Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Disney (or Fox?) decides not to go ahead with the rest of the 3D Star Wars releases

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Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-28-2013, 05:55 PM:

STAR WARS 3D prequels won't be released

EXCLUSIVE: I learned of this decision just now from Lucasfilm‘s promotional partners who are telling me the studio now owned by Disney wants to focus only on “rebooting the franchise” with three new Star Wars films.

This surprising decision follows the underwhelming box office performance of Episode I: The Phantom Menace re-released in 3D in February 2012. It debuted to only $23M domestically but maybe even more importantly hardcore fans felt it was yet another craven cash grab by George Lucas.

Back in September 2010, Lucasfilm and then-distributor Fox announced that all 6 films in the Star Wars franchise would be converted to 3D. Episode II: Attack Of The Clones (first released on May 16, 2002) was to hit theaters in 3D on September 20th, 2013, while Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith (first released on May 19, 2005) was to play in 3D on October 11, 2013. This news comes just days after Disney confirmed that J.J. Abrams will direct the new Star Wars: Episode VII scheduled to be released in 2015. It’s the first new Star Wars movie since 2005. Michael Arndt is writing the script.

Disney bought Lucasfilm in October 2012 for $4 billion, with the Star Wars franchise obviously the jewel in the crown. At the time, Disney CEO Bob Iger said three more Star Wars films were in the pipeline.
Link

Posted by Jonathan M. Crist (Member # 413) on 01-28-2013, 06:48 PM:

A couple of weeks ago Disney announced that it was "postponing" the Sept 13th re-release of "The Little Mermaid" in 3D.

Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 01-28-2013, 08:07 PM:

the reason why Episode 1's 3D release was so underwhelming were two things: one it was lambasted as being not the best of the six films (duh), and two the 3D was lacklustre at best. Supposedly Episode II's conversion is/was being done by the folks who converted Cameron's Titanic (and that was a great conversion) ...

oh well.. c'est la vie.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-28-2013, 08:30 PM:

I really don't think the cancellation is ONLY due to the B.O. performance of Episode I. They had to know it wouldn't be a blockbuster, given it's the least-regarded of the entire series.

No...this has Disney's fingerprints all over it. They don't want to compete with themselves. That's why they don't let their animated films be used for matinees. So when you add THAT fact alongside the lackluster B.O. of Episode I and (more recently) Monsters Inc., it's not hard to see why they've done what they did.

What I wonder is, would the future 3D Star Wars releases have been Disney releases or Fox? And if Fox, did Disney have to pay them off to get the release cancelled?

We probably better brace ourselves for the blowup that'll happen if Disney announces that Episodes VII, VIII and IX will be in 3-D (which I wouldn't be surprised if they do).

Posted by Steve Guttag (Member # 268) on 01-28-2013, 08:46 PM:

It may just be me but due to the nature of the musical scores, the Fox fanfare (with CinemaScope extension) really set the tone for the opening of those movies and also made the abrupt silence for the "Long time ago..." cards, and then to the hit of the first note as the logo hit.

That Fox fanfare was really part of the score to me. Something will be missing if it isn't there on future releases of any of the current titles or the new ones.

Posted by Jonathan Goeldner (Member # 4854) on 01-28-2013, 08:46 PM:

that's too bad about the lacklustre BO intake of Monsters Inc. since the 3D conversion has the stongest 3D pop I've seen of a Pixar film.

Posted by Geoff Jones (Member # 3668) on 01-28-2013, 09:29 PM:

quote: Steve Guttag
It may just be me but due to the nature of the musical scores, the Fox fanfare (with CinemaScope extension) really set the tone for the opening of those movies and also made the abrupt silence for the "Long time ago..." cards, and then to the hit of the first note as the logo hit.

That Fox fanfare was really part of the score to me. Something will be missing if it isn't there on future releases of any of the current titles or the new ones.

Bah - this post is silly. The fanfare will still be there. Disney will buy Fox.

Posted by Mark J. Marshall (Member # 1409) on 01-29-2013, 05:50 AM:

Isn't that funny? That was my first concern when I heard that Disney bought Lucasfilm and was going to be releasing more Star Wars movies. I bet for a lot of people the Fox Fanfare is actually the Star Wars Fanfare. I think my comment was that Disney better license the Fox Fanfare or else it will really seem like the movie opening is missing something.

Posted by Bernie Anderson Jr (Member # 410) on 01-29-2013, 08:04 AM:

I was thinking about the Fox/logo and fanfare too when I first heard of the purchase.

