Origins and acquisitions of rights - PowerPoint Presentation

Origins and acquisitions of rights Written by George Lucas specifically for the screen. The story was based on outer space adventures of the 60s and 70s like Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers.Lucasfilm the production company of the franchise was founded by filmmaker George Lucas in 1971, and incorporated as Lucasfilm Ltd. on September 12, 1977. 20th Century Fox co produced and co funded the first two trilogies. After the release of all the original in prequel movies, in 2012. Lucas said he was considering retirement and planned to sell the company, as well as the Star Wars franchise.On December 21, 2012, the deal was announced to be completed, because of which Lucasfilm became a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney.20th Century Fox, the original distributor of the first six Star Wars films, still retains the physical distribution rights to the original two Star Wars trilogies, currently owning permanent full distribution rights for the original 1977 film, while also holding the theatrical and home video distribution rights to Episodes I–III, V, and VI until May 2020. On December 14, 2017, Disney agreed to acquire the Fox studio, which would combine all these rights under its umbrella. Lucasfilm retains the television and digital distribution rights to all the Star Wars films except the original

Timelines Movie order of release timeline: 1977 – Episode IV (4) A New Hope 1980 – Episode V (5) Empire Strikes Back 1983- Episode VI (6) Return of the Jedi 1999- Episode I (1) The Phantom Menace 2002- Episode II (2) Attack of the Clones 2005- Episode III (3) Revenge of the Sith 2015- Episode VII (7) The Force Awakens 2016- Rogue One – A Star Wars Story (anthology movie) This is set between episodes 3 and 4 (3.5) 2017- Episode VIII (8) The Last Jedi

Products The success of the Star Wars films led the franchise to become one of the most merchandised franchises in the world. In 1977, while filming the original film, George Lucas decided to take a 500,000-dollar pay-cut to his own salary as director, in exchange for fully owning the merchandising rights of the franchise to himself . Over the franchise's lifetime, such exchange cost 20th Century Fox, more than US$20 billion in merchandising revenue profits.Products range from toys and clothes to video games like (lego and battlefront) and even house hold appliances.

Budgets Fox invested $7.5 million, whereas Lucas originally budgeted $18 million for the film. However eager to begin shooting, Lucas took the offer. In the end the final budget for the original movie Episode 4 A New Hope was $11 million. This increased to $18   million for episode 5 Empire Strikes Back.Which increased even further to $32.5 million for episode 6 Return of the Jedi. This trend of increasing continued into the prequels at $115 million for Episode 1 and $120 million for Episode 2However it decreased to $113 million for Episode 3

Directors For the first Star Wars movie George Lucas took the role of director along with writerFor the second movie Irvin Kershner was appointed director and for the third Richard Marquand.For all three prequels George Lucas returned as directorLucas remained the writer for both the originals and the prequelsFor the latest trilogy, J. J. Abrams directed Episode 7 and is set to direct Episode 9 whereas Rian Johnson directed Episode 8 along with screenwriting

Cast: Original The main stars of the original trilogy were Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford. Mark Hamill portrays the protagonist Luke Skywalker, however Hamill was virtually unknown to the majority of the film industry in the public until star wars was released. This was a potential high risk for investors and the studio. After the success of Star Wars, Hamill found that audiences identified him very closely with the role of Luke Skywalker so it was hard to break away from this character in his later acting careerCarrie Fisher portrays Princess Leia, another role which changed the actors career in the film industry, Fisher’s mother was also no stranger to fame which effected the way she was accepted in the industry, Fisher was known only for one previous acting role which again was another risk factor was investorsHarrison Ford was perhaps the most experienced actor out of the three and was the least risky for potential investors, Lucas had also worked with Ford before

Cast: Prequel The main actors of the prequel trilogy had a very different experience to Hamill, Fisher and Ford. Hayden Christensen was casted to play Anakin Skywalker by Lucas, however loyal original trilogy audiences had a very different reception of Christensen than the producers hoped, although Christensen had a lot more previous acting experience than some actors in the original trilogy, some of the audience were openly disappointed with his performance, Christensen went on to retire from acting for 5 years prior to Episode 3. Ewan McGregor was another actor with a lot more experience than the previous actors of the original trilogy, McGregor was cast to the role of young Obi- Wan Kenobi. The character was originally played by Sir Alec Guinness in the first Star Wars trilogy. While the prequels received criticism from Star Wars fans, McGregor's performance was well receivedOverall the casting of the prequels along with the films themselves received mixed reviews causing speculation and problems for investors and the reputations of the studios and the cast and crew. There were quite a few stars in smaller roles such as Samuel L Jackson and some major fans even payed to make cameos in the prequel trilogy staring as background extra aliens or storm troopers.

