Disney is about to gobble up Lucasfilms for $4.05 billion dollars. With the merger, current CEO Kathleen Kennedy would have to answer to Disney executives, while Lucas retires from his own company. On top of this, new Star Wars films are on the way. All this is great for Disney and Lucas, but we little people will be the ones suffering the consequences.
George Lucas was an independent filmmaker and a representative of those of us that thrive on local video contests or attend the Charles Theater for indie hits. He proved that anyone could scale Hollywood without dependence on a super-company. He remained our defender until Disney wrote a check, faltering slightly with selling his Pixar Animation Studios a few years ago. Lucas has now adhered to the overpowering greed that plagues many corporate leaders. Even Steven Spielberg originated as an independent, but has relied on large producers outside of his own company.
Successful or aspiring independent filmmakers now have very few idols left. Overall, the message that aspiring artists are getting is that you can never maintain your own success; there will always be a richer company that will want to buy you (unless you’re Disney, of course). But is any purchase price worth seeing the integrity of your work destroyed to look like it didn’t even originate from you?
Also, Disney is probably only doing this for cash. The failure of the Star Wars reboots reveals that the true fans want it put it to rest. Disney, however, will squeeze every penny from this franchise, churning out poorly written films and plastic merchandise only for the change in our pockets. They will trick us into advertising for them on trendy t-shirts and mugs. Afterwards, they will spend their profits on purchasing another franchise that they will exhaust, like they have with Marvel. Is Disney so stuck they have to buy other peoples’ ideas? Or are they collecting smaller, hard working artists, like us, so they don’t have to share? Either way, as an aspiring filmmaker and fan of the original Star Wars, I do not support the Disney-Lucasfilm deal, nor am I looking forward to the prospective new films.
