Pop culture marriage made in heaven -Star Wars sagas & Indiana Jones adventures move to Mouse House: Sharon Waxman shares the first takes on Disney's surprising $4 Billion purchase of Lucsafilms via her WaxWord blog at TheWrap; listen to the Bob Iger and Jay Rasulo conference call explaining the deal; @Disney, @starwars

TheDisneyPost YouTube Channel: Disney to Acquire Lucasfilm. Uploaded October 30, 2012. http://youtu.be/QIkqX5fG_tA
See more at https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/blog/disney-acquire-lucasfilm

This afternoon while I was writing some emails and drafts of some future blog posts that you'll soon be seeing here, I received the Breaking News about Disney's purchase of Lucsafilms via an email from Sharon Waxman's TheWrap, our daily entertainment must-read. 

A few minutes later I listened to the entire conference call and heard analysts try to alternately pry and parry some good intel out of Jay Rasulo, Disney's CFO, that he didn't want to share, particularly as it involves valuation.

Much of the video above spoken by Disney CEO Robert Iger, better known to some of you as the husband of TV news personality Willow Bay, was later heard in the conference call that I listened to in its entirety. 

You can listen to the entire conference call here: 
http://edge.media-server.com/m/p/c2nj5j33/lan/en%20%20

In particular, they didn't want to talk in much detail about what the story is with Fox's distribution contract for prior Star Wars films and Paramount's deal for the Indiana Jones films.

As you listen, while you probably have already heard the big news that a new Star Wars film is slated for release in 2015, Episode 7, make sure you don't sleep on the news that Disney wants to bring Star Wars and its huge cast of characters and narratives to TV in some new fashion, geared towards kids, and to amusement parks.

TheWrap
WaxWord blog
Will the Force Be With Disney’s $4B 'Star Wars' Gamble?
By Sharon Waxman
Published: October 30, 2012 @ 7:58 pm

In buying Lucasfilm for a stunning $4.05 billion on Tuesday, Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger has made yet another bold gamble for the future of his media company, betting on a beloved but dusty franchise in need of a radical reimagining for a new generation. 

Read the rest of the post at:
http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/will-force-be-disney-s-4b-star-wars-gamble-62876



starwars YouTube Channel: George Lucas and Kathleen Kennedy discuss the future of Star Wars movies at Disney. Uploaded October 30, 2012. http://youtu.be/YyqlTi7lkhY

Headline of the year thus far, re 'Smurfs' in TheWrap: "Cheesy Reboot Will Annoy & Disgust Audiences of All Ages. Obnoxious blue imps..."

http://youtu.be/6CloK28bXtD

A few months ago after hearing that a new feature film called Green With Envy was coming out that featured an actor whose TV show I watch every week, Jason Segal of CBS-TV's How I met Your Mother, I looked for any teasers or trailers of it at the usual places.

I eventually found one, above, and discovered the female lead was someone I really liked, too -the radiant Amy Adams.

So far, so good.

The first 51 seconds or so seemed okay, but then... Muppets.

Ugh-h!!!

What a train wreck!

And I'm here to tell ya, Smurfs are even worse!

http://youtu.be/ku40DEMg57k

Poor Neil Patrick Harris!

Smurfs, Bratz, Strawberry Shortcake and My Little Pony are just some of the toy world's diabolical offerings that have literally given me the creeps and made me shudder for as long as I can remember whenever I've walked thru a retail store like Target, Walmart, CVS, et al, and see something from their evil empire.

So banal, so uninspiring, so unambitiuous...

All I could think was that some poor kids were going to be stuck getting this junk when some confused older relative of theirs freaked-out as a birthday or Christmas approached and they realized they had nothing for seven-year old Britney, Brittany or Chloe, so rather than showing some originality, they panicked and simply let their fear take over and became one of the consumer lemmings who took the easy way out.

(When they were younger and not the ambitious college students they are now at Washington & Lee and UVA (University of Virginia), yours truly, in his doting uncle mode, bought his two oldest nieces stuff from the Smithsonian Museum shop on The Mall at the American Museum of History -my favorite!- or, The National Geographic Scociety store at their HQ on 17th Street, N.W., a few blocks north of The White House.)

Which is the predicate for understanding why, so far, the headline of the year, seven months in, comes from Sharon Waxman's The Wrap:

Alonso Duralde reviews 'Smurfs': "Cheesy Reboot Will Annoy & Disgust Audiences of All Ages. Obnoxious blue imps do for children’s entertainment what lead paint does for children’s toys."

I smiled when I saw that and knew immediately that I would have to share it with you here, so pleased was I to see anything like it.

TheWrap

'Smurfs': Cheesy Reboot Will Annoy & Disgust Audiences of All Ages

Published: July 28, 2011 @ 10:17 am

By Alonso Duralde

Call your Congressman and demand that Central Park be federally protected from Hollywood.

This cherished New York institution was already overrun by Jim Carrey and a gaggle of pooping seabirds in this summer’s “Mr. Popper’s Penguins,” and now it’s being invaded by obnoxious blue imps in “The Smurfs,” a film that does for children’s entertainment what lead paint does for children’s toys.

Read the rest of the post at:

http://www.thewrap.com/movies/column-post/family-entertainment-goes-bad-worse-smurfs-29534

His previous columns at: http://www.thewrap.com/deal-central/column/alonso-duralde

See this gem involving the creator of The Simpsons, Matt Groening, whose books of cartoons I bought so many years ago at the Olsson's Books at Dupont Circle:

Fishbowl LA

eBay Gem: A Pre-Simpsons Matt Groening and His ‘Smurf House’

By Tina Dupuy on September 2, 2009 10:25 AM

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlla/ebay-gem-a-pre-simpsons-matt-groening-and-his-smurf-house_b9370

MEDIABISTRO'S FISHBOWL LA

Mediabistro's Fishbowl LA -Click the icon to see what's new inside Hollywood U.S.A. and the Left Coast.

After lunch today, I came across this in my inbox, my daily Snowmail email from London and Channel 4 News, with Carl Dinnen writing the news preview today:

Carl Dinnen here and I'm looking at Smurfs.

Smurfette, Papa Smurf and Clumsy Smurf to be precise.

Someone at the New York Stock Exchange thought it would be a swell idea to have them ring their opening bell today. But just four days and a few hours before the US federal government runs out of money due to a political squabble between the White House and Congress, putting the Smurfs in charge on Wall Street looks somehow appropriate. President Obama has been speaking this afternoon and Sarah Smith will have the latest from Washington while Siobhan Kennedy will be here to explain what happens to your mortgage (or pension or savings) if the US can't get its act together by Tuesday.

Obama 'running out of time' to solve US Debt crisis

http://bit.ly/pCGh28