Star Wars After George Lucas

[Music] you [Music] do you've got to remember star wars came from nowhere american graffiti came from nowhere there was nothing like it now if you do anything it's not a sequel or not a tv series or not or it doesn't look like one they won't do it they say we want something that well that's the downside of star wars that's the downside of star wars and it really shows an enormous lack of imagination and fear of creativity on the part of an industry the film is breaking attendance records all over the country not since jaws have so many people stood in line to see a movie the movie is pure escapism no big social message but these days with the way the world is there is a lot to escape from so it's a good bet that many americans this spring will be going to that galaxy long ago and far far away it's finally here the return of the jedi part three of the star wars film phenomenon which will open nationally tomorrow and as mike jensen reports tonight hundreds of companies are involved in the jedi film for them the phrase may the force be with you means let the money roll in all i've got to say the jedi have returned we're just fanatics out here waiting on return to jail like three years in the making we're waiting for this some people don't idolize darth vader like i do see i want him to get luke and this third movie in the series return of the jedi is bringing with it the biggest merchandise and promotional blitz ever to come out of hollywood please have your ticket ready go in and out for immediate main floor and balcony seating hold your own ticket as you enter the theater please but the kids went ballistic and within i'd say two or three minutes after that the adults started following right along sharing in the what became the prevailing joy of that experience january 1997 the star wars trilogy special edition stars and fans alike clamor to experience the film why is it that 20 years after its initial release the appeal of this classic adventure is stronger than ever i had never been as kinetically thrilled about watching a world that somebody had created that i just wanted to exist in forever it was really a pretty seminal event and i think the lives of all my peers and that that entire generation as a matter of fact this movie brought the movies to a different age 20 years ago and i think it's going to be the same situation here 20 years later because kids are really going to get to see what a real movie is like it's exciting i never thought something like this would happen but it's been a big thrill no doubt about it star wars is still a force to be reckoned with 20 years after it first came out the new edition of the movie simply blew away the competition this week george lucas wasn't satisfied he took star wars from what was the best in 1977 to what is the best now in 1997. but it's like colorizing casablanca or something you know do you really want to do that they made a great film they made a great film in 77. well it's like changing a classic film they made it great as far as i know he was sick of it but for his fans he went out of his way to do it for us i've been working on the prequels for two years uh we'll be shooting uh late this year and uh you know won't come out until 99 because we have a lot of post-production a lot of animation and stuff in the film so you know it's it's in the works i work on it every single day it's the movie event of the decade that's why we're here all of us when you watch star wars and when luke skywalker looks looks out into the sunset you want to be you want to be in his place you know and that's what's really amazing there are new generations of star wars fans these guys half of them weren't even born before the original came out are you guys psyched to see this movie or what it was amazing it was everything i thought it was going to be and more thumbs up or thumbs down um god i'd put my feet up if i could pandemonium everybody was out there just screaming yelling when lucasfilm logo came up and 20th century fox came up that was the best but most film critics hated episodes one and two mr back no again joshua you're something big dude this time how worried are you that the critics are not gonna like this new movie oh i'm not worried at all they haven't liked any of them really and they especially haven't liked the last two so well exactly you know i mean it can't get any worse yeah but come on i mean when they go after your writing you're directing it has to hurt oh it always hurts it hurts a great deal but part of making movies is you get attacked and sometimes in very personal ways what makes a man's legacy is it the vast wealth and luxury he's obtained the admiration of his peers the perfection of his craft or the building of an ever-growing empire perhaps when you reach the level of historical influence that george lucas has you truly have no say in what your legacy is after your story ends since 1971 george lucas has led an extraordinary career in the film industry and whether by accident or fate his impact in cinema is still felt to this day it's hard for anyone born after 1977 to think of a time before star wars george lucas once said if you can get the kids on board you have fans for the next 30 years but in 1977 no one realized that this experimental director from modesto california would make a film that fans would cherish forever to understand george walton lucas we must first look at his experience in the film industry before the star wars films were created you must know why his disdain for the hollywood film industry affected the way he not only made movies but how it changed the way the star wars franchise was shaped lucas was a natural perfectionist when he began working on a film he was detail-oriented and hard set on making his visions come to life exactly how he imagined them this made him an ideal filmmaker in the 60s and 70s but i did have a very strong feeling about being able to be in control of my work and not having people tamper with it there's an old saying you're only as good as the company you keep and george lucas kept the best company anyone could ask for he was part of a group now called the movie brats the small group consisted of some of the greatest filmmakers of the era the group's members were francis ford coppola john milius brian de palma steven spielberg martin scorsese robert altman and of course george lucas himself these were filmmakers who were well respected in film schools but made their impact on the industry in the 70s and eventually changed film as we know it today lucas may not have been the most renowned director of the group but he was the most revolutionary and his influence can be felt in many other films lucas has only directed six truly traditional films but of course by cinema standards none of these films were traditional hollywood style movies the first of the six films was thx 1138 released in 1971 this was a movie based on a dystopian future of the world and society showing a small glimpse of the type of worlds lucas would later build in his star wars franchise the second film was a different challenge for the young director a comedy movie called american graffiti released in 1973 it mirrored the life of a young george lucas in his hometown of modesto california where he and his friends would spend their nights cruising around town drag racing and trying to pick up girls after american graffiti lucas would only direct four more films within the next 32 years all four of them being a part of his star wars franchise he directed the first star wars film now titled a new hope but stepped away from the director's chair for the next 22 years until he began work on the star wars prequels of which he directed all three this short list of movies lucas directed can mislead one into believing his impact on film was only due to his work on star wars when in fact if you look deeper into the story you can see how this small town director grew up to be one of the most influential and revolutionary modern day storytellers though the first two films lucas directed did not see the fame and glory of star wars they can still