In the years since selling Lucasfilm to Disney, “Star Wars” creator George Lucas has remained fairly mum about his thoughts regarding the direction the Mouse House has taken his beloved franchise. Sure, he’s given some comments, normally erring on the side of faint praise. But according to Disney CEO Bob Iger, Lucas had issues with Disney’s use of “Star Wars” right at the very beginning, with ‘The Force Awakens.’
In his new memoir (via Comicbook.com), Iger details the disappointment that George Lucas had with JJ Abrams’ “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” And according to the CEO, Lucas’ criticism of the massive hit film had nothing to do with the treatment of the characters. Instead, Lucas just wanted to see more new stuff in this continuation of the Skywalker Saga.
In the memoir, Iger wrote:
“In each of the films in the original trilogy, it was important to [Lucas] to present new worlds, new stories, new characters, and new technologies. In this one, he said, ‘There weren’t enough visual or technical leaps forward.’ He wasn’t wrong, but he also wasn’t appreciating the pressure we were under to give ardent fans a film that felt quintessentially ‘Star Wars.’”
He added, “We’d intentionally created a world that was visually and tonally connected to the earlier films, to not stray too far from what people loved and expected, and George was criticizing us for the very thing we were trying to do.”
For as much as people seem to enjoy ‘The Force Awakens,’ most of those defenders will readily admit that the film is basically a carbon copy of ‘A New Hope.’ To say that the film is nostalgic is very much an understatement. However, it’s clear that Iger and the rest of Disney and Lucasfilm wanted it to be a complete nostalgia trip. But Lucas just hoped that they would have done something different and unique.
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That being said, the last time Lucas tried to expand the “Star Wars” mythology with films was the Prequel Trilogy, and we all know how that went. Sure, those films are often criticized as being lesser than his Original Trilogy, but you have to admit that Lucas was definitely trying to expand the universe in new ways. That expansion just included a lot of trade politics and Jar Jar Binks.
Either way, even though Lucas might not have given ‘The Force Awakens’ his seal of approval, Disney’s choice to bank on nostalgia paid off handsomely, as the film earned well over $2 billion worldwide.
