Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens (USE SPOILER TAGS!)

[Will21st]

Originally Posted by binarymelon

Any actual numbers around that valuation? Lucasfilm has only generated $6.5 billion in gross revenues. After you adjust for inflation, take out your costs (theatre cut, distribution costs, marketing, budgets), series tied up with other studios (Indy) and add your assets, I would say 4 sounds plenty fair.

Lucasfilm may have only generated $6.5 billion in Revenue,however the SW franchise all together generated well in excess of $12 billion. Since SW is the jewel in the crown I'd agree that $4b is a reasonable amount.

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by legendarymatt92

Not necessarily -- it doesn't need to be a vetern or pro, because that is exactly what Lucas wasn't when he made the first film.

*sigh*

Lucas had already directed THX1138, ghost directed parts of THE GODFATHER, then directed AMERICAN GRAFITTI, which received several Oscar nominations and was a runaway smash. That was why Ladd agreed to do Star Wars at Fox. He didn't think Star Wars would really do anything, but he wanted to cultivate Lucas' talent for other projects. That's why Lucas got that contract giving him rights to the film and all the merchandising rights and everything but the kitchen sink. Of course Lucas was an industry pro by the time he made Star Wars.

Tarantino was never a choice because he doesn't have the style needed to make a Star Wars film, not because he's an "auteur" - and that's a very debatable term to use anyway, because which directors are true auteurs and which are simply craftsmen who make great films?

Most industry directors are craftsmen without superimposing their own personal point of view on their projects. Producers hire a director to make a movie, very few directors write and create their projects, have final cut privileges, etc.

Personally, I'd like to see some fresh blood on this; a director with a little experience but who isn't well known amongst a wide audience. As well as allowing a new, fan-based approach to it, it'd definitely allow more of a gateway for aspiring film-makers to get into the industry.

And where did Martin Campbell's name come from?

He re-launched Zorro, and then re-launched James Bond - twice (GoldenEye, Casino Royale). He gets things done, doesn't worry about having his work studied in college film classrooms.

Could you imagine the media furore if Lucas had not donated most of it to charity? A billionaire who makes another $4 billion and keeps it to himself whilst there are children starving in Africa?

"Rich man gets richer" would have been a scandal! Headlines for weeks! Public image shattered! Dogs and Cats living together! Mass Hysteria!

He'd have been in the headlines for weeks and it would have completely ruined his public image (although some Star Wars fan might argue that he has already!).

No.

I honestly don't think that he is dying -- well, I hope he isn't --

He's diabetic. He's had the disease for years, even before starting Episode I.

and I can understand why he has done what he did from his point of view without being terminally ill; he knows that Star Wars will outlive him in whatever form, even if he held the rights until his death, and he knows that Star Wars fans want more from such a beloved series.

And that $30 billion is completely unsubstantiated. There's no way the company was ever worth that much - hell, Disney's probably only worth about $40 billion now.

The Walt Disney Company earned $40 billion in gross revenues in 2011 alone. That's just one year. According to Forbes, aside from their substantial yearly revenues, Disney's assets are valued at $55 billion.

[octagon]

Originally Posted by tilallr1

(2) He is dying.

We're all dying. He's sixty-eight. Even if he's in perfect health he's still dying and he's probably pretty aware of that.

Hell, I'm only fifty and the ticking of ye olde clock is a lot louder than it used to be.

Maybe he just figured...

Get Busy Living or Get Busy Dying, That's Goddamn Right - YouTube

[Beast]

Plus this also gives him more time with what really matters to him. His family and that hot girlfriend of his.

[Elandyll]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

...
The company earned $40 billion in gross revenues in 2011 alone. That's just one year. According to Forbes, aside from their substantial yearly revenues, their assets are valued at $55 billion.

If you are talking about Disney then yes, they are valuated between $40 and $50billon (with a b).

Lucasfilm? Nowhere close to that.
Their best year was in 2005 where they did $550m (with a m) in profits thanks to Episode III. Lucasfilm's valuation is between $3 and $5b currently, depending on estimates on the revenue of the next trilogy.
Before he sold, Lucas himself was valued at around $1-2b in personal assets, and he own(ed) 100% of Lucasfilm.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...-many-avengers

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by Elandyll

If you are talking about Disney then yes, they are valuated between $40 and $50billon (with a b).

Lucasfilm? Nowhere close to that.
Their best year was in 2005 where they did $550m (with a m) in profits thanks to Episode III. Lucasfilm's valuation is between $3 and $5b currently, depending on estimates on the revenue of the next trilogy.
Before he sold, Lucas himself was valued at around $1-2b in personal assets, and he own(ed) 100% of Lucasfilm.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...-many-avengers

I was talking about Disney, yes.

[Elandyll]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

I was talking about Disney, yes.

Ah, it got confusing as you seemed to disagree with legendarymatt92 who was disagreeing with tilallr1 who estimated Lucasfilm being worth "at least" $30b.