show the type of director he was his first film thx 1138 initially caused lucas to show disdain for the hollywood studio system when he turned in the final film to warner brothers they cut four minutes from the movie this infuriated lucas because the studio was changing his film that they had no real involvement in it was a frustration that began to build inside which he never forgave and he never forgot when thx 1138 released it was a commercial flop looking at critic reviews the same pattern of comments applied to most george lucas films later in his career apply to this film as well the most common complaints included the lack of emotional connection to the characters and mostly an uninteresting plot and storyline the compliments naturally came from the visuals the film showed and looking back now it is easy to see how the world of thx 1138 helped inspired the star wars films one critic noted lucas is obviously a master of cinematic effects with a special remarkable gift for discovering the look of the future and mundane places another critic added the real excitement of thx 1138 is not really the message but the medium the use of film not to tell a story so much as to convey an experience a credible impression of a fantastic and scary dictatorship of tomorrow thx was a parable about the way we were living in 1970 it wasn't about the future the next film from lucas was a challenge from his film mentor francis ford coppola director of the godfather who wanted to see a comedy film from george i had gone from being extremely experimental and hard edged and then really taking up a challenge that francis gave me i bet you can't do just a silly comedy you know kind of warm and fuzzy comedy so okay i'll try that much like his experience on thx 1138 the studio hated american graffiti the movie served as a testament to those who grew up in the 60s since it was based directly in the childhood of a young george lucas soaked in statements of the era studio executives notably did not like the constant use of music from the 60s which they felt was unnecessary they also edited the final version down yet again cutting four minutes from the full run time solidifying the grudge lucas had toward the hollywood system they had stripped the director of his true vision of a film that he had worked on and the studio only distributed to the shock of many american graffiti was a smashing success audiences loved the use of music from the 60s it resonated with the people who grew up in the same time period giving them a sense of nostalgia and capturing the final days of innocence teens felt when high school ended it was filmed on such a cheap budget yet made so much money in the box office it became the most successful movie of all time until star wars is released years later the movie made lucas an instant millionaire he used the money from american graffiti to help finance his future space opera film set in a galaxy far far away but also used the money to finance his three companies lucasfilm skywalker sound and industrial light and magic george was the kind of maverick from northern california an independent filmmaker who was always extremely uh proud that he had very few attachments to hollywood time went on lucas expanded on his growing empire by creating thx and lucas arts and at the return of the jedi lucasfilm still continued to revolutionize the film industry hi i'm samuel l jackson many of cinema's most memorable moments have been created here at industrial light and magic tonight we'll take you behind the scenes at ilm so you can see how these groundbreaking artists create their incredible illusions in 1984 industrial light and magic also known as ilm introduced edit droid and sounddroid the world's first non-linear editing system in 1985 lucas invented the first pixar computer creating a new form of animation with 3d realism although george lucas eventually turned down the idea of making 3d realistic films due to high cost eventually lucas sold pixar to apple creator steve jobs who took pixar and the movie ideas lucas turned down into movies like toy story and a bug's life pixar became a massive animation studio that like lucasfilm was later sold to disney and continues to make successful films today when commenting on the loss of pixar and the ability to create animated films george lucas said the only thing i regret is having let the successful model out into the world where others could copy it when it came to pixar his greatest loss was not a financial one or the stories he might have told but instead that he had held the technology first and lost the opportunity to create something truly original uh and then at some point he decides he doesn't want to own this unit anymore he wants to spin it out what was the circumstance there because he had well what happened was he got divorced ah and his first wife got the money and he got the company got it so that was a probably a good move on his part yeah so the cash was very intentional right he was now basically building using the company and it also meant that for the time being he was no longer in the same cash position and basically had to pair back to his core which was the filmmaking after the completion of return of the jedi it was time to build the lucas home empire which sought after some of the greatest talents in the industry one of them named ken ralston who won five oscars under ilm working for the company for 20 years until he became president of sony pictures image works he won awards for his works on return of the jedi who framed roger rabbit horror skump and star trek even after leaving ilm he won countless awards in the field another amazing talent lucas hired was john knoll creator of the popular software adobe photoshop noel received a special phrase from lucas who believed his work was nothing short of genius which allowed him to work his way to visual effects supervisor for lucasfilm other notable figures that started with the lucasfilm team include david fincher director of the social network and zodiac joe johnson the director of honey i shrunk the kids and captain america the first avenger steve starkey producer of forrest gump and colin wilson who produced avatar all these accomplished careers stemmed from lucasfilm in ilm george lucas was able to hire and shape this team into pioneers of the film industry he no longer needed to create films unless he wanted to lucas was his own boss where he called all the shots and no hollywood studio could interfere with his vision a lucasfilm employee spoke about the importance of the company in the movie making industry saying although hollywood resented anyone outside of los angeles we were too important to ignore so we had their grudging respect it's always going to come back to story and character and creating an experience but how people watch it and what they can see is going to change and evolve and if george has anything to do with it i suspect ilm will be right at the center of all that ilm has has given a tremendous gift to the world and especially to the world of you know filmmaking and filmmakers and they have allowed us to dream ilms body of work is something to be extremely proud of i mean you go back and look at all the things that ilm has done it's just it's the history of movies at the last part of the 20th century and into the 21st century in 1996 lucasian was facing financial difficulties the company had not experienced since its inception the money from toy deals lucas made with the original star wars films began to dwindle and home video sales for the films started to decline leaving only two real sources of income for the company producing movies and ilm in 1997 george lucas decided to re-release the star wars films in theaters this time restored and remastered i had an ulterior motive that i had been thinking about for a long time actually ever since the films were finished which is there were various things especially in the original film that i wasn't satisfied with special effects shots that never really were finished scenes that hadn't you know that i wanted to include that couldn't have been included for some reason