One Year of Disney Star Wars: What We've Learned

What's This?

By Chris Taylor2013-10-31 00:49:26 UTC

One year ago — the afternoon of Oct. 30, 2012 — we got what was probably the year's biggest entertainment story. George Lucas was selling his company to Disney, and that meant a whole slate of new Star Wars movies. A million geeks felt a great disturbance in the Force, and took to Twitter to tap out all the Disney-related Star Wars jokes they could muster.

But far from killing the franchise, as many feared, Disney has given it a new lease on life. I predicted as much in this widely-shared op-ed a year ago, and have spent most of the intervening time reporting a book on the Star Wars phenomenon.

One thing that became clear early on is that there has never been this much anticipation in the history of the franchise — not even in 1999, the last time we were on the cusp of a new Star Wars trilogy. What have we learned in the past 12 months about the future of the franchise? Not a whole lot, as Lucasfilm continues to play its cards closer to its chest than just about any other entertainment subsidiary in the world. But here are a few lessons I've drawn:

Kathleen Kennedy is 100% in Charge

We knew Disney was likely to be hands-off, given the company's track record of letting Pixar and Marvel do their own thing. But we didn't know it was going to be quite this hands-off. And for that, you can credit the strong leadership of Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy, who gets what she wants every time.

Kennedy was the one who persuaded J.J. Abrams to direct Episode VII, despite the fact that Abrams initially refused. And what I've heard from insiders is that every shake-up at the company — the cancellation of the Clone Wars animated series, the shuttering of LucasArts and outsourcing of games to EA, the shelving of the comedy series Star Wars Detours, the development of Star Wars Rebels , the replacement of Episode VII scriptwriter Michael Arndt with Abrams and Star Wars veteran Lawrence Kasdan — was entirely Kennedy's call.

It's not necessarily what Disney would have done, and it's certainly not what Lucas would have done.

See also: J.J. Abrams on Star Wars: 'You Have to Force Yourself to Start Over'

When I met Kennedy at CinemaCon in April, I found her to be supremely poised, charming and confident without a trace of arrogance. She admitted that she's learning a lot from her new colleagues, and about the Star Wars franchise from its fans. She doesn't pretend to be a superfan herself, but knows one thing: story is paramount.

See also: The Star Wars Seven: Return of the Jedi Cast Reunited

To that end, she's set up a story group composed of Lucasfilm's smartest nerds. The group will coordinate plot points across all future films and TV shows so that they don't clash and do make sense with what we've learned in the past — because no franchise has more people watching more closely for tiny continuity errors than Star Wars does.

Kennedy hasn't contradicted Disney management, but put it this way: at that CinemaCon, Disney President Alan Horn had made a definitive announcement that Episode VII would be part of the studio's lineup in Summer 2015. When I asked Kennedy if that deadline was real, she didn't exactly toe the party line, even though "summer" is a fairly broad date. She knows that movie release dates have shifted before and will shift again. "We'll see," she said. "I don't want to commit to anything just yet."

There's Still Some Synergy

Disney would love more Star Wars content as soon as possible. If it can't have that, the next best thing is to start at least mentioning Star Wars in its other franchises. We've seen brief Star Wars references in Spider Man cartoons and on the ABC show Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, which made mention of the Sarlacc pit from Return of the Jedi.

We've seen Disney run ads for its theme parks featuring Star Wars characters. So far those ads are simply referencing the Star Tours ride, which got a revamp in 2011, and Star Wars Weekends, which have been running every May for years prior to the Lucasfilm sale. But the Mouse House did drop a few enormous hints at its D23 conference that we will soon be getting what every geek craves: a permanent Star Wars theme park, likely breaking ground in time for the new trilogy.

Silence Is Golden. Or Is It?

Here's a tip for every company launching a new product: the less you say about it, the more intrigued your customers get. Lucasfilm and Disney have been observing a silence so studious and disciplined about Episode VII that the company is starting to remind me of Apple. Certainly, there have been more fake "scoops" about Episode VII this year than about future iPads and iPhones (these days, the Apple rumor mill actually gets it right more often than not).

At the same time, Lucasfilm recognizes the need for fans to have something to talk about. So we've been getting the tiniest of drips: Episode VII will be filmed in the UK, and will be shot on 35mm film; 81-year-old John Williams will be returning to score the movie; old hands like Sound Designer Ben Burtt are on board too.

See also: Ad Agency Stirs Star Wars Controversy

The company has been managing the drip-feed with aplomb, making it clear that nothing is official until it hits Starwars.com. The coordination of this news has been a tremendous lesson in expert-level PR, also known as Jedi mind tricks.

For example, last week's announcement about screenwriter Arndt's departure from Episode VII could have been bad news. It wasn't exactly buried, but it was surrounded by a whole heap of solid details about the movie's crew, including Kasdan and Burtt's return. These aren't the droids you're looking for.

You're Getting So Much New Star Wars It's Ridiculous

Picture Kennedy as the conductor of an orchestra. 2013 was the year she tapped her baton and called for silence. What follows will be a tremendous, concordant, melodic symphony of Star Wars.

It kicks off with Star Wars Rebels , launching roughly this time next year, its style paying tribute to original Star Wars concept artist Ralph McQuarrie. Rebels will introduce us to a major new villain. We'll also get multiple TV specials about Darth Vader.

Then come the teasers, the trailers, and Episode VII in a blaze of hype in 2015. After that, we'll be getting a new Star Wars movie every single year, quite possibly until the end of time.

There will be standalone movies to complement the Episodes, each standalone focusing on a different Star Wars character. We still don't know exactly which characters, though speculation has centered on Boba Fett and Han Solo. It almost doesn't matter. Vast swaths of people will go to see them regardless, just as they line up for each new Marvel film — for which there also seems to be a boundless appetite.

Lucas Has Let Go ... Kind Of

2013 was the year George Lucas finally stepped back from Star Wars to focus on his planned Cultural Arts Museum, which he is hoping to build in San Francisco's Presidio. He said that he isn't involved in Episode VII story meetings, and only outlined some basic facts about the Star Wars universe at the very beginning of the process. Arndt wrote his preliminary 50-page outline based on Lucas' initial hasty treatment.

Lucas' biggest contribution to Episode VII as far as the fans were concerned was this: He accidentally let slip to BusinessWeek that he had been negotiating the return of Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford to the franchise. The company was waiting to announce this fact with "some big whoop-de-doo," Lucas said.

But according to his son Jett, Lucas has been having a harder time letting go than he lets on. Jett says his dad is "constantly talking" to J.J. Abrams, and compared the situation to a father having to deal with his child going off to college. We know the movie is experimenting with all sorts of things of which its father might not approve. For instance, it appears that less CGI will be used than we saw in the prequels, with old-school model animation taking its place.

Roll on then, 2014: Star Wars Episode VII's sophomore year. We can't wait to see this kid graduate.

Images: Chris Taylor, Mashable; Kevin Winter, Getty Images Entertainment

Topics: Entertainment, Film, Star Wars