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So as we talked about yesterday, Lucas referred to the Star Wars movies as “his kids” and Disney as “white slavers” in his recent interview with Charlie Rose. The implication being that Disney would take his kids and turn them out, so to speak, to make as much money as humanly possible, and milk the money machine for all it’s worth (and “its worth,” too).
Lucas apologized for the remark (we’ll get to that in a minute), but the first of the ironies is that Lucas would even make this remark in the first place, considering his history as the king of toy merchandising and licensed products. He famously negotiated for those rights prior to making the Star Wars movies, and sure, there’s no way he could have known it would take off the way it did.
But as Lucas’ former producer Gary Kurtz (for Star Wars and Empire) noted in a 2010 interview:
I could see where things were headed. The toy business began to drive the [Lucasfilm] empire. It’s a shame. They make three times as much on toys as they do on films. It’s natural to make decisions that protect the toy business, but that’s not the best thing for making quality films…
The first film and ‘Empire’ were about story and character, but I could see that George’s priorities were changing.
This is not “new news,” per se, though it’s entirely possible that Lucas, over the years, has developed a more nuanced take on this subject. He certainly seems to have taken the furor over the prequels to heart, so maybe he cares more about the franchise and the stories than he’s been given credit for.
That said, here’s the rest of his apology about the white slavers remark, as reported by Deadline: Hollywood:
I have been working with Disney for 40 years and chose them as the custodians of Star Wars because of my great respect for the company and [Disney CEO] Bob Iger’s leadership. Disney is doing an incredible job of taking care of and expanding the franchise. I rarely go out with statements to clarify my feelings but I feel it is important to make it clear that I am thrilled that Disney has the franchise and is moving it in such exciting directions in film, television and the parks. Most of all I’m blown away with the record breaking blockbuster success of the new movie and am very proud of JJ [Abrams] and Kathy [Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy].
Now, if you REALLY want to be cynical about this, check out this Forbes.com article, which puts forth the theory that Lucas only apologized because he’s a major stockholder in Disney – to the tune of more than $2 billion dollars. And that’s double the value of the stock when he sold Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012. Negative comments by him could possibly hurt Disney’s stock price, which would in turn hurt the value of his holdings.
What do you think? Did Lucas apologize because it was the right thing to do, or because it was the right thing to do for his pocketbook? Or is the truth somewhere in between? Have your say in the comments!
Trivia Time!
Test your knowledge of the Star Wars universe!Yesterday’s answer: Finn needed a pilot to escape the First Order
Today’s question: What was the name of the Star Destroyer on which Finn was serving?