"Star Wars" Franchise Crosses $4 Billion, Eclipsing Disney's Lucasfilm Price

Megalith

Megalith

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Was George Lucas crazy for selling Lucasfilm and the rights to Star Wars and Indiana Jones for “only” $4 billion? Perhaps he should have asked for more, as Disney has already managed to reap handsomely from the acquisition: the latest films have surpassed $4.06 billion in ticket sales at the worldwide box office.

The Lucasfilm purchase followed Disney's 2009 acquisition of Marvel Entertainment and its 2006 purchase of Pixar, all engineered by Iger. The stable of companies, along with the studio's own live-action division and Disney Animation, has propelled Disney to become the most successful film studio in Hollywood, led by chief Alan Horn.
 
I liken Lucas to Gabe Newell. He just didn't have the motivation and drive to keep going. From a financial point of view it was probably fine (ignoring the discussion whether or not Disney is ruining the franchise). Maybe Lucas could've asked for another billion, but Lucas didn't appear he was going to do much other than licence stuff out.
 
I liked the last starwars well enough, but the new jumanji was a better movie I think.

Still, if it's star wars it makes money. Except for when EA is involved lol.
 
I think after this latest love letter to SJW the numbers will continue to drop.
 
Nope, Lucas still made the better deal in the short term. At the moment IIRC Disney takes a whopping 60% of the theater ticket sales so a bit over a 2 billion goes to their coffers and that doesn't include the cost of making the movies themselves. Probably with Rogue One factored in and their Cartoon Star Wars properties, I'd say they are around the $3 billion mark. So they probably won't be making a profit from the purchase of Star Wars till after Episode 9 and the Han Solo movies come out.
 
LurkerLito said:
Nope, Lucas still made the better deal in the short term. At the moment IIRC Disney takes a whopping 60% of the theater ticket sales so a bit over a 2 billion goes to their coffers and that doesn't include the cost of making the movies themselves. Probably with Rogue One factored in and their Cartoon Star Wars properties, I'd say they are around the $3 billion mark. So they probably won't be making a profit from the purchase of Star Wars till after Episode 9 and the Han Solo movies come out.
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Your forgetting something, merchandise. If I remember correctly, Disney made over 4 billion on merch alone not long after FA hit theaters. In terms of pure ticket sales, the movies alone will eventually pay for the purchase, but Disney bought Star Wars for the merchandise.
 
Derangel said:
Your forgetting something, merchandise. If I remember correctly, Disney made over 4 billion on merch alone not long after FA hit theaters. In terms of pure ticket sales, the movies alone will eventually pay for the purchase, but Disney bought Star Wars for the merchandise.
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Yeah, they make more than double their box office in merch. Not to mention TV shows and other non-movie media, so $4 Billion was a good deal. People are also forgetting that they got Skywalker Sound and ILM, so they get to pay themselves for Special Effects and Sound Mixing.
 
Cmdrmonkey said:
The last Jedi's box office is currently at $777.6M. What drop are you talking about? Maybe you should stop getting your news from alt right trolls who can't stand to see a woman or a black person in a movie.
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Its up to $953 million as of its last box office update and is expected to break a billion over the New Years holiday.
 
Patton187 said:
I think after this latest love letter to SJW the numbers will continue to drop.
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Apparently SJWs can afford movie tickets, and A LOT of them. Which is weird with them being hippy communist leechers and all. ;)

Derangel said:
Your forgetting something, merchandise. If I remember correctly, Disney made over 4 billion on merch alone not long after FA hit theaters. In terms of pure ticket sales, the movies alone will eventually pay for the purchase, but Disney bought Star Wars for the merchandise.
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Yep and I doubt George Lucas would have been able to monetize merchandise to the same extent as Disney, especially if it meant he continued to make and direct underwhelming (being generous) Star Wars movies like Ep 1-3. I don't think he's going to go broke any time soon.
 
Megalith said:
Was George Lucas crazy for selling Lucasfilm and the rights to Star Wars and Indiana Jones for “only” $4 billion? Perhaps he should have asked for more, as Disney has already managed to reap handsomely from the acquisition: the latest films have surpassed $4.06 billion in ticket sales at the worldwide box office.

