During local time on the 24th, George Lucas, the founder, director, and screenwriter of the “Star Wars” movie franchise, criticized the current state of the film industry. He pointed out that Hollywood is focusing too much on producing sequels without much originality, and he explained the reasons why he sold “Star Wars” to Disney in 2012.
George Lucas, 80, is renowned for creating some of the highest-grossing movies in film history, including “American Graffiti,” the “Star Wars” series, and the “Indiana Jones” series. After the success of “American Graffiti” and the first “Star Wars” film, Lucas founded his own production company, Lucasfilm.
According to Forbes’ 2024 list of the world’s wealthiest celebrities, George Lucas ranked number one in the entertainment industry with a net worth of 5.5 billion USD (approximately 177.3 billion TWD). Reportedly, in 2012, Lucas sold Lucasfilm to Disney for 4.05 billion USD to produce sequels to “Star Wars.”
On the afternoon of the 24th, at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, Lucas spoke passionately about the film industry, criticizing the mistakes made by the new company owners.
Lucas said, “I am the one who truly understands the world of ‘Star Wars’ because there are many stories in that world. For example, ‘the Force,’ nobody understands ‘the Force.’ After I sold the company, they started making other movies, and many ideas from the original were lost. But that’s just how it is, once you give up, you give up.”
According to IGN, Lucas criticized the current state of Hollywood, stating, “They only tell stories of old movies: let’s make a sequel, let’s make another version of this movie. It’s not just in movies, it’s in almost every field, with little original thinking.”
Regarding what Hollywood films will look like in 10 years, Lucas said, “It will be the same as it is now. The situation now is that streaming may make it easier for series to happen than feature films, but feature films are the same, no one knows what to do.”
Lucas expressed that Hollywood prioritizes successful films of the moment rather than focusing on originality and new stories. He said, “It’s like: I saw something, let’s do something similar. It’s also a way to sell movies. If you say: I have some stories you’ve never seen or heard of before, then it’s hard to strike a deal.”
He didn’t expect the rise of the streaming platform Netflix to be the savior of the film industry. “So everyone wants to save the film industry, but no one knows if streaming can save it. It was precisely at that time when Netflix took off that I said: I don’t know what this will be, there will be a huge shift in this industry, and I don’t know much about it. Then I sold the company, and I retired.”
Lucas admitted that his retirement was related to the challenges faced by the film industry. According to ScreenRant, Lucas stated that he saw issues in the theatrical distribution business and decided to leave the film industry because he saw that business on the brink of bankruptcy. “Streaming is really powerful, very good, and it has truly boosted the development of the film industry business. Because the theatrical movie business… we can see the problems, it’s not in a good state.”
Just turning 80 on the 14th, Lucas received the “Honorary Golden Palm Award” at the closing ceremony of the 2024 Cannes Film Festival on the 25th. He accepted the award from his lifelong friend Francis Coppola, a legendary filmmaker known for directing “The Godfather” trilogy, “Apocalypse Now,” and more.