mostly money and time and i really wanted to to fix the film and have it be completed when lucas originally discussed this he was met with a lot of pushback from the executives at lucasfilm who said it's a distraction we're not in the restoration business they believed the real money would be in making more star wars films not only from the box office sales but the toy deals marketing video games and licensing agreements there were millions if not billions to be made with more star wars films the executives of lucasfilm and many of the employees were reluctant at the time to remaster the original star wars films but lucas saw this as an opportunity to form the movies the way he originally envisioned them this led to a standoff between lucas and the employees at lucasfilm and ilm employees at ilm opened up a billing account for the restoration and started to charge for all the time they spent on the project which they truly felt was a waste of money and resources of course no one at lucasfilm felt like it was their place to tell the boss how they really felt about his new project at the skywalker ranch where the lucas home executives worked the restoration was at a point of conflict that lucas won in the end but not without a fight the executives at lucasfilm formed a committee to oversee the restoration project and told tom christopher the overseer of the special editions to mute the project lucas naturally found a way around this petty move he asked to meet with tom every friday and received reports on how the project was going instead of the committee getting their way to silence the project george took back control the remastered star wars films went on to be named the special editions their introduction came alongside a very prominent debate that still racks the star wars community and even the art realm should the public have a voice in how art is memorialized and remembered or should that decision be left to the artist in 1997 the special editions showcased a remastered star wars but it was not the star wars the kids of the 80s remembered these shiny new versions of the beloved films felt misleading with pivotal scenes and characters subtly changed to create what felt like an empty reflection of the originals since then fans have asked for a modernized version of the original films one without the unwanted extra adjustments but to no avail the reason for this can really be boiled down to a stubborn artist george lucas believes that the special editions are the truest additions of star wars simply because he prefers it the most obvious thing that's happened is we've gone back to the original negative cleaned it up considerably redone a lot of the optical effects the wipes the dissolves and and improve the quality of the film because it was deteriorating and uh i think this one had deteriorated a lot more than anybody expected in 20 years so you're getting to see a brand new print that's that's very clean and is actually better than the original release tom christopher asked him if they should order a duplicate negative of the original star wars films which would allow them to keep the original versions of star wars lucas replied this is the original version which meant that what fans critics and even employees at lucasfilm saw as a restoration or a remastered version of the original films george lucas considered to be the final version of star wars for me i got to remake the movie and get it be finished the way i want so i'm perfectly happy but it would be fun to be able to share that intangible part of the experience of seeing in a large theater with hopefully millions of people despite the debate on whether it should have been remastered or not the special editions skyrocketed to the top of the box office for three weeks straight in total the three films made more than 250 million dollars in revenue surprising the executives at lucasfilm on the success and bringing back george lucas into the game of filmmaking star wars was back these so-called unwanted re-releases made enough money to fund the next trilogy of star wars films the star wars prequels the birth of the star wars special editions marked the first time fans would block horns with george lucas on a grand scale fans wanted to see the original versions arguing that those were the star wars films everyone fell in love with for years onward fans begged to have the original versions on dvd but lucas saw no need to release the theatrical versions it was not until the year 2004 that fans could finally get their hands on what they'd been dreaming of the original star wars films on dvd but they were still not the copies fans had hoped for these versions were copies of a laserdisc version of the films from the early 90s which translated to terrible grainy quality to this day george lucas has refused to let the unaltered versions of the trilogy be released even after disney purchased lucasfilm in 2012 the decision to release the originals is one that lucas and only lucas is able to make closest fans have gotten to an unaltered star wars movie was in 2019 when lucas allowed a special screening of rogue one followed by the unaltered new hope the only change from the original film was the opening crawl with the subsequently added title a new hope i'm very sorry you all fell in love with a half completed film but i want it to be the way i want it to be i'm the one who has to take responsibility for it i am the one who has to have people throwing rocks at me all the time and if they're going to throw rocks at me i want them to throw rocks at me for something that i love rather than something that i don't think is very good or i don't even think is finished ah you yourself led the campaign against the colorization of films you understand why films shouldn't be changed that's different these are my movies after 1997 the relationship between lucas and star wars fans had dwindled but not enough to tear fans away from the franchise they adored with the promise of a new trilogy on the horizon everyone knew star wars was back and they were ready to start a new era in the star wars universe over the course of the next eight years lucas would return to the galaxy far far away sitting in the director's chair for the first time in 22 years to tell a story before luke before han and before leia george had to wait to do the prequels because his vision was so grand and it was so big and he wanted to do so much that he had to wait for the technology to catch him and i think what he saw in ilm and the work that ilm was doing throughout the 1990s sort of encouraged him to believe that finally the time had come and it was absolutely possible to achieve greatness it's painful it's scary a lot of things and you need somebody there to hold your hand and say look i'll take the blame if this doesn't work i take the blame and that's why i've always done it in my own movies lucas approached making the prequels in a different way compared to the original films he no longer needed another company to back the film financially with the money from the special editions and other sources of revenue the independent studio could fund the film entirely by itself lucas now had complete creative control with no one to tell him what to do or how to do it this led many critics and fans to believe that during the creation of the prequel trilogy lucas had no one to collaborate with common complaints during the time the prequels were being made are that he was surrounded by yes men how could you critique the man who created star wars this was no ordinary director or filmmaker this was george lucas though shy and often quiet his presence was always felt in a room even among his staff at lucasfilm george was a celebrity and icon the executives would bring him toys and posters to ask for autographs for family and friends to which lucas replied this is a business not a fan club you'd be better off sitting on the corner and just beg like everybody else i don't like the bad guys but i'm saying i don't the i can't see you they can't meet you george lucas hated signing autographs once he was sent six marvel star wars comic books to