Disney is pleased with the way its $4 billion acquisition of Lucasfilm is turning out, due to to the huge success of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens has been a massive success in the two weeks it has been out: It is now the ninth top grossing film of all time with $1.23 billion in the global box-office.
But George Lucas, the artist who created the Star Wars universe doesn’t feel the same way. In an interview with Charlie Rose, Lucas spoke about his and Disney’s branching vision to the deal itself. Lucas, who has always been protective of his series (referring to them as his “kids,” is not looking back well on the deal with Disney.
“I sold them to the white slavers that takes these things, and…,” Lucas said before laughing and deciding it better not to finish.
The father of Star Wars also opened up about why he and Disney disagreed about their decisions for the franchise’s future.
“They looked at the stories, and they said, ‘We want to make something for the fans,’” Lucas said. “They decided they didn’t want to use those stories, they decided they were going to do their own thing. … They weren’t that keen to have me involved anyway — but if I get in there, I’m just going to cause trouble, because they’re not going to do what I want them to do. And I don’t have the control to do that anymore, and all I would do is muck everything up,” he said. “And so I said, ‘OK, I will go my way, and I’ll let them go their way.’”
Retro Movie
“They wanted to do a retro movie. I don’t like that. Every movie, I worked very hard to make them different,” Lucas told Rose. “I made them completely different — different planets, different spaceships to make it new.”
Before the deal came about, Lucas said he planned on writing and directing the sequels to his original trilogy. Then the sale occurred. Disney was not interested in his ideas for the follow-ups, so he stayed away from the production of Force Awakens.
The latest installment will likely become the highest grossing film of all time, beating James Cameron’s Titanic and Avatar.
