Re: How do you feel about George Lucas?

Posted by ROB T. from 162.10.138.28 on June 05, 1999 at 23:26:42:

In Reply to: How do you feel about George Lucas? posted by Mark Indy on June 05, 1999 at 16:42:10:

ROB T. here,

It's hypocritical, and typical, of people to rag on George Lucas because of the money he makes on merchandising the "Star Wars" gewgaws. It's most definately fueled by jealousy.
I for one applaud his accumen. If there was a market for ROB T. dolls than you can believe that the shelves of Toys-r-us would be lined with them. If kids would wear ROB T. underoos then I'd have three factories in Hong Kong running 24-7 to keep up with the demand.
People forget that when "Star Wars" was made, no studio wanted it and that George took a big gamble to make sure the film got made. He gave up his directing salary in exchange for merchandising rights. The studio went for this deal because they thought they got the better end of the bargain. They thought there was no money to be made from "Star Wars" toys and that George was foolish to give up his salary.
If the studio had been as farsighted as George then we'd still have buttloads of "Star Wars" merchandise on the shelves. The only difference is that the money would be going to some faceless corporation that had no hand in the creation of the property. And you can believe they'd feel no regret at cutting George out of any profits that are rightfully due him.
Considering that George Lucas has only directed four films in his career, if it weren't for the merchandising he'd be broke (in Hollywood terms, he'd still have more money than most regular people)
George said on "Time and Again" that he's not really that rich. The company makes lots of money and then turns around and spends it again.
For example, the profits from "Phantom Menace" will go right back into filming the next "Star Wars" film.
Lucas and ILM are not responsible for the downward shift in quality of todays films. That's the fault of a lot of nontalented hacks who are only interested in how much money a movie can make and forgo any thought to the story and the script.
On the minus side, I still think that George did a poor job of directing and writing "The Phantom Menace" and I hope he'll get some help with the next two movies. He's really better at telling the bigger story and leaving the execution to someone else...

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: ROB T. here,

: It's hypocritical, and typical, of people to rag on George Lucas because of the money he makes on merchandising the "Star Wars" gewgaws. It's most definately fueled by jealousy.
: I for one applaud his accumen. If there was a market for ROB T. dolls than you can believe that the shelves of Toys-r-us would be lined with them. If kids would wear ROB T. underoos then I'd have three factories in Hong Kong running 24-7 to keep up with the demand.
: People forget that when "Star Wars" was made, no studio wanted it and that George took a big gamble to make sure the film got made. He gave up his directing salary in exchange for merchandising rights. The studio went for this deal because they thought they got the better end of the bargain. They thought there was no money to be made from "Star Wars" toys and that George was foolish to give up his salary.
: If the studio had been as farsighted as George then we'd still have buttloads of "Star Wars" merchandise on the shelves. The only difference is that the money would be going to some faceless corporation that had no hand in the creation of the property. And you can believe they'd feel no regret at cutting George out of any profits that are rightfully due him.
: Considering that George Lucas has only directed four films in his career, if it weren't for the merchandising he'd be broke (in Hollywood terms, he'd still have more money than most regular people)
: George said on "Time and Again" that he's not really that rich. The company makes lots of money and then turns around and spends it again.
: For example, the profits from "Phantom Menace" will go right back into filming the next "Star Wars" film.
: Lucas and ILM are not responsible for the downward shift in quality of todays films. That's the fault of a lot of nontalented hacks who are only interested in how much money a movie can make and forgo any thought to the story and the script.
: On the minus side, I still think that George did a poor job of directing and writing "The Phantom Menace" and I hope he'll get some help with the next two movies. He's really better at telling the bigger story and leaving the execution to someone else...

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