autograph for charity he signed them and sent them with a note saying to never ask him to autograph anything ever again including things for charity it is rare to find autographs from george lucas because he rarely signs them and never does it with pleasure this did not mean he never gave out autographs to his employees to show appreciation for their hard work leading up to the release of the phantom menace lucas spent a day signing autographs for all lucas home employees when creating the phantom menace george made decisions he knew that would not be marketable or popular executives at fox told lucas that he would ruin the star wars franchise by casting a nine-year-old boy for the main character anakin skywalker lucas told the executives at lucasfilm he was making a movie that nobody wanted to see there is a group of of um fans from the films that don't like comic sidekicks they want the films to be tough and like terminator and they want to be you know real guy movies and they get very very upset and very opinionated about anything that has anything to do with being childlike which the movies are for children but they don't admit that and or a comic sidekick because they don't want comedy in these movies the prequels only further divided fans critics and casual audiences from george lucas the worst among them called parts of the phantom menace racist claimed lucas raped their childhood and slandered the man for the next 10 years the star wars legacy had changed and the perception of lucas had changed along with it he was once an innovator the creator of star wars indiana jones and american graffiti but it seemed now that he was a man made up by his mistakes his accomplishments forgotten at the turn of the 21st century fans and critics alike felt that lucas had lost touch with his galaxy far far away the optimism for more star wars films faded but there still remained a hopeful and loyal audience for star wars that never did fade as older fans left the franchise feeling like the movies no longer captured their imagination a new generation of fans began to grow kids and teenagers who were growing up with this new era of star wars content all thanks to george lucas after the prequels concluded in 2005 there was no clear path for the franchise and its films would there be in episode 7 it seemed at the time fans and audiences were not ready for more star wars films but that didn't deter lucasfilm from making more star wars content after revenge of the sith lucas had two separate star wars tv shows in mind one animated and one live action luke is so forced to come back to star wars explaining right after i had finished the first trilogy i said look i expected to do one movie and it turned into three and i expected to be done in a year and it ended up being 10 so i'm ready to move on now it was later that i realized that it was so big that no matter what i did it was going to be linked to me and that was basically what i am no matter what i do so that's when i said okay i'll finish the whole saga and then once i came to that i said well gee it would be fun to do an animated film i love animation the idea of a cg anime is something i had been interested in for a long time and it is a chance to explore other things and then train a lot of people and let them take off and use their imaginations one of the people hired by lucas during this creation of the clone wars is a man by the name of dave filoni who started out as a passionate fan of the star wars universe he would become a writer and director of the clone wars series and eventually become the director for the clone wars movie in 2008 and supervising director for the series at the time dave seemed just like another storyteller in this large universe but he soon became a pupil to george lucas learning about story structure filming techniques and insight of the star wars universe from the creator himself the animated show began with the release of a movie called star wars the clone wars the movie launched the animated series on cartoon network clone wars was massively anticipated over 27 million people watched the first three episodes it was the most successful series on cartoon network at that time it also brought in a new wave of talent at lucasfilm and was used to keep the story of star wars alive the future of star wars universe was clearly in television but what did that mean for the films lucas hinted in a 2008 interview that he was done with big movies moving towards his own style of films and planning on going into retirement he said well that's probably going to be the last movie i do just because apart from my own movies but my own movies are going to be esoteric and probably will come and go in a week and be in one or two art houses here and there you can get them on dvd this was the first time he had shown active disinterest in being involved in more star wars movies or directing major motion pictures it was no surprise that these comments led up to the decision to sell the company in 2012 he had clearly been thinking ahead just because lucas was stepping away from the films in the star wars universe didn't mean he was stepping away from the live-action star wars when revenge of the sith released he mentioned that he was interested in doing a live action show in the coming years and this led him into one of the most ambitious star wars projects of all time then i'm working on a spin-off series it's not with the main characters but with other characters that have appeared in the series it'll give you all something to think about uh the uh and it's gonna be a live action series i think it's a really great idea we're probably not even gonna get started shooting for about a year uh what we want to do is what we did with young indie which is to do the first season of scripts all at once and then go and shoot them so it takes a little time it means we have to write all the scripts and set everything up and i'm going to get it started and hire the show runners and all that sort of thing but then i'm going to step away from it and go and do other things planned for release in 2010 lucasfilm was working on a action star wars show titled star wars underworld the show was extremely ambitious and lucas had full intentions on making a long-running series on television with close to 50 scripts written before production began the series would cover the 20-year timeline between revenge of the sith and a new hope with close to 50 hours of footage recorded for the series funding became a prominent roadblock lucas wanted to give the show writers free reign and creative freedom so they were allowed to use their imagination for the series however the show would end up costing close to 50 million dollars an episode when all was said and done and for lucasfilm an independent studio those numbers were simply not financially workable they planned on making at least 100 episodes of the show and there was even test footage for the series that leaked online unfortunately lucas had to postpone the series production in order to figure out how to fund the show which never saw the light of day there are still 50 hours of unseen footage for this series and seeing how the mandalorian released nine years later as the first official live-action star wars show for 15 million dollars an episode in production cost star wars underworld illustrated how lucas was yet again ahead of his time a show with that kind of budget was not thought to be plausible in the late 2000s lucas planned a star wars live-action show over 10 years before it actually came to fruition always one step ahead of the curve but the one question that always remained after 2005 was would lucas make episodes seven through nine after finishing the prequel trilogy lucas seemed to be done with the blockbuster films of the star wars franchise this experimental filmmaker turned a studio head finally had the opportunity to return to his roots star wars could be considered a fortunate burden a burden lucas never asked for the great success of star wars didn't lead to the independence and the personal filmmaking george never made another film after that instead he