Cast: New movies For the new movies, all three main actors from the original movies reprise their characters roles, this received much speculation and controversy with fans and critics Star Wars: The Force Awakens  received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics- Daisy Ridley was known with a small amount of the British public due to her small roles on TV programmes such as Silent Witness, Mr Selfridge, and Casualty. Ridley was cast as Rey. e Force Awakens was a major box-office hit and the highest-grossing film of 2015. After an early screening of the film, Brian Viner of the Daily Mail called Ridley the "real star of the show", adding that her performance as Rey should "send her career into orbit.’’Overall the other cast members of the Force Awakens and the Last Jedi such as John Boyega and Adam Driver received positive audience reception.

Marketing strategies: Original and Prequel At the time the original movies were released, marketing didn’t drive movies the way it does now. Instead of harnessing merchandising power and pre-existing fan bases, movies existed on their own creative merit Since the release of the first  Star Wars  movie (now called Star Wars: Episode 4—A New Hope), Lucasfilm (and now its parent company, Disney) has been leveraging the popularity of the story to sell ‘everything’Over the 38-year span of the Star Wars’ lifetime, Lucasfilm has licensed $20 billion worth of goods. The saga’s brand consistently finds a place in the top five licensed toy brands each year, according to NPD Group. Today, companies are harnessing Star Wars’ marketing power, creating Star Wars-themed everythingThe original Star Wars was a marketing machine. The movie was co-promoted with Burger King through commercials and merchandising (namely glasses, which are now collector’s items).Lucas sold toy merchandising rights to a company called Kenner, then owned by General Mills. In 1977, the demand for Kenner’s toys was so high, the company actually issued IOUs to waiting customers that included complimentary membership into the Star Wars fan clubThe company used direct mail marketing to promote the toys leading up to the movie’s release. Experts say this marks the beginning of the mega-movie marketing era, in which merchandising outpaces ticket sales.After Episode 6 The Ewok Adventures, now known as Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure, was released on November 25, 1984. This advertised the franchise to the younger audience which the movies were originally intended for. In 1987 Star Wars even earned its own themed area in Disneyland The first of the prequels were released in 1999 attracting long-time fans reinvigorated with the promise of a new generation of films, made in the dawn of CGI technology.  The next two movies were marketed using more digital and conventional techniques with today’s marketing strategies.

Success of marketing:

The cartoon series and video games In 2008 The Clone Wars  TV show is released. As the first weekly Star Wars TV series, the animated kids' show runs to this day on Cartoon Network, maintaining viewership from younger audiences.Other animation series made attracted and maintained the younger audience after the two trilogies were released.Video games range from the original arcade games from the 80’s to recent games like Star Wars Battle Front. There are even more video games than there are movies, series, books and comics.

Marketing: Disney and the New trilogy As soon as Disney bought Lucasfilm they announced that three new films were in the works—a sequel trilogy—the first of which would be released in 2015, this began the speculation and excitement amongst eager fans to see new movies, this also increased the income of the two other trilogies. Volkswagen also released a second Star Wars-themed Super Bowl ad ( a long with its first ad ‘the force’ in 2011, “The Bark Side,” which features a canine choir barking the iconic “Imperial March” most recognized as Darth Vader’s theme song. Within the first 24 hours of its launch, the commercial garnered 1.6 million views on YouTube."Force Friday" (September 4, 2015) marked the midnight unveiling of new Star Wars: The Force Awakens toys to the public at retailer locations like Target, The Disney Store, Toys 'R Us, etc. Every $1 of $11 spent that weekend went toward a Star Wars toy.

Box Office Figures

Notable Issues George Lucas approached United Artist with a pitch for a space opera called The Star Wars.  The studio passed on the idea, and Lucas went on to make  American Graffiti  before returning to his  Star Wars project two years later. After tinkering with the story, Lucas wrote a 13-page treatment for the project and presented it this time to Universal, who similarly rejected it, deeming it too strange and complaining that science fiction wasn’t popular enough at the time to merit such an expensive film. The film was eventually picked up by 20th Century Fox, and the rest was history.Shooting began in Tunisia to create the effect of a desert planet began filming in Tunisia. Unfortunately for Lucas, the switch in shooting locations wasn’t without its own issues. Shooting fell behind schedule when the set was hit with a rare Tunisian rainstorm. The set was also plagued with electronic breakdowns and prop malfunctions. Much of the crew laughed off the project as a kid’s film and rarely put in their all into filming. Kenny Baker, who played R2D2, thought the film would be a massive failure. Even Harrison Ford had his doubts, remarking how weird some elements of the film were, including Princess Leia’s buns and Chewbacca, who he claimed looked like a “giant in a monkey suit.”The director frequently clashed with his crew over creative differences and was largely dissatisfied with the look of costumes and sets, most of which failed to live up to his vision. He became visibly depressed and passed on his frustrations to his actors while providing little in the way of direction. After struggling to get his film finished on time, Lucas was disappointed to learn that the first cut of the film was, in his eyes, a “complete disaster.”

Future plans After Disney bought the franchise it was announced that three main movies they announced that three main movies would be made as a sequel trilogy along with three other anthology movies. This year: Solo- A Star Wars story is scheduled to be released in May. Next year: Episode IX (9) the final movie of the new trilogy is scheduled to be released.