Disney owns Star Wars, they payed a hefty sum of 4.6 billion dollars for the rights to the franchise. As such, they can do with it as they please, of course, but their strategy so far has left the fandom disarray...
source: Wikipedia
There have always been discussions within the community of Star Wars fans about their favorite films, especially when the prequels came out; back when the original trilogy appeared in theaters there was no internet yet... But the discussions and speculations have always been lively. Sure, some liked movies better than others, but as far as I'm aware, there was never such a divide to the point that the fandom was literally split in two opposing camps, like it is now.
Although none of the Disney-produced movies failed at the box-office, it's clear that after the release of "The Last Jedi", a lot of fans were unsatisfied with the direction their favorite franchise has taken. This unrest has been magnified by Disney's public response to the fans that criticized the movie; they were called misogynists, male chauvinists and even racists, when in reality the bulk of the critique was aimed at the story that didn't respect established lore and was full of plot-holes.
Vader - Shards of a Dream: Lucasfilm Stabs a Fan in the Back
But Star Wars fans are Star Wars fans, so they won't let Disney spoil their fun completely. It's a long tradition now that the fans create their own Star Wars content, and occasionally the fans surprise us with some great stuff. In December 2018, well known Star Wars content creator and YouTuber Star Wars Theory released part one of a fan-made series of short films, VADER EPISODE 1: SHARDS OF THE PAST. Before he was able to release this though, he had to comply with legal obligations toward the owners of the franchise, Disney. He got permission to release, but he isn't allowed to monetize the content, he cannot get payed for his work.
But he is a real fan, so he decided to finance everything himself, because he also didn't get permission to crowdfund, without any chance of ever seeing one cent of his investment come back. I don't know for sure, as I haven't investigated that, but I've heard several times that the whole thing cost a total of 100,000 dollar; he payed the actors and even hired someone to compose the music! But apparently, one of the compositions sounded too much like the original music...
The Fandom Menace Pressures Disney and Lucasfilm Steps Up
Now, Disney is the owner, so they did nothing illegal here, but what they did is sooooo sad, childish almost. Disney filed a copyright case against Star Wars Theory, claimed the entire production for themselves AND monetized the video for themselves. They didn't spend a dime or one second, they forbade the creator to earn any money from his labor, but saw fit to make a quick buck themselves as soon as they saw a chance to do so... It's almost as if they're jealous.
The backlash from this move by Disney on the web was immense. I'm glad to say that the fandom has won this mini-battle: LucasArts stepped in and got Disney to remove the case. We can once again enjoy the fan-film without feeling guilty about making money for the company that treats it's fans so badly. Disney is a billion dollar company that could make good Star Wars films themselves, but they have chosen to not listen to their most loyal fans. They should be ashamed that some YouTuber, who is a true fan, is able to make something that's better than they're able to make themselves with a multi-billion dollar budget.
Anyhow, it's wonderful to see this type of abuse of corporate power challenged and defeated for once. Now that Disney won't profit from it anymore, please enjoy the video:
VADER EPISODE 1: SHARDS OF THE PAST - A STAR WARS THEORY FAN-FILM
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