became you know a producer the films brought him intangible amounts of fame fortune and opportunities but this was never the vision the man saw for himself at the beginning of his filmmaking career the perception fans and audiences had for the star wars creator largely diminished at the end of the prequel trilogy fans vehemently criticized the star wars prequels and the special editions and blamed the man who was in charge of it all the relationship between fan and creator had sour to a point that may have been beyond repair with the money from star wars and a highly respected production company of lucasfilm under his name lucas could easily make any of the experimental films that he wanted but since 2005 lucas has not directed or written another film largely due to the guarantee of any star wars films he made would be financially successful but any experimental movies like his first directed film thx 1138 could potentially repeat history and become a box office flop costing his company millions and endangering the job security of his employees ironically it was the acquisition of pixar by steve jobs that led to the purchase of leukocyme by the walt disney company while george was working on his star wars prequels and clone wars series during the 2000s the new ceo of disney bob iger began to acquire companies that would eventually lead to the acquisition of star wars after steve jobs bought pixar from lucasfilm they had made films like toy story and cars both distributed by the walt disney company and after a long series of negotiations with the former ceo bob agger finally cut a deal with steve jobs to buy the pixar company and long after that deal the two became friends over lunch one day steve mentioned to eiger they should visit george at skywalker ranch and see if he'd be willing to sell the production company this piqued bob iger's interest as he wanted to inquire lucas about buying the company the chain of events that led the disney buying lucasfilm were unpredictable lucas sells pixar to steve jobs pixar works with disney with a strained relationship until bob iger becomes ceo disney buys pixar and right before jobs passed away he mentioned to iger that buying lucasfilm would be a wise move it's a fascinating domino effect that no one could have foreseen it was in may of 2011 that bob iger finally sat down with george lucas was in orlando to see the new star wars refurbishment in disney world during a private breakfast iger asked george what his plans were down the road and if he had considered selling the company to which lucas replied i'm not really ready to sell and if i decide to there isn't anyone else i want to sell to but you lucas had mentioned something that struck an emotional chord with bob iger that showed the importance of a deal like this he told iger when i die the first line of my obituary is going to read star wars creator george lucas in december of 2011 george reached out to bob iger to start negotiations for the sale of star wars and lucasfilm the price tag of the purchase was the easiest part of negotiations george originally asked for the same price disney paid for pixar which was a little over seven billion dollars disney knew that the value of lucasfilm was far below that at the time it's ironic that a small company once owned by leukocom became more valuable years later they eventually settled on the price tag of 4.05 billion dollars but the hardest part negotiating for the purchase of lucasfilm was finding the creative control both sides wanted disney likes to have as much control as they possibly can there was only one person with creative control at lucasfilm and that was lucas himself and he still wanted to keep that same control even after selling the company to disney who believed they could not spend four billion dollars without having control over the franchise creatively this back and forth went on for months causing disney to walk away from the deal only to return to the table and then lucas walked away from the deal this was a complicated decision for lucas a filmmaker who spent his entire career fighting against a hollywood studio system who despised large corporate studios who had greater control over films and filmmakers they were not creatively involved with how can a man fight the hollywood studio system for over 40 years only to sell his greatest success to the biggest studio today lucas would have to be the storyteller who lost all say in his story in order to escape the self-imposed prison of star wars it was an almost unbearable price to pay star wars you know became so successful that it kind of took over my life in terms of it was an opportunity that i couldn't pass up one day lucas told iger he completed three outlines for the star wars sequel films disney executives decided they wanted to buy the story treatments from him making it clear in the purchase they had no obligation to follow them at least that's the story disney ceo bob iger tells at one point during the negotiations lucas asked for a small compromise from disney as part of the deal of selling lucasium disney would have to agree to take the story treatments lucas wrote for the sequel trilogy and used them as the basis for future films it wasn't the control lucas wanted but it gave him more assurance that his story would be completed there were many times when iger would ask lucas for the story treatments but each time lucas refused to hand him over until the deal was completed he told iger look i know what i'm doing buying my stories is part of what the deal is and he also told him that he could easily sell the company to someone else iger had no choice but to trust lucas eventually iger presented lucas with a broad outline of the deal which did include the use of the story treatments george had written but he would not hand over these story outlines until iger signed an agreement limiting the number of people at disney who could read them publicly bob eiger seemed to like the story treatments saying from a storytelling perspective they had a lot of potential but this would not be the last time george lucas and disney would have complications over these story treatments during that same time period lucas hired a new co-chairman for the lucasfilm company veteran producer kathleen kennedy this was a mere months before the deal with disney closed and lucas knew this was his last chance to have someone he chose and trusted to run the company the way he would so if lucas sold the company to disney the person in charge would have been of his choosing not walt disney what ultimately led to the sale to disney was a new capital gains tax in 2012 set in motion by the obama administration the new tax laws meant that lucas would have to pay up to 500 million dollars in taxes due to the deal with disney so in order to avoid such a heavy tax he reluctantly agreed to sell the franchise and hand over all creative control to disney who offered to still use him as a consultant during the production of the new films eventually after hiring the director for episode vii jj abrams and the writer a man named michael arden disney invited lucas to discuss ideas for the new star wars films lucas thought that when disney bought the story treatments to his versions of the sequel films and then bought the company afterwards that it meant they would follow those outlines it was at this meeting while discussing plot details with kathleen kennedy jj abrams and michael arden that lucas learned they were not using his story outlines for the new films this naturally upset lucas bob iger said that lucas felt misled and betrayed no one had told george that before that meeting that kathleen kennedy bob iger and alan horn all had decided to take star wars in a different direction than what lucas had in mind which was not part of the original agreement between lucas and disney in the broad outline of the deal they agreed to use the story treatments for the future films but iger claims that they were not contractually obligated to adhere to lucas story treatments maybe there was a change from the broad outline of the deal that lucas agreed to in the final deal