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GEORGE LUCAS
DIRECTOR / PRODUCER / BUSINESS MAN
Born in 1944, George Lucas took up racecar driving while in High
School - but abandoned the idea after being seriously injured in an
off-track automobile accident. It was then he entered the Medesto
California junior college. After his two-year stint there he entered
enrolled at USC (University of Southern California) Film School. It
was here that he made the short THX-1138 and later would expand the
film into a film that Warner Brothers hated.
Getting started Lucas was hired by Francis Ford Coppola's as his
production associate for the Rain People. It was then he made his
documentary about the making of the Rain People. Lucas followed with
another documentary about the rock group, the Rolling Stones. It was
after the Stones documentary that George directed the expanded
THX-1138 version of his short.
American Graffiti followed in 1973 - his
first use of a young Harrison Ford, and also starred Ron Howard
(Happy Days). The picture was made for $700,000 and grossed about
$55 million in North America. Even today the film remains one of the
most profitable films ever made.
It was this success that allow the director/producer to create his
Industrial Light & Magic studio and his production company
LucasFilm Ltd. Star Wars was his companies first project which
grossed over $194 million on it's initial release. There were
theaters in my area as a kid that kept the film for over a year in
1977. George Lucas signed over his projected profits to 20th Century
Fox to finance the film, but he retained the sequel rights to the
film as well as profits from the merchandising. This made him a
multi-millionaire and huge mogul in the movie making business
today.
To go along with his production company, and special effects house
Lucas created Skywalker Ranch for that perfect movie sound. He has
then gone on to create THX sound - the sound system motion pictures
use today. There is also LucasArts that develops CD games.
Industrial Light & Magic is the number one Special Effects in
the industry today and has been for over ten years. Lucas is moving fast into the digital age and has begun to pressure the
theaters to install new digital systems. (Theaters are barely
getting by as it is now, and don't have the money to change over to
the digital systems)
The Lucas man is responsible for the Six Star Wars films and Four
Indiana Jones features. Anything else he does is icing on the cake
for movie fans.
I was personally a huge George Lucas fan and followed every project
he worked on, from Willow to The Dark Crystal. I lost my fanship
during his creation of Star Wars: Episode One. George Lucas' comes
across as not carrying about the fans anymore... if he ever did.
What his companies have done for the industries is incredible and
has set the standard. He is the man.
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