The news rocked the civilized world with a shock and awe unseen since the delivery of Order 66: While continuing as CEO for the time being, maverick filmmaker George Lucas has announced that he has begun disentangling himself from the day-to-day demands of running his successful, eponymous production company, Lucasfilm. Said the man himself, "I'm moving away from all my businesses, I'm finishing all my obligations and I'm going to retire to my garage with my saw and hammer and build hobby movies. I've always wanted to make movies that were more experimental in nature, and not have to worry about them showing in movie theaters." It almost sounds like the return of the young University of Southern California student who, in the '60s, created the now-famous science-fiction short Electronic Labyrinth THX 1138 4EB among other avant garde efforts.
The news puts into perspective an entertainment career that spans nearly half a century. While his financial support, technical innovation and creative input would go on to shape many movies, TV shows and videogames, Lucas has always had more of a boutique approach to his directorial efforts, helming a mere six feature films, including four of the half-dozen Star Wars films. He also executive produced and provided the screen stories for the four Indiana Jones movies, with a fifth and final installment still rumored to be in the works.
Just as relevant to us home theater-philes, Lucas also gave unofficial birth to the THX concept some 30 years ago, when he hired Tomlinson Holman to design better post-production facilities than what was available at the time. This would lead to the creation of Skywalker Sound, the industry standard for audio post. Lucas' passion for technical quality drove the improvement of theatrical exhibition standards worldwide, which evolved into consumer electronics developments such as THX Certification for hardware and software, as well as THX Media Director technology. Said Kaling Lim, Executive Director, THX Ltd., "THX exists today because George Lucas refused to settle. He regarded movie theater technology of the 1970s as a profound constraint around his artistic expression. Like all innovators, rather than try to challenge conventional wisdom of his day, he simply decided to redefine it by creating what did not exist."
Much like his BFF Steven Spielberg, Lucas has shown a formidable combination of creative skills and business savvy, yielding monumental movie franchises while also rewriting the book on Hollywood merchandising, now a highly lucrative industry. George personally selected his new "co-chair," revealed to be Kathleen Kennedy, one of the most successful producers in cinema history. Through her frequent collaborations with Spielberg, Clint Eastwood, M. Night Shyamalan and others, she has shown an admirable penchant for making memorable, beloved blockbusters ranging from E.T. to The Sixth Sense and beyond. This new appointment positions her as the potential successor to The Big Job upon Baron Papanoida's full retirement.
The uphill battle faced by Mr. Lucas in actively shepherding his pet project--this year's poorly-received Red Tails--to the screen is suspected to be a motivating factor in his recent retirement plans, after he ultimately sank an estimated $58M of his own money into the endeavor. Now 68 years old, Mr. Lucas will have both the time and the enviable financial freedom to pursue a less commercial, more personal style, writing/directing smaller films away from the studio pressures and box office expectations of most movies.
For better or worse, he's always had a great personal investment in every project, and no one can deny that he did it his way.
