News Disney and Fox come to terms -- announcement soon; huge IP acquisition

[Wendy Pleakley]

If they do a full Skywalker Trilogy of Trilogies box set, I would really love for both the originals remastered and the CGI in the Special Editions to be 're-rendered' with modern assets. (I'm sure that is probably the wrong terminology). I like much of what is in the updated version of the Special Editions, but the CGI is bad. (I'm curious to see how all late 90's and 2000's CGI is handled over time. It seems like it would be a relatively inexpensive operation to update it to match the current resolutions, or could/would they even re-animate some of the CGI to improve the connection between CGI characters and the actors.)

I can't imagine Disney won't do something here, likely both before and after Episode IX comes out.

It's interesting that the special editions, with their modern effects, have aged quicker than the original films. It's a big reason I'm happy to see them using so many practical effects in the new films.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

Hmm... You know that’s how I took it, but you are correct it’s never specified which version got restored.

I believe it has been clarified that the 4K version is the special edition, however there's no reason they can't restore the original at some point. If a group of fans can do it (see the 4K77 project), Lucasfilm can do it. There's no way they haven't preserved an original film negative.

I've never been 100% clear on who has the right to release any given version of the original Star Wars. Fox owns the original film, but Lucasfilm has clearly dictated which version is released and when. If Fox owned the movie outright, surely they would have released an unaltered version in recent years, it's free money.

The internet has made the issue largely moot in any case. High quality versions of the original film are not hard to find.

 

[erasure fan1]

I hate the whitewashing of history. Everyone knows that Han shot first, not what is in the special editions!

For me it's not the whitewashing that bothers me. It's how bad it is as a whole. A lot of what was done just looked amateur. I'm looking at you ep4 Jabba Han scene. And I think because the attitude is we don't care what you want, it makes me more angry. I always find it funny when companies don't want my money.

 

[Robbiem]

Keeping the original edition from release is also a way of extending the copyright of the movies. If you can only see a ‘new’ version which counts as a new work the copyright starts from its release not the original release date so lucasfilm has extended its rights by 20+ years

 

[mab7689]

I want Vader's redemption without the 'No', and Anakin's force ghost back to its original actor

 

[Indy_UK]

I want the ‘noooo’ from ROTJ gone. Hayden as force ghost gone and the Jabba scene in ANH gone. Han shooting first then I’m happy for the rest to stay

 

[pdude81]

I want the ‘noooo’ from ROTJ gone. Hayden as force ghost gone and the Jabba scene in ANH gone. Han shooting first then I’m happy for the rest to stay

I don't even think Greedo got off a shot in the original but I'm not going to squint at my old vhs tapes to find out.

 

[Indy_UK]

Nope, I believe only Han only shot originally and later they just made Greedo the worst shot to miss a point blank shot

 

[nyrebel3]

Nope, I believe only Han only shot originally and later they just made Greedo the worst shot to miss a point blank shot

According to wiki -

Version 1.0 - Original: Han shot first, Greedo never fired

Version 2.0 - SE:1997: Greedo fired first and missed a non-moving target from 3 feet (good thing he is dead because he wouldn't get another bounty hunter job after that)

Version 2.1 - SE:2004: Greedo and Han fired simultaneously. But Greedo missed because of a CGI dodge by Han. I guess Lucas felt bad that he made Greedo such a putz.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

Nope, I believe only Han only shot originally and later they just made Greedo the worst shot to miss a point blank shot

Yes. It made sense too. Greedo was going to shoot Han so the self defense was justified, and the rather cold way he executed Greedo made his redemption that much more powerful later.

You can see this need to make Han the good guy carry over into the Solo movie as well.

 

[Rodan75]

I want the ‘noooo’ from ROTJ gone. Hayden as force ghost gone and the Jabba scene in ANH gone. Han shooting first then I’m happy for the rest to stay

I think there is a case for Hayden as force ghost. That version of Anakin is the predominant one across 2 movies and a long running show, so more people actually know that version of the Anakin than the one in ROTJ that appeared for 2 minutes.

 

[MisterPenguin]

Spoiler: Solo Spoiler

Han Shot First.

 

[AnotherDayAnotherDollar]

A little OT, but this thread is being used for these sort of topics anyways.

