Should these films be made? Are they just a cash grab for Disney?

Well Luke certainly had a hero's journey of his own but the crucial moment was the redemption of Vader not the killing of a monster or rescue and so on. I think they are building a cycle of characters that fill the roles of gods in eastern myths. Anakin the destroyer, Luke the redeemer and now we will see rebirth.

 

Disney's acquisition of Marvel seems to have pleased just about everyone, so I don't expect for that to change with SW/Lucasfilm

 

Let's see.

But let us just say in my older age, I am no fan of Di$ney.

 

From the viewpoint of keeping the Star Wars franchise alive, yes. George Lucas was adamant in saying he had no plans to make any sequels after the hatred he recieved from fans for his abysmal prequel trilogy. That means Star Wars would have been retained by George Lucas until he died and Star Wars would have been nothing more that a fading franchise maintained by EU stories and an aging legion of greying fans - a bit like Star Trek. (*wink!*)

For Star Wars to continue and grow, a tired and weary George Lucas sold Star Wars/Lucasfilm to Disney, assuming his stories would be used and he would be used as a consultant. Disney had other ideas and chose not to use George Lucas's stories. As Disney now had control over the destiny of Star Wars, the EU stories conflicted with their plans and decided to nulify the EU so they essentially had a blank slate to start over again without conflicting with the EU stories.

As much as I hate to say it, Disney (I'm not a fan of theirs!) seem to know what they're doing. The future of Star Wars looks bright. Under George Lucas, Star Wars had become something of a bad joke with some dreadful prequels and some very angry and bitter fans.

 

This here lol. I dunno why you would make a thread like this on a Star Wars fan site hah. Surely there is a better place to find like minded people, other than what is effectively a SW nerd site. No offense ment im a nerd myself.

 

Every movie a studio makes is a cash grab. Studios are simply encouraged to make good movies if they want to grab more cash.

 

It's just a cash grab TFA plays it safe. At least the prequels feel like real star wars movies. The main problem with them is the filmmaking this film is glorified fanfiction.

 

Should they be made? Absolutely. I don't think anyone really wants there to be no Star Wars on the big screen again. The box office totals back that up. As for what this trilogy will be about, to me its looking like dealing with the fallout of Vader's legacy on the galaxy. Even in death I would argue Darth Vader is still an important and central character to the story, considering his influence on Kylo Ren and the First Order. Luke, Rey, and everyone else are also dealing with his legacy in trying to combat the power his memory still holds over the galaxy. It is actually pretty interesting for them to be able to include Vader in that way going forward.

 

It depends on what you mean by "hasn't the story been told?" Technically it was told with the release of the original in 1977. You mention the story being the fall and redemption of Anakin... Originally, and I'm talking prior to the release in May of '77, this was NOT the story of Anakin's redemption. Heck, Darth Vader and father Skywalker were not the same character at that point. Obi-Wan had never had any interactions with R2 or 3PO at that point (hence he didn't recognize them), and Leia and Luke were not twins. That's all "tacked on."

And as for Lucas having said there were 12 episodes, Lucas has a history of making stuff up as it goes. That idea came about in the aftermath of Episode IV success. He did say there were 12, but they were in no way planned out (as he often attempted to make people believe they were).

The one constant is that the idea of Star Wars is constantly changing.

 

All seven Star Wars films feel like Star Wars, because they all are. Each one of them oozes the same tangible magic of the SWU. I, for one, love them all.

 

Lucas needed to make the ST back in the early 90's instead of Young Indiana Jones. Waiting 32 years to make it created story issues that necessitated the distortion of Luke's character to introduce Rey (the 2nd New Hope). The answer to the OP's question is actually "yes" to both. It needs to be made for posterity's sake, but it's also a cash grab. What a funny paradox.

 

if JJ loves Star Wars so much, how did he fumble Luke Skywalker so badly? TFA Luke is a completely different character IMO. its almost as if TFA is one of those "what if..." Marvel stories. TFA showed me just how much JJ loves SW. it also demonstrates how out of touch he is with the Star Wars universe.

--- Double Post Merged, Dec 24, 2015, Original Post Date: Dec 24, 2015 ---

oh PLEASE. Necessitated the distortion of Luke's character my ass! any real writer could have concocted a story that still stays true to Luke. JJ took the easiest way out and the film suffers because of it.

 

I actually agree with you. I've just reached a sad point of acceptance, I guess.

Arndt is right though that it is tricky to have actual Luke Skywalker and Rey be in TFA together. That doesn't mean it couldn't be done, but it would diminish Rey's importance in the universe. And I do think that the timing of the story is its biggest hurdle. Luke would have gone into a funk for a while after the loss of his academy, sure. But he'd have resolved these issues several years before TFA.

By TFA, Kylo should either dead or converted back to the light, and Luke should have established a new academy by now. The Empire's military presence prevented Obi-Wan and Yoda from attempting this, but Luke has no such hurdle. Look, Disney wanted to reboot with a 19 year old female jedi. Creating new character flaws in Luke makes her more important in the universe than she actually should be. It sucks, but it's done now. I won't say JJ and LK ruined Star Wars, but it's universe is now totally different, and less likable for me.

 

To answer the OP. Absolutely YES YES YES!!! TFA made me feel great and millions of people around the world as well. The people who left this movie feeling bad would have been feeling bad about something else instead. Some people are just not happy with themselves.

 

The prequels felt like "real star wars movies?" Really? I guess if you were like 7 when TPM was released then sure, I guess they did. If you want silly elementary level humor like R2 flying and 3PO being merged with battle droids,then yeah, okay.

At the end of the day, TFA has a better script. The actors received far better direction which then comes out in far better performances (god, even Portman, a freakin Academy Award winning actress, suffered through crap such as "Anakin, you're breaking my heart!"). And, thankfully, no Jar Jar or anything closely resembling that ridiculousness.

 

I think so.

 

I think they should be made because the fans want them.

And yes, they're a cash grab. Episode VII was rushed into production, as an interview or two indicated that there was a tight time schedule to release it.

 

An ex partner of mine used to work at Disney production and apparently every minute of their films is scrutinised and market researched for as much 'effect' and 'formula' in order to maximize profitabilty. I understand it's a product and that most mass market movie studios do this, but I would have liked an original story and I feel The Force Awakens sorely lacked it. It's just my opinion (you have to be so careful in these forums when critisizing this film btw) but I was hoping that with this big world out there, with so much imaginative genius the film could have been so, so much better. All I felt during the movie is that..."jeez, it's been done". Do we truly need to go down another Skywalker's journey to the light or dark side? I feel Disney played 'safe' with this film. I don't want to wait until episode 8 to get to the good stuff. I don't want to wait until episode 9 (which no doubt will be a 2 parter to further cash grab from the fans) to look at the trilogy in retrospect. Bring back imagination and originality for crying out loud. I thought this is what Disney and Star Wars were known for.

 

In my opinion almost any sequel is a cash grab. Even Empire Strikes Back.

Star Wars has always been a cash grab. But what's great is that because a profit is guaranteed, Lucasfilm can be experimental as they like. They can afford to take a risk on filmmakers like Rian Johnson. As long as there is good story, script, characters and effects, I will be satisfied.

That being said, I am a little concerned about the Anthology films. I'm not sure a Star Wars film a year is necessary.