Were we pranked, or did Disney really just buy Lucasfilm and announce a new Star Wars trilogy? We decided to just assume it’s happening and record a live flash podcast about this unexpected turn of events.

Special guests Ben Boychuk, Dan Moren, John Siracusa, and Serenity Caldwell.

This week’s MovieByte podcast is going to be taken over by Star Wars talk, but in the mean time, here’s another geeky podcast full of Star Wars talk. It was a lot of fun to listen to.

After agreeing a deal to buy George Lucas’ Lucasfilm Ltd, Disney is to make a new series of Star Wars franchise.

The companies have set 2015 as a release target for Star Wars: Episode 7, with Episode 8 and Episode 9 to follow as the long-term plan is to release a new feature every two or three years.

And:

Die-hard Star Wars fans (TheForce.net) say that a big-screen adaptation of the first book, ‘Heir to the Empire’ from ‘Thrawn Trilogy’ by Timothy Zahn would make the most logical Episode 7.

No, just no. Please, no. Does everyone realize they would have to recast all the…

Last week, we learned that X-Men: First Class director Matthew Vaughn would not be returning to direct the sequel X-Men: Days of Future Past, as had been previously expected. While that made for some disappointing news, perhaps the latest update on the project will cheer you up.

Bryan Singer has officially closed his deal to direct the upcoming film, confirming rumors that the First Class producer would swap places with the First Class helmer for Days of Future Past.

This is good news to me. As I mentioned before, the best X-Men films have been the films he directed so I think this is…

This could theoretically open the door to the original, un-altered versions of the Original Star Wars Trilogy becoming available legally and in HD. Then again, it could result in them being just as buried as original cuts of Disney titles.

Seven (Make that eight and counting) things after listening to their conference call announcement just now:

Moisés has some good stuff here, head on over and read it. I’ll also quote one more thing from him:

All in all, and call it controversial, but I firmly believe this is the best possible thing to happen to Star Wars in a…

Read The Rest

This is pretty boring, but it might be of interest with the big news from yesterday.

I did have to chuckle when Lucas talked about putting “the company somewhere in a larger entity that would protect it.” Why wouldn’t he just find a successor and keep the company independent if he wants to protect it?

When the news broke yesterday that George Lucas was passing off the Star Wars baton (or should I say, lightsaber) to Disney, I didn’t know what to think. I still don’t.

Allow me to clarify: I do know this is a big deal. I do not know if I should be happy about it.

On the one hand, it’s something of a relief to know that Lucas won’t be running his grubby fingers all over the franchise anymore. The guy did well with the first three films, but his handling of the prequels was so criminally poor it blew our minds in all the wrong ways. As a friend of mine put it, “If I ever met George…

Global leader in high-quality family entertainment agrees to acquire world-renowned Lucasfilm Ltd, including legendary STAR WARS franchise.

Acquisition continues Disney’s strategic focus on creating and monetizing the world’s best branded content, innovative technology and global growth to drive long-term shareholder value.

Lucasfilm to join company’s global portfolio of world class brands including Disney, ESPN, Pixar, Marvel and ABC.

STAR WARS: EPISODE 7 feature film targeted for release in 2015.

This seems big.

Also, I can’t resist translating this:

“For the past 35 years,…

“Our lives are not our own…”

That’s certainly the way I felt when watching Cloud Atlas for three hours in the theater. My life was no longer my own, it was hijacked by a very bad movie. I have never walked out on a film, and that statement is still true even after Cloud Atlas, but I wanted to walk out of this one.

Not that there weren’t enjoyable moments, but there was no cohesive whole. And the further into this three hour nightmare I went, the more I began to question whether the film would ever make any sense.

How Many Threads Now?

I must confess here and now that I have not read…

Remember The First Avenger, Captain America? He’s most notable as a lead character of this past summer’s The Avengers, but before that, he was the star-spangled-waving American legend of his own franchise. Marvel continues to overflow the superhero movie extravaganza with the first sequel for Captain, along with a new leading villain from Captain’s comic books: Crossbones.

Variety:

Frank Grillo has landed the role of the villainous Crossbones in Marvel and Disney’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

A key villain in Captain America’s rogues gallery, character debuted in 1989 as…