We're all good

[legendarymatt92]

Lucas had already directed THX1138, ghost directed parts of THE GODFATHER, then directed AMERICAN GRAFITTI, which received several Oscar nominations and was a runaway smash. That was why Ladd agreed to do Star Wars at Fox. He didn't think Star Wars would really do anything, but he wanted to cultivate Lucas' talent for other projects. That's why Lucas got that contract giving him rights to the film and all the merchandising rights and everything but the kitchen sink. Of course Lucas was an industry pro by the time he made Star Wars.

Lucas wasn't well known at that point to the general, movie-going public and I wouldn't say he was considered a pro within the industry -- he had a hard time selling his Star Wars idea to anyone, studios passed and it was only because Alan Ladd believed in his film-making talent that it got made. Note that Ladd was the only one who believed in him enough to take a chance, though.

I didn't know he ghost directed segments of The Godfather, though. Which scenes were they?



Most industry directors are craftsmen without superimposing their own personal point of view on their projects. Producers hire a director to make a movie, very few directors write and create their projects, have final cut privileges, etc.

You're just stating auteur theory at me here. It's a very disputed idea anyway but I would argue that there can be no true auteurs around now because the whole theory is so well-known that directors go out of their way to be classed as such. Most directors don't have final cut, I agree, but the ones that do is only because they cut their films to how the studios would want it anyway - they trim any excess to try and maximise the story.


He re-launched Zorro, and then re-launched James Bond - twice (GoldenEye, Casino Royale). He gets things done, doesn't worry about having his work studied in college film classrooms.

But because he's a good director and has done some good films doesn't automatically mean he should be considered for this project.

"Rich man gets richer" would have been a scandal! Headlines for weeks! Public image shattered! Dogs and Cats living together! Mass Hysteria!

You seriously don't think that someone receiving that amount of money and not giving any to charity wouldn't make the news? We live in a society now where celebrities try their damned hardest to be seen helping charities and people who are less fortunate because otherwise the public criticises them. There's no way nothing would have been said about such a media-friendly deal.

He's diabetic. He's had the disease for years, even before starting Episode I.

My grandad has diabetes and he's 75. Had it since he was 9. In this day and age, having diabetes doesn't mean you should start selling your possessions because you don't have long left when you reach a certain age. I'm not sure that this would have factored into his decision to sell Lucasfilm much, unless he's had some serious news recently. I was just saying that I could understand completely why he sold it without using the "terminally ill" reason.


The Walt Disney Company earned $40 billion in gross revenues in 2011 alone. That's just one year. According to Forbes, aside from their substantial yearly revenues, Disney's assets are valued at $55 billion.

Yeah, and that's Disney. There's no way Lucasfilm are getting anywhere near that, so $4 billion is about right.


Couldn't post this in a reply for some reason, so put it like this.

[blonde_devil]

Quentin Tarantino presents "Star Wars - Mace Returns" starring Samuel L Jackson and John Travolta as Jar-Jar.

Greatest Jedi master of all Mace Windu returns with a whole new bad-ass attitude and new purple lightsaber.

[blonde_devil]

Originally Posted by legendarymatt92

Lucas wasn't well known at that point to the general, movie-going public and I wouldn't say he was considered a pro within the industry -- he had a hard time selling his Star Wars idea to anyone, studios passed and it was only because Alan Ladd believed in his film-making talent that it got made. Note that Ladd was the only one who believed in him enough to take a chance, though.

I didn't know he ghost directed segments of The Godfather, though. Which scenes were they?

they all worked on each other films back then - nothing official but they would help out, look at edits, etc. it has been mentioned but not very loudly. that was why Star Wars was great and the new trilogy sucked - no one would stand up and tell Lucas it was a bad idea in the new movies. you have to remember too, even though he made films, both THX and American Graffiti were reedited by the studios before being released. they may have thought he was a good idea man but not had much faith in his actual directing abilities. plus sci-fi wasn't a good seller then. they were mostly cheezy movies with a few exceptions so why would they want to give him a ton of money to do it? i always said that based off of the original trailer that was released, i wouldn't have gone to see Star Wars - it looked horrible, but that was how sci-fi was looked at.

[legendarymatt92]

Originally Posted by blonde_devil

they all worked on each other films back then - nothing official but they would help out, look at edits, etc. it has been mentioned but not very loudly. that was why Star Wars was great and the new trilogy sucked - no one would stand up and tell Lucas it was a bad idea in the new movies. you have to remember too, even though he made films, both THX and American Graffiti were reedited by the studios before being released. they may have thought he was a good idea man but not had much faith in his actual directing abilities. plus sci-fi wasn't a good seller then. they were mostly cheezy movies with a few exceptions so why would they want to give him a ton of money to do it? i always said that based off of the original trailer that was released, i wouldn't have gone to see Star Wars - it looked horrible, but that was how sci-fi was looked at.

That's true -- Lucas, Spielberg, Coppola and, to a lesser extent, De Palma were all good friends and did share opinions of each other's work, occasionally helping out. I'd never heard that Lucas had ghost directed anything within The Godfather and it comes as a bit of surprise considering that Coppola was probably the most accomplished director out of the two at that point.
He got too carried away with the prequels and, as people have noted before, there weren't enough people around him prepared to reign him in and tell him it was heading in the wrong direction. He'd become "George 'Star Wars' Lucas" and everyone assumed that, since he'd created the series, he knew exactly where to go with it. It was only because Ladd saw his potential that he was even allowed any money to complete his vision -- without Ladd, would Star Wars have even been made?