The Lucasfilm purchase followed Disney's 2009 acquisition of Marvel Entertainment and its 2006 purchase of Pixar, all engineered by Iger. The stable of companies, along with the studio's own live-action division and Disney Animation, has propelled Disney to become the most successful film studio in Hollywood, led by chief Alan Horn.
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No, Lucas was smart to sell the franchise to Disney. He had said that he wasn't going to do jack shit with it past Star Wars Rebels and the Clone Wars. He explicitly said; "There will be no Episode VII, VIII, or IX." Letting the franchise linger and fade from public conciousness as he did in the late 1980's would have meant far less money would be made on the franchise going foward than what he got out of Disney. Furthermore, him changing his mind wasn't likely to go in as positive a direction as Disney took the film series. Say whatever you want about Disney's direction, it beats the prequel trilogy and anything George was likely to do with it, if anything at all.

Did you really want George to alter the Han / Greedo confrontation in the Cantina yet AGAIN? What the fuck was it going to be this time? Greedo's shot bouncing off the non-reflective wall and hitting a chandelier that falls on Greedo killing him? Everything he's done from the Phantom Menace onward, excluding the Clone Wars and Rebels animated series' was met with intense backlash. Shit wasn't headed in a good direction with George at the helm.
 
Sadly none of the latest Trilogy movies are very good. TLJ is a little better than TFA, but really, it's just a mediocre action movie with special effects. The plot stinks and the acting is almost as bad as in the prequels. Rogue One was decent. There's just something missing in these new ones, and it is more than my age causing this.

Here's a good review slamming TLJ:

 
Dan_D said:
Say whatever you want about Disney's direction, it beats the prequel trilogy and anything George was likely to do with it, if anything at all.
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Strongly disagree. Lucas' last trilogy is better than the utter shit the last three movies are. It's still terrible as it was when it came out, but Disney managed, impossible as it was, to make worse movies. Complete and utter shit. The only thing they have going for them is the technical aspect. At least George had some originality in him, even if his execution was laughable. Disney is corporate nostalgia tit sucking encarnate. Zero thought, zero originality, zero source material respect.

I KNOW STAR WARS AND I CLAPPED, indeed.
 
Cmdrmonkey said:
The last Jedi's box office is currently at $777.6M. What drop are you talking about? Maybe you should stop getting your news from alt right trolls who can't stand to see a woman or a black person in a movie.
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Cuck a doodle doo! Maybe they shouldn't have made a story around a mary sue. She endured nothing. Earnt nothing. Was just given god status powers with no effort, coming from a lineage that was nothing. Take away the star wars title, stop focussing on your white knight bullshit and all you have is a stinking pile of garbage that is a movie about everyone is the same and everyone gets a participation trophy.
 
Meeho said:
Strongly disagree. Lucas' last trilogy is better than the utter shit the last three movies are. It's still terrible as it was when it came out, but Disney managed, impossible as it was, to make worse movies. Complete and utter shit. The only thing they have going for them is the technical aspect. At least George had some originality in him, even if his execution was laughable. Disney is corporate nostalgia tit sucking encarnate. Zero thought, zero originality, zero source material respect.

I KNOW STAR WARS AND I CLAPPED, indeed.
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They at least set the precedence for the original trilogy and were consistent with the story. The 1-3 were actually good movies. Could have been cast better, but at least they stuck with what star wars is.
 
Meeho said:
Strongly disagree. Lucas' last trilogy is better than the utter shit the last three movies are. It's still terrible as it was when it came out, but Disney managed, impossible as it was, to make worse movies. Complete and utter shit. The only thing they have going for them is the technical aspect. At least George had some originality in him, even if his execution was laughable. Disney is corporate nostalgia tit sucking encarnate. Zero thought, zero originality, zero source material respect.

I KNOW STAR WARS AND I CLAPPED, indeed.
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There is more originality in the Last Jedi than in the entire prequel trilogy in it's entirety. The Phantom Menace practically follows Return of the Jedi's formula exactly. Except, the premise behind many of the scenes is ridiculous. Not even hardcore apologists can really excuse shit like immaculate force conception and a 10 year old doing a lot of the shit he was doing. Episode II has no originality in it either. Episode III is almost good, but Padme dying because she lost the will to live? Come on! Anakin being turned into Vader in a mock Frankenstein scene? Really? I'm sorry but the original trilogy has far too many cringe worthy scenes and poor casting choices to put in the same league as the newer films. The newer films have issues, granted, but they aren't as bad as what George was doing with his films. Even without Jar Jar the prequels are a fucking disaster. There are bigger plot holes in those than I think exist in the sequel films.

