After the news broke that George Lucas had sold LucasFilm to Disney, I took a little while to think about the ramifications of this decision. Up front, we knew that this meant that the House of Mouse would have control of two of the most beloved franchises ever, ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Indiana Jones’, and that they are planning a new ‘Star Wars’ trilogy with the first one coming in 2015. Immediately everyone took a negative stance on this deal. After looking at a few sides of the situation and playing devil’s advocate with myself (and my Facebook friends), I think I’ve come to a conclusion on how I feel about this: It could all be okay.

First off, look at what happened when Disney purchased Marvel. The House of Ideas continues to function on it’s own and they’re experiencing the same success they always have. Disney hasn’t done much except distribute and advertise ‘The Avengers’, which ended up being one of the highest grossing films of all time. Disney also owns ESPN, which also continues to operate as usual. Neither entity really shows signs of a Disney influence over them. After this purchase, it’s very possible that LucasFilm will continue to operate as usual and they’ll still be allowed to do their own thing.

Now, most people are worried about the new trilogy that was announced for 2015. Yes, the prequel trilogy wasn’t exactly loved as a whole, but think about it like this: George Lucas said in the announcement yesterday that “it’s now time for [him] to pass ‘Star Wars’ on to a new generation of filmmakers”. He sees that a new trilogy could use a fresh set of eyes so he’s handing the reins over to someone else, but he’s not jumping ship entirely because he’s staying on as a creative consultant. He’ll still be around to make sure that things stay true to ‘Star Wars’. And for those who say that it won’t truly be ‘Star Wars’ without the direction of Lucas, remember that he didn’t direct ‘Return of the Jedi’ or ‘The Empire Strikes Back’. Those are the two best ones, so the franchise can live without the father of the franchise sitting in the director’s chair. If Episodes VII, VIII, and IX are entrusted to a capable young director, then we may end up with a reinvigorated series, similar to what happened with J.J. Abrams and ‘Star Trek’.

Finally, the last reason why things might be okay with this Disney purchase of Lucasfilm is that finally after years and years of waiting we might just get a DVD or Blu-Ray release of ‘The Star Wars Holiday Special’!

Okay, maybe I’m half kidding about the holiday special (or not kidding at all), but regardless, this whole deal might not end up being so bad. After all, Disney has already been working closely with Lucasfilm to have ‘Star Wars’ characters, events, and rides at their parks for many years and all those things are pretty great. I mean have you ever been to a ‘Star Wars Weekend’ at Disney World? It’s one of the most fun times ever! And now that the two companies have joined, maybe we’ll get more of that stuff.

This acquisition doesn’t mean that we have a dark cloud over our beloved franchise. For all we know, it could get better from here. And although nothing will be better than THE trilogy, at least it’ll be better than the prequel trilogy.

Now, the real question here is what’s going to happen to ‘Indiana Jones’…

Let us know your thoughts on the whole situation in the comment section below!