Star Wars Authors Accuse Disney Of Withholding Years Of Royalty Payments

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Star Wars authors are accusing Disney of withholding years of royalty payments from novelizations of the films. Alan Dean Foster, a prolific Star Wars adapter, has written novelizations for the franchise since 1976 when he adapted Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope at George Lucas' request. The author has gone on to write several novelizations of the Star Wars universe. Those include 1978's Splinter of the Mind's Eye, a sequel to the original film, and 2002's The Approaching Storm, set prior to the events of Stars Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones.

Most recently, Foster wrote the movie novelization of Star Wars: The Force Awakens in 2015. Foster was approached by Shelly Shapiro of Del Rey Books to adapt the film. The author was given access to the screenplay of the film, as well as stills of the characters and the set to write it. That book became a #1 New York Times bestseller upon its release.

According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Foster alleges that, after Disney's acquisition of Lucasfilm, the royalty checks for his novels stopped coming in. He's not the only one. Authors of other novelizations of other properties, including Indiana Jones and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, also say that royalty checks stopped coming in. Foster says that Disney asked him to sign a non-disclosure agreement in order for the company to speak with him. The company now also owns the rights to novelizations he wrote of the Alien series after their acquisition of 20th Century Fox, for which he also says they have not paid him.

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Novelizations of popular properties are huge when it comes to expanding franchises. For Star Wars, they are especially important. In the years between films, they have helped to flesh out the universe that fans know and love. Many of them have become bestsellers, indicating not only their popularity within fandoms but their profitability for the studios and authors. Foster alleges that the royalties stopped coming in when Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012 and while integrating companies can be massive and confusing expenditures, it should not be hard to rectify the situation.

Disney's box office take continues to be through the roof and much of that is from the Star Wars films it has released post-acquisition. Now that their withholding of royalty checks have been brought to light, it should be easy to ensure that Foster, as well as the other authors who have come forward, receive the money they are due. It seems like Disney is needlessly complicating the process when it should be rather straight forward. Considering that many of the novelizations of Star Wars operate in tandem with the ongoing films and television series, it should be a no-brainer to pay these authors what they are owed.