George Lucas should have outsourced the last three ‘Star Wars’ movies

The preview trailer for a new “Star Wars” video game impressed a lot of jaded industry reporters at the E3 video game show this week.
I heard several people mention that the trailer was better than any of the last three “Star Wars” movies by franchise creator George Lucas.
“Why couldn’t Lucas have made a movie like that?” one attendee asked me.
Well, for starters, Lucas apparently didn’t have anyone close to him who could give him the straight dope. He’s probably surrounded by yes men and sycophants.
He’s also too interested in building his fortune by selling toys, games and party supplies to young kids.
People forget that Lucas didn’t direct the second and third movies of the original trilogy. Irvin Kershner (“Never Say Never Again”) directed “The Empire Strikes Back” and Richard Marquand (“Jagged Edge”) directed “Return of the Jedi.” And Lucas, who wrote and directed the first “Star Wars” by himself, had help with the screenplays of the next two movies.
The lousy, more recent, prequel trilogy was all Lucas’ handiwork.
Meanwhile, Lucas has outsourced the “Star Wars” video games to other people. Unlike Lucas himself, these creative professionals have a fan’s perspective of the franchise and can tell the stories that they’d like to see.
The trailer video for “Star Wars: The Old Republic” has the dark themes and action that adults want to see. (Watch it full screen.)
The massively multiplayer online role-playing game is produced by BioWare, a unit of Electronic Arts.
“It’s amazing what you can do with this universe once you pry it from George Lucas’ hands,” Marc Bernardin wrote on EW.com’s PopWatch blog.

Lego Star Wars and the business genius of George Lucas

I didn’t truly appreciate the business genius of George Lucas until my son, who just turned 6, started asking for Star Wars-themed Lego kits and video games. This from a child who had never seen a “Star Wars” movie or TV show.
There’s little dispute that “Star Wars” creator George Lucas sold out his franchise to cash in on the lucrative toy market. Fans of the first two movies – “Star Wars” (1977) and “The Empire Strikes Back” (1980) – saw that first hand when the teddy bear-like Ewoks appeared midway through “Return of the Jedi” (1983) and practically ruined the movie.
Before Saturday morning cartoons were created to sell toys, Lucas hit upon the idea for his Star Wars franchise.
The original “Star Wars” was actually a nominee for Best Picture at the Academy Awards for 1977. Many critics feel that “The Empire Strikes Back” is even better. Those movies were made for adults and kids at heart.
By the time, “Return of the Jedi” came out Lucas was a wealthy man from sales of Star Wars action figures and other toys. So for the third film in the series, he started targeting young kids. He softened the tone of the movie and added more comic relief.
When he decided to make a new trilogy of movies, he continued to market them to kids. The protagonist in “Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace” (1999) was a 9-year-old boy. The movie features a juvenile character named Jar Jar Binks. And much of the violence in the movie is directed at robots, or droids, minimizing the bloodshed.
“The Phantom Menace” and its two follow-on chapters – “Attack of the Clones” (2002) and “Revenge of the Sith” (2005) – featured a dizzying array of creatures and warriors obviously designed to sell more action figures. And the mindless action sequences seemed more like ads for Star Wars video games.
Which brings me back to Lego Star Wars. These toys and video games are marketed to preschoolers, kindergarteners and elementary school-age kids. My son loves the space ships, robots and light saber fighting.
The Lego sets are outrageously expensive for what you get. A $40 set of Star Wars Legos contains maybe 20 cents worth of plastic. The bulk of the expense must go to packaging and shipping costs and licensing fees to Lucas’ company, Lucasfilm.
Lego, and presumably Lucasfilm, limit the number of Star Wars mini-characters in each set so buyers are encouraged to get multiple sets. And there are a lot of sets.
Lego and Lucasfilm have been working together on toys since 1999. Lego’s Star Wars licensing deal runs until 2011.It’s a shame Lucas couldn’t balance his desire for toy sales with quality filmmaking. The three newest Star Wars films were terrible.