat that has nothing to do with an Empire. You have Luke become the Obi Wan character. You could've had one be tempted by the Dark Side. But yes, ultimately we got A New Hope redux, a dash of Empire redux, and a full blown Jedi redux. Outside of Rey, Finn, and Ben, it was a really wasted opportunity. I think the biggest problem with making any Star Wars sequels is you had such great post-OT novels that painted a much better vision of Star Wars. The Timothy Zahn novels were fantastic and I'm thrilled Ahsoka will be borrowing from them.

And I will never forgive JJ for this, which I think is Oscar Isaac's best bit of acting ever because I don't know how anyone could deliver this line without just walking off the set.

 

[BrianL]

I actually don't mind Luke in TLJ. I think Mark Hamill is fabulous as both the curmudgeonly hermit and the wise Jedi. Him walking out onto Crait is one of my favorite Star Wars moments ever.

My problem comes with him dying immediately afterward for seemingly no purpose. I get that he allowed the Falcon to escape. But in the context of the movie, what does that matter? The rest of the Resistance is basically destroyed, and there's only a dozen people on the Falcon.

Also, this wasn't my opinion at the time, but I now believe it was not a wise decision to have Luke die in TLJ after Carrie Fisher died in real life. They knew they weren't going to be able to make the movie they wanted with her, so they should have written her out in TLJ and had Luke around in TRoS. Of course, it's hard to blame anyone for those decisions, because Carrie's death was so untimely and everyone was in mourning. I still yearn for a scene with Leia and Kylo together.

THIS I agree with. I will defend Luke's characterization all day, but I would not have had him die at the end of TLJ. I would have saved that for Episode IX.

 

[BrianL]

I will go with the thought that ultimately the sequel trilogy just really didn't need to happen. I get why it did and I was excited as well but the Skywalker journey came to a very fitting conclusion in Return of the Jedi. It went from a hopeful look at the future to a bitter reality in the ST. Maybe I'm just getting sentimental but I didn't need Star Wars to get even darker and bleak. The struggle didn't need to be repeated. I would've much preferred a ST with Han and Leia's kid and maybe Luke gets married along the way (to Mara Jade) and has his own child. Then we see them as late teens and you reset the story with two Jedi teenagers. You have the older characters play their supporting roles against a new threat that has nothing to do with an Empire. You have Luke become the Obi Wan character. You could've had one be tempted by the Dark Side. But yes, ultimately we got A New Hope redux, a dash of Empire redux, and a full blown Jedi redux. Outside of Rey, Finn, and Ben, it was a really wasted opportunity. I think the biggest problem with making any Star Wars sequels is you had such great post-OT novels that painted a much better vision of Star Wars. The Timothy Zahn novels were fantastic and I'm thrilled Ahsoka will be borrowing from them.

And I will never forgive JJ for this, which I think is Oscar Isaac's best bit of acting ever because I don't know how anyone could deliver this line without just walking off the set.

I don't mind the line, but I think that the announcement Palpatine made to the galaxy absolutely should have been in the movie. I don't think they really needed to explain the how (though they do later), but the broadcast/threat of revenge was too important to leave in Fortnite.

That is in fact my only complaint about TROS.

 

[ElyseInWonderland]

God, between George Lucas and *checks notes* EVERYONE who has written for the recent trilogy it's hard to determine who is the more terrible writer. Padme/Anakin dialogue, anyone...?

I have heard this rumor from a few different places. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a grain of truth there; Disney has to know they botched the stories and turned them into a disjointed mess. I mean, they essentially made an entire movie about a low-speed chase while running out of gas. They read like movies written by three different committees rather than one cohesive storyline. Give it back to Lucas and let him try to salvage it, idk.

 

[mdmost]

God, between George Lucas and *checks notes* EVERYONE who has written for the recent trilogy it's hard to determine who is the more terrible writer. Padme/Anakin dialogue, anyone...?

I have heard this rumor from a few different places. I wouldn't be surprised if there's a grain of truth there; Disney has to know they botched the stories and turned them into a disjointed mess. I mean, they essentially made an entire movie about a low-speed chase while running out of gas. They read like movies written by three different committees rather than one cohesive storyline. Give it back to Lucas and let him try to salvage it, idk.

George has had his time with Star Wars and he always worked best when someone was telling him no (Marcia Lucas/Speilberg/Harrison Ford). Left to his own devices, he makes some pretty terrible stuff.

I would argue that Andor and the Mandalorian are some of the best writing and storytelling that Star Wars has done under Disney. I think Kathleen Kennedy sees that none of this can be rushed out like it was before which led to problems of not having a unified story. That's why she's handed over the Mandalorian to Filoni/Favreau and given Andor to Tony Gilroy. Give it to a director/writer, give them some space, and don't put them on a clock to rush out content. That's what the movies appear to be moving towards now.

 

[nancipants]

I think the biggest problem with making any Star Wars sequels is you had such great post-OT novels that painted a much better vision of Star Wars. The Timothy Zahn novels were fantastic and I'm thrilled Ahsoka will be borrowing from them.

Ha, those were the stories I referred to earlier as my favorite Star Wars. Although I'm not happy about Ahsoka borrowing them because I'm not a fan of Filoni (I know, sacrilege, I just think he's a horrible live action director and his dialogue is very George), but I also hate those stories being told without Mara. Then again, I don't want them to use Mara and ruin her. She's a hard character to get right.

But I agree with you, I don't think they needed to adapt Legends wholesale, but there was nothing wrong with them using those books as a basis. (Which they kind of did already, considering Jacen = Kylo.) Let the new generation be firmly established, then bring in a new threat. It would have been so interesting seeing a child of Luke have to deal with living up to his legacy.

I don't mind the line, but I think that the announcement Palpatine made to the galaxy absolutely should have been in the movie.

This is another thing - I don't mind them bringing back Palpatine or having Rey be his granddaughter, but they should have laid the groundwork for that from the first movie! But they killed Snoke in TLJ so I guess they felt they needed a new villain if Kylo was gonna turn back.