was there a last minute change to the deal that george lucas and his lawyers miss this important compromise that was no longer there did the executives at disney lie to lucas about keeping his story treatments maybe lucas missed this part because he felt rushed to complete the deal before the new capital gains law that would have cost him 500 million dollars it is impossible to say which of the two conflicting stories are true but one thing is for certain george lucas signed the deal with disney on the premise that they would use his outline for the star wars sequels only to find out they were not using them years later to say he felt betrayed would be an understatement lucas felt lied to and one could doubt that lucas would have sold star wars to disney if he knew they would not use his stories he had laid out what is your a new hope for the new star wars movies uh as they're as they clearly are headed to a new franchise well you know i hope it's successful i hope they do a great job they've you know the original uh saga was about the father the children and the grandchildren and you i mean that's not a secret to anybody it's even in the novels and everything but and that the children were in their 20s and everything so it wasn't phantom menace again but so i'm hoping and they've taken in a different direction and i'm hoping i'm excited to see since i didn't use my stories i have no idea what they're doing after episode vii finished its production entitled the force awakens kathleen kennedy invited lucas to a private screening of the movie lucas was visually disappointed with the film telling kathy there's nothing new there wasn't enough visual or technical leaps forward this was the revolutionary filmmaker and lucas coming out with the original trilogy he changed the world with special effects and the new dijkstraflex camera system the star wars prequel trilogy brought forth a new wave of digital filmmaking and cgi technology if he had made his star wars sequels he clearly would have tried to change the industry for a third time and here's what stephen said he said it is the moment in which the entire industry changed star wars is the moment when the industry changed well it changed for the good and for the bad yeah and you know it's again when you invent things well you don't invent things i don't know but when you when you bring new things into a society you can either it's like the balance of the force you can either use it for good or you can use it for evil the disappointment in the force awakens and feeling of being lied to from disney by not using the story outlines led to lucas not wanting to show up for the premiere for episode vii it took convincing from kathleen kennedy and the wife of lucas melody hopson but lucas appeared at the world premiere through star wars the force awakens where he received a standing ovation from the crowd what may have led to his reluctance to appear at the force awakens premiere was the interview lucas did with charlie rose a few weeks earlier in this lucas expressed all his frustrations and feelings towards disney not using the story outlines and selling what he considered to be his child and you sold them i sold them to the white slavers that take these things and and uh okay but after the buzz of the interview died down george's wife melody emailed bob iger to apologize and said it was simply hard for him to let go and how much the company in films meant to him later lucas would call iger and say i was out of line i shouldn't have said it like that i was trying to explain how hard it is to let this thing go despite the heartbreak of selling star wars and leaving behind a story incomplete it was perhaps time for lucas to move on and start a new chapter in his life for 35 years he was bounded by the lucasim company in star wars free to do whatever he wanted and yet a prisoner of his own creation he can never escape the legend of star wars that always gloomed over his head now for the first time since 1977 luke lucas finally had nothing to bind him down had a company a franchise or the sense of fulfilling of fandoms once he was free for the first time in 35 years but that does not mean his company lucasfilm was free the studio was originally created with the intentions of being separate from the hollywood system it wasn't created to become a large corporate empire it was created to build tools for storytellers and filmmakers to push the boundaries of filmmaking and digital technology the company set the gold standards for special effects for over three decades all while remaining completely an independent studio lucasfilm did not need to rely on anyone instead filmmakers were forced to rely on lucasfilm now the company that relied on its independence from hollywood and revolutionary capabilities is owned by one of the biggest corporations ever and ran by one of the biggest studios in the world ironically lucas being the filmmaker to fight the hollywood system for years because he cracked down on his stories and told him how to make films ended up selling his company and legacy to a studio system that not only rejected the ending to a story he started and has built a pattern of directors and writers leaving the lucasfilm banner after disney bought lucasfilm a lot changed over the course of the years for the smaller company shortly after the purchase disney did two impactful things for star wars the first was a controversial choice of cancelling the successful clone wars series that was on cartoon network this news shocked many since the show was one of the highest rated shows on cartoon network and was close to ending its contract with the final season the next big change disney implements it was the shutdown of lucasarts a subsidiary of lucasfilm that focused on the creation of video games they reached critical acclaim in the 90s for their many star wars titles and other games underneath their company banner lucasarts was a way for george lucas to stay independent in the video game industry and allow the company complete creative freedom but in 2013 disney announced that they would be laying off over 150 lucas arts employees the three star wars games that were in development would also be cancelled one was a game centered around a young boba fett titled 1313 and another game called star wars first assault which was set in motion by lucas himself in order to rival the popular call of duty in battlefield games another game that had been in active development was centered around the sith lord darth maul this also meant that the plan to force unleashed three game was cancelled which was a fan favorite series in the star wars gaming community shortly after the shutdown of lucas arts disney announced the licensing deal with electronic arts a major publisher in the video game ministry who now had the exclusive contract with disney to make star wars games for the next 10 years over the course of 8 years disney has published 4 star wars games battlefronts 1 and 2 jedi fall in order and most recently star wars squadrons with the sequel to jedi fallen order planned for a 2022 release there's been a lot of controversy surrounding the ea star wars deal since its inception the battlefront games were poorly received by most audiences upon their initial release since the reliance on the loot boxes made the games more frustrating to the disappointment of many fans and gamers ea has cancelled three more star wars games that had been in various stages of development since 2012 the star wars and gaming community alike have largely been disappointed with the direction of the star wars games under ea while lucasarts was not a perfect company under lucasfilm experiencing a change in presidency four times in just four years it still made classic games that had a largely positive response it is hard to nail down exactly what made lucasarts such a beloved studio among the community for so many years was it a smaller developing team that was separate from the corporate structure of the gaming industry was that george lucas allowing the company to have more creative freedom and take more risk than companies like ea will it's