Disney is trying to buy SW TV rights back, but Turner is asking for money AND replacement content, as they should.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...id-to-seek-star-wars-rights-back-from-tbs-tnt

Disney made a preliminary inquiry about regaining the rights, but met resistance, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the talks were private. Turner has the rights to show the films on its cable networks, which include TNT and TBS, and online until 2024. The programmer would want financial considerations and programming to replace the lost films, one person said. The talks haven’t advanced further.

Disney sold certain rights to Turner in 2016, before it completed plans for the streaming service. The company has released four new Star Wars films since it acquired LucasFilm in 2012, and plans to release another in December 2019. Turner paid about $275 million for the six Star Wars movies released between 1977 and 2005, plus the newer titles.

This also tells me that Disney is looking into acquiring distribution rights and film rights to properties they own. I wouldn't be surprised if they reached out or will reach out to Paramount (Indy 1-4/future participation on Indy, domestic distribution rights to Titanic, domestic distribution rights to Terminator reboot), NBCU (Hulk rights of first refusal, some Namor movie rights, distribution rights to TIH, Ang Lee's Hulk, old Hulk TV show(s)), and Sony (Spider-man production and distribution rights, distribution rights to all Spider-man and related movies since 2002, rights to some of the cartoons).

 

[MisterPenguin]

Sony's planning a whole bunch of Spider-Man universe movies (that aren't MCU). They ain't giving up any of their distribution rights unless these Spider-Man spin-offs are all flops. Best Disney can hope for is to license the rights to show their IP on their streaming service.

 

[AnotherDayAnotherDollar]

Sony's planning a whole bunch of Spider-Man universe movies (that aren't MCU). They ain't giving up any of their distribution rights unless these Spider-Man spin-offs are all flops. Best Disney can hope for is to license the rights to show their IP on their streaming service.

Best Disney can hope for is Sony is serious about buying Endemol that Disney can use to leverage for a Spider-man movie rights trade. Most SNE investors are not too keen on SPE (the red headed step child of Sony) and especially the film division (the red headed step child of SPE).

It doesn't mean they will get it, but I'm sure they are/will be reaching out to those executives.

 

[Rodan75]

A little OT, but this thread is being used for these sort of topics anyways.

Disney is trying to buy SW TV rights back, but Turner is asking for money AND replacement content, as they should.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...id-to-seek-star-wars-rights-back-from-tbs-tnt





This also tells me that Disney is looking into acquiring distribution rights and film rights to properties they own. I wouldn't be surprised if they reached out or will reach out to Paramount (Indy 1-4/future participation on Indy, domestic distribution rights to Titanic, domestic distribution rights to Terminator reboot), NBCU (Hulk rights of first refusal, some Namor movie rights, distribution rights to TIH, Ang Lee's Hulk, old Hulk TV show(s)), and Sony (Spider-man production and distribution rights, distribution rights to all Spider-man and related movies since 2002, rights to some of the cartoons).

I thought that Disney already bought back the Indy rights?

 

[AnotherDayAnotherDollar]

I thought that Disney already bought back the Indy rights?

Disney bought future Indiana Jones distribution rights and marketing from Paramount. Distribution rights and marketing for Indiana Jones 1 - 4 are still owned by Paramount. Paramount also gets future financial participation for any new Indiana Jones movie(s) produced.

https://variety.com/2013/film/news/disney-acquires-indiana-jones-rights-from-paramount-1200927216/

That could all be simplified and I think Disney would like to do so, especially distribution for 1-4.

 

[D231016]

Only a couple of days left till 9th, but this week we barely have any news suggesting Fox & Disney are going to make another bid for sky, feels like it's not happening.

 

[Indy_UK]

I don't ever see Paramaount giving their Indy rights up.

If Nothing happens in the next week regarding SKY then I think Disney does intend to sell their 39% share, probably to Comcast. Certainly for another 30% of Hulu plus a ton of extra demands

 

[Rodan75]

Only a couple of days left till 9th, but this week we barely have any news suggesting Fox & Disney are going to make another bid for sky, feels like it's not happening.

Disney has demanded secrecy from Fox and the banks and has largely held the rumor lid tightly closed. It looks like Comcast was the source of much of the press on these deals. So Disney could very well be prepping another bid for SKY, we just wouldn't know until it happens.

I don't think Disney walks away from SKY without some understanding of getting something in return though.