[aiman04]

EDIT: What happened to your post? I will remove mine since now it won't be in context to the original post.

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by legendarymatt92

That's true -- Lucas, Spielberg, Coppola and, to a lesser extent, De Palma were all good friends and did share opinions of each other's work, occasionally helping out. I'd never heard that Lucas had ghost directed anything within The Godfather and it comes as a bit of surprise considering that Coppola was probably the most accomplished director out of the two at that point.

Lucas directed the Hospital scenes in The Godfather, when Michael is hiding while footsteps of a possible assassin are heard coming ever closer. Coppola talks about it on the Blu-Ray bonus features. You say he wasn't considered a pro -- he directed a pivotal scene in The Godfather, and then went on to direct and write one of the biggest box office and critical hits of all time, about teenagers driving around in cars. That's why Ladd signed the contract. He figured he'd take a bath on SW but wanted to cultivate a relationship with Lucas. Instead, Fox fired Ladd, and Lucas flipped the bird to Fox, and took Raiders to Paramount.

[aiman04]

Let me join the logo obsession. My take!

Originally Posted by aiman04

I sure hope not, putting those would cheapen it in my opinion. Except for the twin suns, and maybe put the castle in the middle of Tattoine desert, and the camera is static with no animation at all, all in golden tint (sunset) dissolving into the Lucasfilm logo. And since there won't be a Fox fanfare, just make it quiet until the title card/crawler text appear with the title theme breaking the silence. How's that for a geek imagination.

[Ernest Rister]

Originally Posted by aiman04

Let me join the logo obsession. My take!

Not bad. Throw in a single star off the horizion, you just won the internet.

[legendarymatt92]

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

Lucas directed the Hospital scenes in The Godfather, when Michael is hiding while footsteps of a possible assassin are heard coming ever closer. Coppola talks about it on the Blu-Ray bonus features. You say he wasn't considered a pro -- he directed a pivotal scene in The Godfather, and then went on to direct and write one of the biggest box office and critical hits of all time, about teenagers driving around in cars. That's why Ladd signed the contract. He figured he'd take a bath on SW but wanted to cultivate a relationship with Lucas. Instead, Fox fired Ladd, and Lucas flipped the bird to Fox, and took Raiders to Paramount.

I never knew that -- that's a really good scene as well. I guess with that he does become more known within the industry. Wasn't trying to anger or troll you with previous posts, but enter a discussion on what is one of the greatest and most entertaining pieces of cinema ever.

To be fair, as bad and cheesy as I thought it would be, American Graffitti is a brilliant film and still holds up quite well today.

[aiman04]

I think that's not a mistake, she wants the company to be more active in the movie industry, not necessarily Star Wars. Maybe original animations (they practically made Rango), musicals, comedies, etc. How many movies have Lucasfilm made so far outside of Star Wars and Indiana Jones?

An the original cast returns!

[MCT]

Originally Posted by Beast

Plus this also gives him more time with what really matters to him. His family and that hot girlfriend of his.

damn Lucas is a pimp....nice piece of sexual chocolate ass right there.

[Silo5]

Originally Posted by Strevlac

I am quite aware of the Fox fanfare. I just wanted to know what Lucasfilm fanfare he is talking about, because there is no Lucasfilm fanfare.

Allow me to correct myself. You got me on a techicality. As you pointed out, there is no Lucasfilm "fanfare". I simply meant the Lucasfilm logo. Please accept my apology and I throw myself to the mercy of this forum for my wording faux pas.

Anway, as someone else already mentioned, the fanfare/logo jibberish has worn it's welcome and it's time to move on.

[Indyjones]

Originally Posted by legendarymatt92

Lucas wasn't well known at that point to the general, movie-going public and I wouldn't say he was considered a pro within the industry -- he had a hard time selling his Star Wars idea to anyone, studios passed and it was only because Alan Ladd believed in his film-making talent that it got made. Note that Ladd was the only one who believed in him enough to take a chance, though.

He also had a hard time selling Raiders, even after the success of SW, and on top of the success of Graffiti. Lucas couldn't sell Red Tails - 30+ yrs later, well after he's established himself, and ended up having to finance it all on his own in order to get it made.

Originally Posted by Ernest Rister

Lucas directed the Hospital scenes in The Godfather, when Michael is hiding while footsteps of a possible assassin are heard coming ever closer. Coppola talks about it on the Blu-Ray bonus features. You say he wasn't considered a pro -- he directed a pivotal scene in The Godfather, and then went on to direct and write one of the biggest box office and critical hits of all time, about teenagers driving around in cars. That's why Ladd signed the contract. He figured he'd take a bath on SW but wanted to cultivate a relationship with Lucas. Instead, Fox fired Ladd, and Lucas flipped the bird to Fox, and took Raiders to Paramount.

I didn't know that either. All I ever heard about in regards to The Godfather, was Lucas helping out on the edit.