Some Jedi who has been dead for years commissions an army of clone troopers. If the Jedi Order or the Republic paid for them, then how come no one noticed? If the dead Jedi paid for them, where the fuck did he get the money? No one ever asked why they were ordered or who paid for them. At one point the clones and their equipment cost so much the Republic was on the verge of financial collapse. There is a Clone Wars episode about that. The Jedi don't look into it any further. The Republic takes delivery of them just in time for a civil war that started over a single trade dispute with a planet no one gives a shit about. The Jedi are so incompetent in the films it's beyond laughable. No one in the Senate asks any questions about this either. The clones took 10 years to mature, and again no one wondered about the timing. I can see how Palpatine manipulated both sides to an extent, but there are some serious issues that aren't addressed at all.

You can't use Disney not respecting the source material as a basis for being better off in George's hands. His lack of respect for his own IP was obvious and worse than Disney's. Han shooting second? Han not shooting at all? Updated visuals are one thing but George started messing with the films in ways that changed their context and not for the better. I'm actually a huge fan of most of the changes, but the Cantina scene shows a lack of respect for the material and how it was not only made, but viewed by the fans. It takes the three films worth of character growth for Han Solo and throws that out the window. Immaculate Conception. Turning Anakin into Space Jesus? You don't think that consititutes a lack of respect. Not only is that one a lack of respect for the material, but I'd think it would be offensive to Christians. Of course, George tried to back pedal on this somewhat in Episode III, and rightly so. It was fucking dumb. Just as dumb as the Midiclorian concept. Again, George got lazy. Some of the most important shit in the prequels was handled in the worst and most incomptent ways.
 
Dan_D said:
There is more originality in the Last Jedi than in the entire prequel trilogy in it's entirety. The Phantom Menace practically follows Return of the Jedi's formula exactly. Except, the premise behind many of the scenes is ridiculous. Not even hardcore apologists can really excuse shit like immaculate force conception and a 10 year old doing a lot of the shit he was doing. Episode II has no originality in it either. Episode III is almost good, but Padme dying because she lost the will to live? Come on! Anakin being turned into Vader in a mock Frankenstein scene? Really? I'm sorry but the original trilogy has far too many cringe worthy scenes and poor casting choices to put in the same league as the newer films. The newer films have issues, granted, but they aren't as bad as what George was doing with his films. Even without Jar Jar the prequels are a fucking disaster. There are bigger plot holes in those than I think exist in the sequel films.

Some Jedi who has been dead for years commissions an army of clone troopers. If the Jedi Order or the Republic paid for them, then how come no one noticed? If the dead Jedi paid for them, where the fuck did he get the money? No one ever asked why they were ordered or who paid for them. At one point the clones and their equipment cost so much the Republic was on the verge of financial collapse. There is a Clone Wars episode about that. The Jedi don't look into it any further. The Republic takes delivery of them just in time for a civil war that started over a single trade dispute with a planet no one gives a shit about. The Jedi are so incompetent in the films it's beyond laughable. No one in the Senate asks any questions about this either. The clones took 10 years to mature, and again no one wondered about the timing. I can see how Palpatine manipulated both sides to an extent, but there are some serious issues that aren't addressed at all.

You can't use Disney not respecting the source material as a basis for being better off in George's hands. His lack of respect for his own IP was obvious and worse than Disney's. Han shooting second? Han not shooting at all? Updated visuals are one thing but George started messing with the films in ways that changed their context and not for the better. I'm actually a huge fan of most of the changes, but the Cantina scene shows a lack of respect for the material and how it was not only made, but viewed by the fans. It takes the three films worth of character growth for Han Solo and throws that out the window. Immaculate Conception. Turning Anakin into Space Jesus? You don't think that consititutes a lack of respect. Not only is that one a lack of respect for the material, but I'd think it would be offensive to Christians. Of course, George tried to back pedal on this somewhat in Episode III, and rightly so. It was fucking dumb. Just as dumb as the Midiclorian concept. Again, George got lazy. Some of the most important shit in the prequels was handled in the worst and most incomptent ways.
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Oh, I have no intention of defending those films. They are garbage. I do believe, though, they have more value in them than the new ones. Their failures are less offensive and have a bit more positive aspects. Still garbage, sure, but less so than what Disney gave us. When Hamil and Ford both shit on you, you know you done goofed.
 
