The crossover potential resulting from the sale of Lucasfilm to Disney has left us reeling. After all, under George Lucas' stewardship, Lucasfilm had no problem signing off on Transformers mash-up action figures, adidas sneakers and Angry Birds spin-offs, so nothing is sacred. Here are a few of our favourite ideas...
Ever since the monolothic Disney corporation acquired Marvel, fans have dreamed about a Pixar film featuring the Marvel stable of characters. And not without reason — John Lasseter, Chief Creative Officer of both Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios, said he'd be "really open" to such a project earlier this year. Now that Disney has acquired Lucasfilm, however, a Pixar Star Wars film is even more likely.At this year's Star Wars Celebration VI in Orlando, Floria, Disney and Lucasfilm unveiled plans for merchandise that turns Cars characters into Star Wars characters — pics on display included Lightning McQueen as Luke Skywalker, Mater as Darth Vader, Holly Shiftwell as Princess Leia, and Luigi and Guido as C-3PO and R2-D2.
More compellingly, Pixar and Lucasfilm share common DNA. Pixar began life in 1979 as the Graphics Group of Lucasfilm's Computer Division, and worked on a number of projects — including Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan and Young Sherlock Holmes — with Lucasfilm subsidiary Industrial Light & Magic. When Lucas' divorce (and a dropoff in Star Wars revenue after the conclusion of the original trilogy) led to cash flow difficulties in 1986, he sold the group to some guy named Steve Jobs.
Hell, Pixar regular John Ratzenberger was even in The Empire Strikes Back! With that sort of history, can another CGI animated Star Wars film — maybe even a Han Solo/Buzz Lightyear team-up — be far away?
Dark Horse Comics have had the publishing rights to Star Wars locked up for 21 years now, but Marvel actually got there first. In an astonishing bit of foresight (hard to believe now, but Star Wars was not a hot property when it was in production), Marvel editor Roy Thomas snatched up the rights to the film early. Marvel produced a comic adaptation based on an early draft of the script, and followed that up with a series of new stories loosely (very, very loosely) based in the Star Wars universe.
These comics might be best remembered for Jaxxon, the big green bunny who "ruined Star Wars" 20 years before Jar Jar Binks made it chic, but they also featured work by a number of top creators, and continue to be sought after by fans.
When Disney acquired Marvel, comics being published by other companies featuring Disney characters soon found their way to Marvel (or were cancelled altogether), and it's not unreasonable to think Dark Horse might suffer the same fate.
Dark Horse President Mike Richardson certainly didn't allay those fears when he released this statement today: "Dark Horse and LucasFilm have a strong partnership which spans over 20 years, and has produced multiple characters and story lines which are now part of the Star Wars lore," he said. "Star Wars will be with us for the near future. Obviously, this deal changes the landscape, so we'll all have to see what it means for the future."
Tony Stark may not be about to face off with Anakin Skywalker anytime shortly, but expect Star Wars comics to start being released under the Marvel banner, and expect it sooner rather than later.
Once again, there's a history here. The Muppets Studio formed in 2004 when Disney acquired The Muppets from The Jim Henson Company, but long before that, Jim Henson had aided George Lucas in the creation and articulation of Yoda, and suggested to Lucas that he use Frank Oz as the puppeteer and voice of the beloved Jedi Master. Oz last voiced the character in 2005's Star Wars Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith. But the most intriguing crossover possibility — Yoda appearing on Sesame Street, perhaps meeting long-lost relative Grover and teaching kids that "fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate... leads to suffering" — isn't a possibility at all. Disney doesn't own Sesame Street, or the characters Jim Henson developed for the show (they belong to Sesame Workshop).
A Yoda cameo in the next Muppets movie? Sure. Yoda on Sesame Street? We don't believe it... and that is why it fails.
Disney owns 80% of this sports network, making it the perfect home for the 2013 World Whipcracking Championships, hosted by Harrison Ford. I don't know, I'm making this up as I go...
