When I think of Star Wars, I think of daring heroes willing to take any chance necessary to save the day. When I think of movies, I think of excitement, fun, and creativity. I think of special effects and things blowing up.
What I never considered is the “business” behind the movie, because in fact movies are products too. This article titled ‘Star Wars’: Disney’s Latest Empire from Business Week changed my perspective. It suggests that Disney’s purchase of Lucas Films last month was mainly a move in risk management.
This is because Disney estimated that the next Star Wars movie was likely to be more successful than an undetermined new movie they could make instead. Now that I think about it, this makes a lot of sense. It is the same as a company buying the patent to a well know product that already has a high level of demand. There is a certain assurance and a guarantee of some revenue with a tried and tested product such as the Star Wars franchise.
This is interesting to me as I always have considered film to be an art form, however it is rooted in business much more than I previously thought.