Lucas spent a year gettingAmerican Graffitiout of their hands and into Universals.
Made for $750K,American Graffititested through the roof in its first cut before an audience.
It was like a rock concert, said Lucas about the first screening.
CANNES, FRANCE - MAY 24: George Lucas attends a photocall as he is awarded the Palm D’Or D’Honneur at the 77th annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 24, 2024 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images)Getty
But Universal wasnt convinced.
After the screening, Lucas faced a blustering Uni exec.
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Lucas said, American Graffitiwas the first time anybody made money on net.
Lucas intially wrote a 210 page script forStar Warsand knew there would be more movies.
The rest is history as far as his success with the space opera franchise.
The fact that people make money in the movie business is a myth, said Lucas.
Faith inStar Warsbefore release by Fox had waned since they greenlit it at the time.
First weekend the pic received a theatrical release in 43 70MM theaters.
Someone from the studio was there but they gave up on telling us what to do.
Lucas would spend ten years perfecting the digital technology to makeStar Wars Episodes I-III.
But that was always Lucas m.o.
Lucas was asked toward the end about his thoughts on A.I.