hard to believe that a company that lasted over 30 years creating games that people are still nostalgic for today could disappear with the snap of the mouse's fingers but nevertheless the future of star wars gaming will never be the same under disney for better or for worse the films though not involving george himself were still massive box office success stories the force awakens became the highest grossing film of all time in 2015 and the future for star wars seemed brighter than ever during the time when lucas had been in charge there was always an uncertainty about the future of star wars would there be more films was the future in the games or with television with disney there was no uncertainty star wars was back with everything it could possibly throw at audiences new movies new shows new games everything had changed for the galaxy far far away and there would be no going back there is a saying that those who forget history are doomed to repeat it and perhaps the star wars sequels are the best examples of history repeating itself the force awakens received critical acclaim from audiences critics and fans alike the spin-off film rogue one also received high praise but in 2017 when the last jedi release the attitude audiences had for the new films changed met with mixed reactions from moviegoers the last jedi started the pattern of what felt like the prequel era all over again a large amount of online criticism for the film blew up over the next few years giving those who held disdain for the last jedi low expectations for episode nine when solo a star wars story released in 2018 six months after the last jedi it became the first film with the star wars name to lose money in the box office largely due to the high cost of production lack of marketing and a lack of general interest from the audience this marked a shift in what had been a bright hopeful future for the franchise and when episode 9 of the rise of skywalker released in 2019 it was met with a lukewarm reaction among other issues disney star wars films have consistently experienced production roadblocks since 2015. episodes 7 8 and 9 all were set for releases in may of 2015 2017 and 2019. sadly disney missed all of those deadlines delaying the films to release in december of each year the film productions were filled with script issues director changes and what some would consider a lack of planning for the new movies lucas on the other hand when making the prequel films met the release deadlines for every film that he planned in 1997. lucas was also able to come in under budget for some of the films he made like the star wars prequels whereas disney almost doubled the production budget for solo this independent production company seemed to perform better under lucas than disney the mixed feelings fans held toward the sequel films was familiar the prequel films in the early 2000s had led to a similar reaction was history repeating itself when people complained about the prequels it was easy to push the blame to the man who created the films he wrote directed produced and had complete creative control but when it came to the sequel films who was to blame disney the ceo bob iger lucasfilm president kathleen kennedy maybe the film directors or writers like jj abrams and ryan johnson it's easy to blame someone like lucas represented the entire studio but what about when the franchise was led by a corporation like disney they had the success with marvel and pixar films but seemed to have missed the mark on creating the magic the original star wars films had one of the biggest factors influencing disney to consider lucasfilm as such a valuable property was the revenue from the star wars toys even years after the release of the original films star wars held the number one top-selling license in the industry for toys and merchandise sales of course the clone wars animated show could have contributed to that success but it showed the strength of star wars in the toy industry even with a hiatus of theatrical releases but since the company has been under disney the top spot of toy sales has not always belonged to star wars after the release of star wars rebels a new animated series on the disney channel in 2014 star wars had not reached the number one spot in 2014 or 2015. in fact it only ranked number four across the globe in 2015 it ranked number five in the us's primary market and rose to number two globally it wasn't until 2016 when star wars would reach the number one spot in toy sales again in large part due to the massive success of the force awakens across the globe so once again star wars had managed to climb back to the top but not for long in 2017 after rogue one and the force awakens star wars ranked number three in licensed toys behind pokemon and nerf staying in that spot into 2018 losing its number one spot from 10 years before the height of the star wars toy sales were from 1999 to 2005 during the release of the star wars prequel trilogy where it kept that number one spot for six years and reclaimed it in 2008. there are many factors on what led to this decline in toy sales for the franchise the toy market declined little by little every year due to younger kids finding more interest in phones and video games but even during the 2008 housing market crash star wars still reigned number one it may have been the clone wars series that brought it back the series became the most successful show on cartoon network in 2008 reaching 3 million viewers with its first episode as opposed to the 1.3 million that watched the debut episode of rebels on the disney xd channel it is not a matter of quality of content that differentiates the two shows but clearly a difference of interest by audiences clone wars averaged 3 to 4 million viewers throughout seasons 1 and 2 and dropped between 1 and 2 million during seasons 3 and 4. after the series premiere for rebels it wasn't until the finale of season 2 for the show to reach over a million viewers again with the growing popularity of streaming apps in the mid-2010s it is understandable that viewership would be lower for rebels compared to clone wars but by viewership alone clone wars beat out rebels in a three to one ratio the popularity of clone wars was revitalized with a fan movement called save the clone wars meant to send a message to the lucasfilm company that fans still wanted to see the clone wars series finish its story and in 2018 lucasian revealed that they had listened to the fans they announced that they were bringing back the clone wars series for one last time season seven of the clone wars debuted on disney plus in 2020 and became the most streamed show across all services for four straight weeks beating out other original content shows like netflix original stranger things and hbo's game of thrones it was proof that despite the long wait for the series the audience had always had a strong interest in the series this was not a series made under disney but an idea from george lucas himself after 10 years from its original inception it could still be the most popular show in a time where the competition was fierce it has been over 20 years since the prequel films debuted in theaters beginning with a phantom menace in 1999 and now that the kids of that generation have grown up there's also been a resurgence in frequent popularity those who grew up seeing the phantom menace attack of the clones and revenge of the sith in theaters don't remember the hate older fans had for the trilogy those movies and the clone wars show were a large part of their generation's childhood now after almost 10 years since lucas left the star wars franchise a lot of fans want him to return in some capacity either to direct or write another film and it seems like the choice is up to him but with disney calling all the shots would lucas have the freedom he wants if he returned to the world he created the films he works on do not meet the expectations of the fans would they blame him again even though he's no longer involved in the franchise his presence is still felt he chose who would carry his legacy going forward kathleen kennedy was hand-picked by