Posted by Dennis Benjamin (Member # 1137) on 01-29-2013, 09:19 AM:

The Fox Fanfare is the ringtone on my phone.

Posted by Aaron Garman (Member # 1653) on 01-29-2013, 10:11 AM:

I could understand a little more with them doing away with the Fox logo for all future new films. But for the Original Trilogy (and the prequels too) it is just as much part of the film as anything else and needs to be kept. Throw the Disney logo at the end of the credits if you must, but don't take away that beautiful fanfare!

AJG

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-29-2013, 11:47 AM:

Movie lovers at Disney would insist on keeping the fanfare at all cost. The bean counters will tell them to just start off with the Lucasfilm logo.

I agree though, even though I'm a casual SW fan at best, the Fox fanfare really makes the beginnings of those movies.

The article makes no mention at all of the original 3 Star Wars films. I'll bet they'll put them out in quick succession in the spring of 2015 now.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 01-29-2013, 03:56 PM:

Absolutely.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 01-29-2013, 11:57 PM:

Even with Disney now owning Lucasfilm, wouldn't there still be some chance of Fox distributing the new Star Wars movies? I only say this because of what has been happening with certain Marvel Entertainment movies. Disney now owns Marvel, but Paramount Pictures distributed The Avengers and will distribute Iron Man 3.

Posted by Chris Slycord (Member # 4239) on 01-30-2013, 02:14 AM:

It's possible. I saw that if Disney wants to release a box set of all the movies together anytime soon, they'll have to work with Fox since they own the worlwide distribution rights to Star Wars forever and the other movies through sometime in 2020. http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/tangled-rights-could-tie-up-384541

So, it's possible that Fox could distribute the upcoming movies since Fox may insist on it for Disney to get this box set they want in the negotiations.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-30-2013, 11:58 AM:

I wouldn't be surprised to see Disney work something out with Fox -- after all, the recent "Lincoln" started off with a Touchstone logo (which is a Disney brand), then a Dreamworks logo (a Paramount brand), then a Fox logo, and it was distributed by Disney.

However, owning the Star Wars franchise is such a big "trophy" that I can't imagine Disney wouldn't want to trumpet their own name on it.

I wouldn't think they'd hire Fox to distribute -- Disney's going to want to keep that cash for themselves. I don't think they would go to all that trouble and expense JUST to keep the logo on the movies...that's just not Disney's style. The only thing that might make it happen is, Lucas might insist on it for consistency. But how much clout he will have over a relatively minor thing like that is a question.

Disney is well accustomed to dealing with fanatical fans though, so it'll be interesting to see what happens.

Posted by Bobby Henderson (Member # 840) on 01-30-2013, 09:27 PM:

I can picture the sequence in my head:

1. the Disney castle in a Star Wars style landscape.
2. the 20th Century Fox logo (with Fox Fanfare)
3. the Lucasfilm Ltd logo (with CinemaScope extension).

That'll probably work out fine...

...unless J.J. Abrams sticks his Bad Robot logo sequence in there.
[Razz]

I'm also concerned J.J. Abrams will do something garish and ADHD sped up like he did with the end credits of Star Trek. The pacing of that made the planets and interstellar stuff lose their sense of scale and seem more like overly colorful stuff in a fish tank or something.

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 01-31-2013, 12:43 AM:

Ooh. I never thought about that Bad Robot logo. That'll muck things up.

Although if Abrams is the fan he says he is, he'll realize that his logo belongs at the end of the movie, not the beginning. However, Hollywood is the land of big egos so...

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 01-31-2013, 11:48 AM:

I think when it comes to the Bad Robot logo, that only applies if Abrams or one of his associats has a producing credit. If Abrahms is only directing then the logo would probably not be used.

quote: Bobby Henderson
Disney now owns Marvel, but Paramount Pictures distributed The Avengers and will distribute Iron Man 3.

Disney distributed The Avengers domestically and Paramount distributed internationaly. Same goes for Iron Man 3.

The same could esily happen with the new Star Wars. where Disney does domestic and Fox does international.

Posted by Peter Castle (Member # 1997) on 01-31-2013, 11:34 PM:

Disney distributed "The Avengers" in Australia.
Fox here have indicated 'postponed' for the two 3D conversions.

Posted by Darryl Spicer (Member # 711) on 02-01-2013, 10:56 AM:

Actually, it turns out that Paramount did not handle any distribution of The Avengers internationaly. The reason the logo was attached to the film was because of a transition agreement related to distribution rights moving from Paramount to Disney.