Disney Corporate Greed To Blame For Current State Of Star Wars?

First, The Force Awakens killed off Han Solo. Then The Last Jedi saw Luke Skywalker and Admiral Ackbar each become one with the Force. Not surprisingly, fans are shocked, saddened and even angered by the way Disney and Lucasfilm have treated their favorite, original Star Wars trilogy characters. If recent rumors are true, fans are going to be even more angered by, and frustrated with, the direction in which Disney is taking the franchise. According to that rumor, our favorite characters are dying because of Disney corporate greed, and George Lucas.

According to YouTuber Doomcock, Bounding Into Comics reports, sources within Lucasfilm claim that George Lucas did not break all his ties to the franchise he created over four decades ago with his $4 billion sale to Disney. Instead, Lucas retained licensing rights to both the original trilogy and its characters. His continued interest also includes a twenty-five percent royalty to “any elements of the original trilogy that Disney uses.” Here’s where the Disney corporate greed comes into play.

Did Han die because of Disney corporate greed?

Even accounting for the hundreds of millions of dollars Disney has poured into the franchise, it only took about six years for the company to recoup its $4 billion investment. The profit Disney is making off of Star Wars right now is likely astronomical. However, if the rumor is true, George Lucas is still getting a quarter of anything derived from the original trilogy. That’s no small chunk of change. It would be no surprise if Disney did indeed want to keep that percentage for itself. But at what, true cost?  How is Disney corporate greed affecting the Star Wars franchise, and the fans?

Two of the three, main, original trilogy characters were killed off. Carrie Fisher’s character of Leia likely won’t survive The Rise of Skywalker, either. Fisher, of course, sadly passed away at the end of 2016. Without having to market and promote those characters, Disney corporate greed cuts into Lucas’s percentage considerably. This also puts what happened with Solo: A Star Wars Story in a whole new light.

Han Solo was George Lucas’s character, and one of the most popular movie characters ever. Solo should have been a colossal hit. Notwithstanding, the film was a comparable flop by Star Wars standards. That was due in part to a botched marketing campaign…. And also the timing of the film’s release, facing off against another Disney product in Avengers: Infinity War.  Now… one wonders if it wasn’t completely by design. Solo flops at the box office, thus precluding sequels… and assuring Disney will pay Lucas no more for the use of the Han Solo character.

We’ll continue to research this rumor, but it certainly paints things in a different perspective, doesn’t it? Never underestimate the power of corporate greed.

Source: Bounding Into Comics