I'm not saying the newer films didn't do things wrong, I'm just saying they were more enjoyable than the prequel trilogy was. I think they are largely better written too. There is everything that's wrong with the procurement of the clone army. Anakin's turn to the darkside is too fast, and practically comes without any warning. You have to watch the Clone Wars TV series to get a full idea of how Anakin's fall really came about. It bridges a lot of necessary gaps the films left out. These new movies had stupid shit in them, but on the whole I think they were better than the prequels, even if there were missed opportunities in them to do better.
 
Meeho said:
Oh, I have no intention of defending those films. They are garbage. I do believe, though, they have more value in them than the new ones. Their failures are less offensive and have a bit more positive aspects. Still garbage, sure, but less so than what Disney gave us. When Hamil and Ford both shit on you, you know you done goofed.
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Hamill never shit on the movies and Ford doesn't like Star Wars, period. Ford wanted Han killed off in ROJ and had to be convinced to keep him alive. Hamill's statement has been massively misquoted. So much so that Hamill seems to have decided to give up being as open and honest in interviews as before. What Hamill said was that he initially didn't like the direction but came to like it as he saw the movie take shape. Which some asshats turned into "Hamill hates Luke in the new movie" despite that not being what was said. So internet bullshit very well could have ruined one of the few people willing to talk candidly about their projects.
 
MV75 said:
Cuck a doodle doo! Maybe they shouldn't have made a story around a mary sue. She endured nothing. Earnt nothing. Was just given god status powers with no effort, coming from a lineage that was nothing. Take away the star wars title, stop focussing on your white knight bullshit and all you have is a stinking pile of garbage that is a movie about everyone is the same and everyone gets a participation trophy.
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Your insane rambling has nothing to do with what you quoted. Are you having a stroke or was that seriously meant to counter his point?
 
Derangel said:
Hamill never shit on the movies and Ford doesn't like Star Wars, period. Ford wanted Han killed off in ROJ and had to be convinced to keep him alive. Hamill's statement has been massively misquoted. So much so that Hamill seems to have decided to give up being as open and honest in interviews as before. What Hamill said was that he initially didn't like the direction but came to like it as he saw the movie take shape. Which some asshats turned into "Hamill hates Luke in the new movie" despite that not being what was said. So internet bullshit very well could have ruined one of the few people willing to talk candidly about their projects.
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He said much more than that.
 
Meeho said:
Strongly disagree. Lucas' last trilogy is better than the utter shit the last three movies are. It's still terrible as it was when it came out, but Disney managed, impossible as it was, to make worse movies. Complete and utter shit. The only thing they have going for them is the technical aspect. At least George had some originality in him, even if his execution was laughable. Disney is corporate nostalgia tit sucking encarnate. Zero thought, zero originality, zero source material respect.

I KNOW STAR WARS AND I CLAPPED, indeed.
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The Last Jedi was crap. Force Awakens was OK. But Rogue One...Movie was damn good. Best ending for sure of any Star Wars flick.
 
Meeho said:
He said much more than that.
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Yes, Hamill has been open about things he liked and disliked. I have yet to ever see anything that qualifies as "shitting" on the movies though, unless you want to twist words to fit your narrative of course.
 
Derangel said:
Yes, Hamill has been open about things he liked and disliked. I have yet to ever see anything that qualifies as "shitting" on the movies though, unless you want to twist words to fit your narrative of course.
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You expect a star on contract to be more blunt? His few words and emotions spoke volumes.
 
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Meeho said:
You expect a star on contract to be more blunt? His few words and emotions spoke volumes.
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Hamill was one of the few celebs willing to be a lot more candid. One of the big reasons his, misquoted, statement on Luke in TLJ was so easily believed is because of how open he tends to be. Unless he has directly stated otherwise all you're doing is projecting your opinions on his words.
 
Derangel said:
Hamill was one of the few celebs willing to be a lot more candid. One of the big reasons his, misquoted, statement on Luke in TLJ was so easily believed is because of how open he tends to be. Unless he has directly stated otherwise all you're doing is projecting your opinions on his words.
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Ah, he loved the film so much the praises he gave it were so hard to misquote and misunderstood. Makes sense.
 
