In 2012, George Lucas sold Lucasfilm - and with it, the Star Wars franchise - to Disney for $4 billion. This led the Mouse House to launch a trilogy in 2015, starting with the JJ Abrams-directed “The Force Awakens”.
Rumors have always pointed towards Lucas not being particularly impressed by “The Force Awakens”. He even gave subtle hints of his dissatisfaction by quipping in an interview that selling Star Wars to Disney felt like selling his kids to slavers.
Disney CEO Bob Iger, promoting his tell-all book, “The Ride of a Lifetime: Lessons Learned From 15 Years As CEO Of The Walt Disney Company,” is about to make some news with Star Wars diehards. According to Iger in the book, Lucas was struggling to let go of Star Wars and felt personally let down because Lucasfilm didn't develop his own ideas for the Rey/Ren trilogy. The negative behind-the-scenes dramatics culminated to a head when Lucas finally saw “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.”
Just prior to the global release, Kathy screened The Force Awakens for George. He didn’t hide his disappointment. "There’s nothing new," he said. In each of the films in the original trilogy, it was important to him to present new worlds, new stories, new characters, and new technologies. In this one, he said, "There weren’t enough visual or technical leaps forward."
Still no distributor for "Bucking Fastard," "Alpha Gang," "The Last Photograph," "Closing Night," and "The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd." The issue seems to be quality more than a lack of willingness to buy.