Leia Organa becomes a Disney Princess

As everyone who would care already knows, George Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney for over $4 billion — considerably more than the value of an arm and a leg. Many were appalled, some indifferent and very few — if any — had positive reactions.

Although by making the prequels, George Lucas effectively broke “Star Wars” in a way that can never be undone; I believe there is room for redemption, and a few things people should understand about both the legacy and future of the “Star Wars” franchise.

Number one: By giving up creative control, George Lucas has given Disney the opportunity to re-release the original “Star Wars” trilogy without all the extra crap. Horrible CGI, Greedo shooting first, blinking Ewoks, Darth Vader’s soap opera scream, Jabba the bad graphics and the Hayden Christiansen ghost cameo are only some of the more pointless edits I’ve ever seen. The opportunity to see “Star Wars” as God intended is well worth the onslaught of sequels.

Number two: No matter how bad the planned episodes VII, VIII and IX could be, they can only be a step up from “Attack of the Clones.” When George Lucas made the original trilogy, he was a young and fairly inexperienced filmmaker. His dialogue was constantly being tweaked by the actors, and a second editor had to piece the film into a coherent story. By the time he made the prequels, no one was willing to challenge his ideas or authority because he is the guy who created “Star Wars” and they assumed anything he creates will be an instant hit. Now that he is no longer in creative control, there is a much higher probability that Disney can produce a quality product.

Number three: George Lucas is a terrible writer and director, but he is one of the most successful and influential businessmen of the last 50 years. The original trilogy was the vision of a young and ambitious director—all he cared about was telling a story. When it came to the prequels, it is very clear where his focus had shifted.

Look at Episodes I, II and III from a marketing perspective. He saw the opportunity to make three two-hour toy commercials, and he sold them perfectly. Take a moment and think about the expanse of the “Star Wars” universe. George Lucas has been exploiting the success of the original trilogy for decades now and he still managed to make billions off of the terrible prequels. Name one other businessman who was able to profit from such a terrible product and disappointment.

The acquisition of Lucasfilm by Disney is the best thing both parties could have done (not necessarily good for the audience, but it is clear Hollywood doesn’t think much about that). Even if Disney manages to further plunge the franchise into sacrilege, people will still be willing to buy a ticket to find out whether it is a success or failure. Unlike Harry Potter and the recent comic book franchises topping the box office records, Star Wars VII will have a legacy 38 years and counting. Its demographic extends across four decades of nerds. This will definitely shatter every box office record, regardless of its quality. Better start buying Disney shares now.