It has been announced that there will be a new series of Star Wars movies produced and written by the same guys who write and produce “Game of Thrones.” This has been met with varied responses, depending on how much the person likes “Game of Thrones,” but it does say something about Disney, such as the way they fight to keep content, and profits to themselves and how they aim to get profits as well. Disney has a history of extending copyright laws to keep Mickey Mouse out of the public domain.
The first copyright laws from 1790 granted people a 14-year term with a 14-year renewal, granted the author was still alive at the end of the first 14 years. By the late 1990s, with the Sonny Bono Copyright Act of 1998, works created after the start of 1978 are granted “life of the author plus 70 years” or corporate works from 95 years from first publication or 120 years from the year of creation, according to Artrepenuer.com.
This phenomenon is called the “Mickey Mouse curve.”
So, while Disney does not own fairy tales, like Cinderella and Snow White, just their specific movies that draw from those stories, their continual need to cling tightly to their intellectual property that should have been given to the public decades ago is indicative of their want for making money.
This was also clear when they tried to trademark, which is used for words, symbols or phrases that may represent a company, Dia de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, a literal cultural holiday, when Coco was in the works.
Franchising is also a huge part of the Disney name, who now also owns Marvel Studios and Lucasfilm Ltd., both with huge, money-making franchises under their belt. Other media companies under Disney include ABC, ESPN and 21st Century Fox.
Other franchises Disney has created, like Pirates of the Caribbean, still have sequels being made, despite the movies becoming less and less favored by critics and consumers alike. Franchises and sequels are safe money because people love to see more of the stuff they already like, but at a certain point the game gets old, and the people working on the film stop caring about what they are making because it’s all for money anyway. Also, audiences get bored of the same stuff, eventually.
Star Wars is huge right now and it’s doing well financially, despite conflicting reviews of the Last Jedi from fans and critics. Critics liked it a lot more than the fans did.
And, even though the new upcoming Star Wars movie, Solo, about Han Solo, is not expected to fare well with audiences, due to directing changes in the middle of filming, the trailer just being released four months before premiering and the rumors that there was an acting coach brought in for the lead actor, who is portraying an iconic character and an iconic actor.
But now, it seems that Star Wars movies will saturate blockbuster released even more, with three more movies set to be made. It seems like easy money, because audiences and consumers love franchises, but soon the quality of the movies will deteriorate, like the Pirates franchise. These new movies will not have the distance and time that allowed Star Wars fans to forgive the mistakes of the prequels.
If we want to remember Star Wars fondly as an iconic cultural landmark, it’s time to stop making movies set in that universe, at least for another decade or so. Let us enjoy the stuff we have now.
Take some risks and create a new cultural icon, Disney.
