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Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Hail to King Mickey! (Thoughts on Disney's Acquisition of "Star Wars")


Here’s a question for you: what do Buzz Lightyear, Spider-Man, Kermit the Frog, and (just recently) Darth Vader have in common? 

They all bow down to King Mickey.
The Walt Disney Company has just acquired Lucasfilm Ltd., adding Star Wars to their rich collection of marketable entertainment properties which already include those owned and created by Pixar, Muppet Studio, and Marvel (giant entertainment/creative companies that Disney owns).  Muppet Studio and Marvel has been acquired earlier this century, and now with Lucasfilm, I can say that the degree of how much I was stunned of news of acquisition by Disney escalates a notch with each one.  It makes me excited now how much pop culture/nerd properties and franchises would Disney own and what’s the next dramatic acquisition would be!      

Ever since its foundation by the awesome Walt Disney – who was a visionary genius and was way ahead of his time – the Company has been greatly innovative, aggressive, and ambitious on its operations.  Now with ventures in TV (they own several networks which includes ABC and ESPN), radio, the Internet, publishing, merchandising, theme parks, and movies, Disney could be the world’s largest and most influential multi-media entertainment conglomerate.  And Star Wars is one of the most significant pop culture properties in history; it has one of the biggest and most rapidly loyal fan bases in the world and it’s one of the most lucrative brands out there for merchandising; thus, with its acquisition, it shows that Disney is still at the top of its game and very much serious on staying so.
       

Aside from the production of more Star Wars live-action films, starting with the announced “Star Wars 7” on 2015 (gonna be a big movie year with Mockingjay, Ant-Man, Avengers 2, Avatar 2, and Justice League [which I’m doubtful to be successfully made at that time] also set for 2015), there are tons of things Disney can do from it.  Here are some of my ideas, some of which are very logical and probable to happen: 
  • Star Wars-themed rides in Disneyland
  • The return of Marvel-published Star Wars comicbooks
  • Princess Leia joining the Disney Princesses line-up
  • Pixar-animated Star Wars films/animated series
  • Expanding the Indiana Jones franchise (Lucasfilm shares ownership of the property with Paramount)
  • Etcetera, etcetera.   Plenty of possibilities to be excited about! 

Hmmmm.  This happening is still pretty surreal to me.  Wow.  Just wow.  Walt Disney has been dead for some time now but his sheer awesomeness is still carrying momentum till modern times.  It seems the House of Mouse is taking over Nerdom and the entertainment business one property at a time until, someday, King Mickey would reign supreme over all…  

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