The cold, ultra-styled THX 1138 bombed so hard it almost destroyed Zoetrope before it had started. Lucas and Coppola’s deal with Warner Bros was cancelled (and with it Lucas’ early version of Apocalypse Now) and the boys needed to make good quick or go bust.
“They said ‘This is all junk, you have to pay us back the money you owe us’” remembers Lucas of the Warners deal. “Which is why Francis did Godfather. He was so much in debt he didn’t have any choice.”
Lucas was in a similar boat, and decided to push on with his semi-autobiographical rock ‘n roll movie, American Graffiti. Initially set up at United Artists, the movie switched to Universal when UA became nervous about the cost of the licensed soundtrack. It was worth the risk – the film went on to make $55 million on its initial run.
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Comments
Hadouken76
Sep 1st 2011, 16:39
Thanks to Lucas' misguided insistance on p"issin on his own legacy, its easy to forget how streamline the original Star Wars was. The narrative was classic fairytale: Farmboy meets a wizard and a pirate, rescues the princess from the evil fortress and battles the evil hordes at the end, Medals all round. (Not for wookies apparently). Simple. Then Lucas ruined tthe prequels with boring stuff about taxes and trade embargo's (for the kids yeah? YEAH? Because Kids go crazy for economic reform! Grind those accounting books!), Comparing women to sand and making the iconic and feared Darth Vader sound like he wet himself ..nooooo indeed. Oh and Lucas insults everyones intelligence by assuming no-one will tell the difference in the Special Editions. Sorry but in 100 yrs time, everyone will STILL know Han shot first and Jabba's meeting with him looks less convincing than Pete's Dragon. I'm not a geek, I just hate when things are messed with, even by thier own creators to the point that it cheapens the experience.
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ChrisWootton
Sep 1st 2011, 16:45
Perfectly put.
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Hadouken76
Sep 1st 2011, 18:27
Thanks ChrisWooton, some things just cook my noodle. I'll probably feel the same about Total Rehash and The Thing 'prequel'. Lucas and these new directors don't realise that people loved the old effects, models and sets because they were tangible. Watching American Werewolf in London You're thinking, 'He's turning into a werewolf' not 'Thats some bad CGI."
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MrScary
Sep 1st 2011, 18:47
“I’m not a good writer,” he admits. “This is the story of Mace Windy, a revered Jedi-Bendu of Opuchi, as related to us by C.J. Thorpe, padawaan learner to the famed Jedi.” Obviously. But hey, they guy is a bazillionaire, so he's doing something right.
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