What do people think the Star Wars franchise would be like if Disney had not bought Star Wars?

What do people think the Star Wars franchise would be like if Disney had not bought Star Wars?
Before I give you my answer to the question at hand, let me first make an observation.
It seems to me that Star Wars fans have no understanding of how corporate ownership of a media company works. The impression that I get when I see questions such as “What do people think the Star Wars franchise would be like if Disney had not bought Star Wars?” is that the persons that ask queries like this have a huge chip on their shoulder about George Lucas’s retirement and subsequent sale of his company, Lucasfilm Limited (and all of its subsidiaries and intellectual properties) to The Walt Disney Company.
The Walt Disney Company (aka “Disney”) owns a large number of subsidiary companies which enjoy a great deal of autonomy. I don’t have time to name them all, but here are the most prominent Disney subsidiaries:
  • The American Broadcasting Company (ABC)
  • Marvel Entertainment (which includes Marvel Studios and Marvel Worldwide, Inc.)
  • ESPN
  • And when all the legal  i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed, 21st Century Fox and most of its current assets (except for Fox Broadcasting Company and Fox News) will become a subsidiary of Disney
  • The Jim Henson Company/Jim Henson’s Creature Shop
Generally speaking, with rare exception, no one refers to the aforementioned subsidiaries, which enjoy the same amount of creative autonomy as Lucasfilm, as “Disney.”
In short, Disney has the same type of relationship with Lucasfilm as General Electric used to have with NBC. Strictly “hands off” where creative content and editorial decisionmaking is concerned.
Having said that:
If George Lucas had simply retired in 2012 and handed the keys to the company to his three adopted children, there are several possible scenarios that would have occurred.
Alternative I: The Skywalker Saga would still officially end with Revenge of the Sith, and Lucasfilm Animation goes on to produce a complete Season Six of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. George Lucas remains as executive producer of the series to see the series all the way to its conclusion, and the various story arcs about Darth Maul, Assajj Ventress, and Quinlan Vos see the light of day. The three-episode arc about the kyber crystal on Utapau gets made. Dave Filoni then becomes head of Lucasfilm Animation, while Amanda Lucas appoints her father’s old friend and frequent collaborator, Kathleen Kennedy, as President and CEO of the studio. To keep Lucasfilm creatively relevant and its staff employed, Kennedy announces that Star Wars will continue in stand-alone Anthology films and more animated series. The Expanded Universe is allowed to continue, but it is still officially non-canonical as far as the studio is concerned.
Alternative II: Pretty much most of what actually happened in real life occurs in this one, except Lucasfilm gets purchased by 21st Century Fox rather than Disney. Kathleen Kennedy and Rupert Murdoch announce a Sequel Trilogy that will be loosely based on story treatments written by George Lucas shortly before the sale to Fox, as well as a new animated series that will air on the FX cable network or on the “over the air Fox TV network. Kennedy reorganizes the Lucasfilm Licensing Group that oversees ancillary media products into the Lucasfilm Story Group. The old EU is rebranded as Legends, and all new Star Wars fiction gets folded into the official canon.
Oh, and in this scenario, The Walt Disney Company still ends up owning Lucasfilm after buying 21st Century Fox’s sellable assets.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

How many movies have been made based on Stephen King's 'It'?

Talking About Tom Clancy's 'Ryanverse': Was Jack Ryan a Republican or a Democrat?

Movie Review: 'PT-109'