george lucas a woman he considers a friend and worthy producer for the franchise that he has worked with for years the clone wars series director dave filoni is still actively involved in the future of star wars storytelling he has continued to use the lessons from lucas to create new stories in the galaxy far far away felony has even taken his first step into live action with a new star wars show called the mandalorian created by john favreau who was inspired by george lucas's space western fantasy and used that same feeling for this brand new series where lucas can often be seen on set giving advice to director dave filoni if lucas had not hired felony during the creation of the clone wars series and taken him under his wing we may have never gotten the seventh season of clone wars or the mandalorian series where he serves as director writer and an executive producer felony is also working with john favreau who acts as a mentor for directing producing and writing in the live-action world many fans feel that dave fulone is a true predecessor for star wars since in some ways he took the torch from lucas himself the mandalorian is the highest rated star wars content under disney and it's doing something lucas would have wanted the sequel films to do revolutionizing the film industry star wars for the third time now is introducing technology that will change how we make movies and television for years to come using new technology from industrial light and magic called the stagecraft the mandalorian can seamlessly take characters to any new setting and change the surroundings without having to travel over the world for the right location this kind of technology is only possible due to the work of ilm that they did under lucas during the creation of the prequel trilogy if he had kept the lucasfilm company he likely would have gone down this very same route to change the industry one last time and possibly use the technology to create his long-awaited star wars underworld show lucas was not only ahead of his time but if he could have waited just seven more years maybe he could have achieved something that he envisioned for film and star wars it is people like john favreau and dave filoni who continue the legacy of lucas and star wars filoni uses the teachings from lucas to keep the core of what star wars means in his storytelling and does his best to adhere to what the creator would want falloni takes inspiration from lucas and revolutionizing the industry with new technology that like the digital cameras from the prequels will be used for the next 20 to 30 years in the film industry this is what george has always been able to do for generations inspire us give people that coming of age story to see someone become the person they were always meant to be teaching us to follow our destiny in life search for that higher power push the boundaries of our modern industry and break down the barriers of corporate structure lucas seemed to have tolerated his fans more than his fans tolerated him but as time goes on you reach a certain point in your life where you have to move on which is exactly what lucas did it's been 15 years since the star wars prequel's release and fans still to this day debate the merits of the films and go back and forth discussing the good the bad and the ugly since the new sequel films released history has repeated itself there are many fans who love the new films but just as many who despise them the only person who seemed to have avoided all the drama of star wars is the creator himself a man who wisely has not used the internet since the very early 2000s he is not bounded by the controversy that surrounds the new films and continues to live out his twilight years no matter how valuable that franchise that they call is it isn't worth a tenth of what he's worth as an artist but the life of george lucas seems to have significantly improved since selling his company though it was no easy task lucas finally seems to be at peace with his career and his life he remarried to melody hopson in 2013 and they now have a daughter everest friends say that lucas has never been happier the man is retired with no company to run no more angry fans putting pressure on him no more stressful blockbuster films to make he is a free man he can now dedicate his time and energy wherever he wants to like the lucas museum of narrative art a passion project he shares with his wife that is described as a museum that will celebrate the power of visual storytelling in a setting focused on narrative painting illustration photography film animation and digital art the museum will present a permanent collection as well as rotating exhibitions for diverse public audiences which will feature illustrations paintings comic art photography and an in-depth exploration of the art of filmmaking the museum is slated for an opening in late 2021 leaving lucas with one more feather in his cap and an open plate for more possibilities and opportunities for over 40 years now lucas has said he would like to return to experimental filmmaking one day where his career began will he finally commit to that or will lucas enjoy the next chapter of his life as the story comes to a close in peaceful retirement many star wars fans have asked for his return to the franchise and while he could return to directing at any time it does not seem like lucas is interested in star wars anymore it seems that those star wars fans may never move on from george lucas and his creation lucas seems to have finally moved on from star wars and made peace with his decision though the future is always uncertain that long chapter in the life of george lucas appears to be over he is a father first and a filmmaker second and to many fans of the star wars franchise george was the father figure one who could guide you in the right direction and show you good from evil capturing your imagination with fascinating stories and inspiring you to fill your destiny when it comes to the legacy of george lucas is there really anything more that could be done after changing how films were made with special effects in the 70s his company ilm continued to change the industry eventually creating the pixar computer this brought a new wave of 3d animation and eventually the company went on to grow into a major animation studio that continues to make popular films under disney today he was the first director to use digital cameras in a major blockbuster motion picture creating a digital revolution that still is impacting us today his creation of the infamous character jar jar binks led to the use of motion capture technology that would shape how ilm worked on major films in the future like lord of the rings and pirates of the caribbean years after leaving the company ilm use their knowledge and expertise to create stagecraft a new technology that is changing the industry as we speak this doesn't include the amazing talents lucas hired at lucasfilm people who went on to change the world all of this leads back to the filmmaker from modesto that defied the hollywood system and beat out all odds to come on top at the end of it all fans have always regretted the treatment lucas received during the heyday of the prequels maybe in the end george lucas had the last laugh for a payout of over 4 billion dollars for his creation he is now free forever with nothing to hold him down no more fans to bicker with no more drama no more remorse he may have found that peace in life that we all seek [Music] hmm [Music] you

Channel: StarWarsOnly

Views: 276,337

Keywords: star wars after george lucas, star wars, star wars george lucas, star wars documentary, george lucas documentary, star wars without george lucas, is star wars better, is star wars better without george lucas, george lucas sells lucasfilm, george lucas sells star wars, george lucas sells star wars to disney, george lucas talks, george lucas talks about star wars, george lucas talks about the mandalorian, george lucas talks about disney, disney star wars, disney, george lucas

Id: mq6-kow5GHE

Length: 68min 16sec (4096 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 19 2020