On May 14, George Lucas celebrated his 79th birthday! The opportunity to test your knowledge of the brilliant creator of a universe that forever transformed Pop Culture.
We can never say enough how much George Lucas has left an indelible mark on the cinematographic landscape. Influenced by experimental cinema, fiercely independent and anxious to maintain absolute control of the entire creative process, he has enabled the world of cinema to undergo a major technological revolution, especially in terms of sound, editing, computer animation and special effects.
An extraordinary flair too. After the colossal success of American Graffiti (over $200 million in revenue), George Lucas is in a strong position to negotiate with Twentieth Century Fox, which has agreed to produce his next film, a certain Star Wars…
Lucas thus requested to own the rights to all future Star Wars merchandising; and that he owns the rights to any sequels. For Fox, it was a golden deal: merchandising revenues were then considered negligible, especially since the studio had lost a fortune with past experience on Doctor Dolittle. And for the possible sequels? Hardly anyone in the studio thinks Star Wars will work.
Bottom line for George Lucas: Between 1977 and 1978, Star Wars generated over $100 million from toys alone. 40 years later, products derived from the first film have generated more than $12 billion in profits, and still bring in approximately $3 billion each year. And here, we are only talking about the first film. As Lucas held 100% of the rights to the rest of the franchise, we’ll let you do the math… To give you some perspective: in 2012 (and before the takeover of Lucasfilm by Disney) Lucas pocketed 3.3 billion of $. Some at 20th Century Fox must still have nightmares…
On May 14, the filmmaker celebrated his 79th birthday. The opportunity to offer you a little quiz on him, just to test your knowledge about him!
We also forget it a little too often, as the weight of the Star Wars galaxy is quite overwhelming, but George Lucas financed quite radical works. This is the case of Paul Schrader’s extraordinary Mishima, a biopic in four chapters by the Japanese nationalist writer Yukio Mishima, which became Hara-Kiri on November 20, 1970. Carried by a dazzling Ken Ogata, the film is also famous for his score by Philip Glass, which literally haunts the film.
Lucas also helped Godfrey Regio direct Powaqqatsi, the second part of a cult trilogy. Experimental works designed as collages, like gigantic canvases, where mind-blowing images collide, mixing Slow Motion, computer-generated images, Found Footage, advertising films, etc…in which Man and his future are at the heart concerns of the director.
He will also put his hand in the portfolio to produce the little-known Latino in 1985, which chronicles the struggle in Nicaragua between the Sandinista government and the rebels. Lucas has always worked on affect: the film is in fact directed by Haskell Wexler, a very great director of photography to whom we owe that of Flight over the cuckoo’s nest, In the heat of the night, The Thomas Crown Affair…and that he had as a professor at the University of Southern California.