Can George Lucas STOP cashing in on Star Wars?

[Archae]

Apparent not. :banghead:

"Star Wars," conducted: What possible new frontier could be left for George Lucas and his three-decade-old space fantasy epic? Well, going loud and live with orchestral power might do the trick. Jack Malvern has the story in the U.K.: "Lucasfilm has authorised 'Star Wars: A Musical Journey,' a retelling of the story that will combine excerpts of the film with live orchestral accompaniment. Diehard fans may dream of Jedi Knights serenading Jabba the Hutt and C-3PO singing 'Don’t cry for me, R2-D2' but they are likely to be disappointed. Producers for the show, which will have its world premiere in Britain, emphasised that although actors would be used to narrate the story, it would not be a stage musical. The production, which condenses more than 13 hours of film into 90 minutes, will be more like a classical music concert performed in front of a cinema screen, 27m (90ft) wide. The audience at the 17,000-seat O2 Arena in southeast London will watch key scenes from the film as 86 musicians from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra play extracts from John Williams’s score. The composer has reworked the music for the show, which will take place on April 10. Other shows may follow, depending on demand. Another Planet, the company that is producing the show, said that the biggest challenge faced by Lucasfilm was condensing the footage so that the story remained intelligible. Spencer Churchill, a producer, said that the running order of the scenes was still being finalised. 'We’ve worked out most of it,' he said. 'We originally thought it would be a chronological telling of the six films . . . but it is not as precise as that.' He declined to say which scenes had been cut, but insisted that most fans’ favourite moments had been preserved. 'Because there is so much to choose from there will be Star Wars fans out there who will say, ‘How come that wasn’t in there?’ But overall I think Lucasfilm has done a brilliant job.' " ...ALSO: I did a story on the show's producer, Another Planet, back in 2003 when the San Francisco company launched as a maverick force in the concert industry. You can read that story here.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2008/12/near-dark.html