Derangel said:
If you're not interested in engaging in a debate in good faith then I'm not interested in being polite.
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It was in good faith, I just happen to disagree with you. You don't talk and act like someone killed your dog and leave it open to interpretations when promoting a new multibillion franchise movie if you're happy about it.

Besides, his reactions were tertiary to my assesment of the new movies. I would find them equally terrible even if he had praised them.
 
Meeho said:
It was in good faith, I just happen to disagree with you. You don't talk and act like someone killed your dog and leave it open to interpretations when promoting a new multibillion franchise movie if you're happy about it.

Besides, his reactions were tertiary to my assesment of the new movies. I would find them equally terrible even if he had praised them.
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No, you were intentionally twisting my comments about Hamill's statements and why people were so willing to believe the misquoted statement. That is not acting in good faith.

Though, on the subject of actors hating Star Wars. Seems like Alec Guiness wasn't overly fond of his experience on Ep 4. Calling all the dialog rubbish and saying everyone treated him like he was 106. Can't say his complaints about the dialog are wrong. OT, PT, NT, Rogue One, they all have pretty terrible dialog.
 
I thought TLJ was rather boring, I almost feel asleep (had one of those, jerk awake moments). I wasn't actually planing on going but the wifey wanted to so I did. I wish I hadn't wasted my time (and money). I plan on NOT going to any more Disney Star Wars movies.
 
I preferred TFA and Rogue One to TLJ to be honest. They handled some beloved characters pretty badly. I didn't hate the movie, but I probably won't go back and watch it until the 9th comes out and I binge watch the whole series in one sitting.

I'd really like to see them go back in time and do something during the height of the Republic. Something in the vein of KoToR, but new.
 
George did a lot of horrible things to Star Wars after the original release of RotJ.

But nothing as bad as Disney did when they came up with freaking Porgs..... :p

If I were in George's shoes, I'd be too busy swimming in a pool of money to ever give a shit what Disney did to the franchise now. Life is too short to worry about that when you've got enough cash on hand to do anything you want on a whim.

Take the money and run.. and don't look back.
 
Derangel said:
Hamill was one of the few celebs willing to be a lot more candid. One of the big reasons his, misquoted, statement on Luke in TLJ was so easily believed is because of how open he tends to be. Unless he has directly stated otherwise all you're doing is projecting your opinions on his words.
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It was fairly obvious from several interviews that Hamill strongly disliked what happened to his character.
 
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The thing with Star Wars is that it has such a massive following at this point that they don’t need to even produce a good movie at this point to crush the box office. I was a huge fan of Star Wars growing up. Loved the original movies, played the video games. I was so stoked with the prequels when they were coming out that it took me some time to come to terms with the fact that Episode 1 was a huge disappointment. I was much quicker to identify Episode 2 as a movie that sucked.

With the continuation with TFA, I was extremely disappointed, and I’ve yet to see TLJ, although most of my friends didn’t like it, but I’ll still buy a ticket next week like a sucker whether I think it looks good or not just because it’s Star Wars and I want to see what happens.

But that’s Star Wars. If this movie sucks, guess what? I’m still going again for Episode 9. That’s why it still makes money.
 
HockeyJon said:
The thing with Star Wars is that it has such a massive following at this point that they don’t need to even produce a good movie at this point to crush the box office. I was a huge fan of Star Wars growing up. Loved the original movies, played the video games. I was so stoked with the prequels when they were coming out that it took me some time to come to terms with the fact that Episode 1 was a huge disappointment. I was much quicker to identify Episode 2 as a movie that sucked.

With the continuation with TFA, I was extremely disappointed, and I’ve yet to see TLJ, although most of my friends didn’t like it, but I’ll still buy a ticket next week like a sucker whether I think it looks good or not just because it’s Star Wars and I want to see what happens.

But that’s Star Wars. If this movie sucks, guess what? I’m still going again for Episode 9. That’s why it still makes money.
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Hey at least you are a fan that recognized reality... I don't like those that are such a fan that HAVE to believe that the new movies are great, and defend these duds. If I was to pick favorite movies in my life that would be T1 and T2, didn't mean I didn't recognized they just peed all over those with the garbage they pumped out. T1 and T2 i can still watch and enjoy, has nothing to do with rose colored lenses, they are just good.. a lot of shit i grew up with, I can't stand now.
 
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