Effect of Disney's purchase of Lucas Film on Universal?

[Brian G.]

You are correct, but popularity is not affected by inflation, so IMO I think it's safe to say that HP will continue to outshine SW in the coming years, regardless of Disney's moves

Ok and?

 

[DK745]

You make it sound like they could have done anything they wanted with the property, and having heard things about the difficulty that Lucas had working with Eisner and other execs, I don't think it was as simple as that.

Now Disney has to answer to no one, they can sell darth maul as a princess if they want to now, to use a crazy example

Lucas turning down an idea to make money because of "difficulty" with Eisner and other execs? That can't be true.

 

[jtsalien]

You make it sound like they could have done anything they wanted with the property, and having heard things about the difficulty that Lucas had working with Eisner and other execs, I don't think it was as simple as that.

Now Disney has to answer to no one, they can sell darth maul as a princess if they want to now, to use a crazy example

There was without a doubt a strained relationship before. That was why we waited so long for ST 2.0. However, a big deal was made of Iger mending the relationship like he did with Pixar. And since the ride was well recieved and went smoothly, I see no reason why they couldn't get a deal done for anything they wanted.

Disney Parks is seen as a facet of the company where they can play around with low risk, low reward deals and stay at the top. No way they believed this 4 billion was needed to enhance their parks. It's as simple as that.

Ok and?

And because he said so.

 

[Brian G.]

And because he said so.

Silly me. Well since he wants to go this route...

Star Wars remains the most attended franchise in domestic box office history, as it has sold over twice as many tickets as Harry Potter.

 

[jtsalien]

Silly me. Well since he wants to go this route...

Star Wars remains the most attended franchise in domestic box office history, as it has sold over twice as many tickets as Harry Potter.

I don't think people really appreciate that. In a world without the internet or the ridiculous advertising we see today, Star Wars somehow became THAT popular. Generations of kids had their childhoods revolve around Star Wars, and it's just going to happen again with another triolgy. Star Wars toys still are all over the place. As much as we hate him for it, Lucas revolutionized that part of the movie business and its had a long lasting effect on the popularity of the series.

 

[knokout1]

Star Wars is like the representative of the SciFi genre. It's the president. It doesn't become popular nowadays because of people watching the film, I doubt many young people (young being around teenagers or less) even watched the Star Wars movie. That's how popularity started sure. But now ask kids about characters other than the very main cast. They won't know. Hell even I wouldn't. It's just so huge that it can't be missed.

 

[TylerDurden]

The way I see it, both franchises are huge powerhouses that both lend themselves well to theme park attractions. The thing is, Star Wars has truly stood the test of time, and didn't rely on 3-D, IMAX, and super-inflated ticket sales to propel it's box office receipts to the second largest series in the world. Harry Potter is kinda already fading in popularity but the Star Wars fan base remains strong. Anything Disney does will rival Potter, there's no question.

The thing is, Disney doesn't pose a threat to Universal not because Star Wars is a lesser franchise than HP but because they are now a company less willing to take risks and create innovative attractions. For the last decade or so Disney has relied on their brand name to draw crowds and haven't really brought any innovation to the table. They're a company more focused now on merchandising and branding. Star Wars is a much better and more expansive franchise than Potter, but Disney is a much lesser and 'safer' company than Universal.

 

[JungleSkip]

Harry Potter is kinda already fading in popularity but the Star Wars fan base remains strong.

Potter is fading?

news to me.

Seriously...I don't get how people can say that.

 

[Brian G.]

Honestly. I'm going to close this thread. We already have the "Official" thread on the deal, and the topic of Star Wars Land. This thread seems redundant and full of silly comments from both sides. On top of that, the question is somewhat pointless.