George Lucas Forgets His Roots
Filed under: Sci-Fi & Fantasy, George Lucas, Movie Marketing
George Lucas spoke in an interview after giving a $175 million donation to the University of Southern California, his alma mater, and lobbed several shots towards major Hollywood studios. He called out their distribution models in particular, saying that studios can no longer rely on tentpole films and summer blockbusters to provide most of their income, and that they have it all wrong."Spending $100 million on production costs and another $100 million on prints and advertising makes no sense," he said. "For that same $200 million, I can make 50-60 two-hour movies. That's 120 hours as opposed to two hours."
At least he's good at math. I had to read that quote more than once to make sure it was Lucas that was saying it. This is a guy whose entire fortune and popularity can be attributed to tentpole films and blockbusters, most with enormous budgets. The original three Star Wars films, the Indiana Jones films, the three Star Wars prequels, Howard the Duck ... all of which cost a heck of a lot of money to make, and which made oodles of money in return. With the glaring exception of Howard the Duck. Okay, in all fairness he didn't direct that last movie, but he did executive produce it, and boy was it bad. I still remember seeing that in the theaters as a kid and wondering what the heck had happened to George.
I just don't think it is even remotely possible for Lucas to make 50-60 two hour movies for $200 million. This is a guy who spends fortunes on all of his movies. I'm sure the catering bill for two days of shooting on Revenge of the Sith was more money than I made last year. Its easy to claim you can do this when you're sitting on the golden throne of the Lucas empire, but let's be a little realistic.
He might be able to make those 50-60 movies, but would anyone want to watch them?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
10-05-2006 @ 11:34AM
Drew said...
If he could make that many movies with $200 they probably wouldn't be Star Wars related. Didn't he only make one low-budget film? (Was American Grafetti low-budget?) Anyways, I don't know what Lucas is smoking. He used money to "improve" the original trilogy, and I'm sure that had to cost a pretty penny as well.
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10-05-2006 @ 11:32AM
Alex Keen said...
I think the operative word here is "can". He's not saying he wants to or plans to. He executive produced nearly 30 episodes of Young Indy and multiple made for TV and video "movies".
Remember this is the same guy who made THX 1138 and American Graffiti.
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10-05-2006 @ 12:03PM
Erin said...
I love to think of Lucas going home to the ranch each night and watching Indigent features.
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10-05-2006 @ 8:05PM
jkmkay said...
You should give Howard The Duck another look.
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10-05-2006 @ 12:41PM
Pat Miller said...
The first Star Wars -Episode IV was not a 100 million dollar movie and neither was Raider's. NO ONE WANTED Star Wars. Where Lucas made the $$$ was by keeping the franchise rights because the studios were sure that this "kid's space opera" wasn't really gonna do anything....BIG SUPRISE !! Lucas does know how to do independent and low budget.
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10-05-2006 @ 1:00PM
Kevin said...
Pat,
No, Star Wars didn't cost $100 million, and neither did Raiders, but no one was making $100 million dollar films back then. Star Wars cost more than $11 million, going over schedule and over budget, and was not a small budget movie at the time. Raiders cost $20 million four years later, also not a small budget. Especially considering inflation and today's dollars. He also made both films with major studios, not independently. Consider this: for that $200 million, if Lucas made 50 movies, he'd be spending $4 million on each film. I don't think he could do it.
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10-05-2006 @ 1:27PM
Alex said...
What he SHOULD do is take that $200 million and make a film grant program out of it. $200,000 to 1000 first time filmmakers. 1000 small features, at least 2 or 3% of those films are going to be bankable enough to return the investment and at least one of them is going to be a big hit. Granted, you're not going to get another Star Wars out of it but we already have Star Wars so...
Anyway, that's what he SHOULD do.
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10-05-2006 @ 1:35PM
Wryker said...
I don't think Lucas could make/write/produce/or direct any great film these days. The latest trilogy was a tragedy...
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10-05-2006 @ 11:54PM
hardcle said...
I think you have to read "I can make" as "I can produce" or "It is possible to make" rather than a literal interpretation.
In any event, the larger point he's making is correct. The studios could make more money by making more modestly budgeted films. There's a better chance that one or more could break out and be a big hit, while a film would have to be really awful for it not to earn back a $2M budget in DVD or foreign sales.
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