Fifty-five years ago today, on 20th April 1971, Lucasfilm was incorporated, and while very little happened initially given its early status as an ‘imprint’ for George Lucas to develop his own films while inbetween projects for American Zoetrope – co-owned by Francis Ford Coppola and Lucas – it would soon go on to mind-blowing success, with American Grafitti essentially funding the earliest days of ILM, and then in 1977, Star Wars….
A rising star amongst his generation of young filmmakers, George Lucas had previously co-established the independent company American Zoetrope with Francis Ford Coppola and a group of fellow filmmakers in San Francisco. Empowered by their self-made creative freedom, they pursued an audacious vision to make films that challenged established Hollywood norms.
Lucas’ own THX 1138 (1971) was Zoetrope’s first feature to be completed and released. The film’s powerful depiction of one man’s attempt to escape from an oppressive society anticipates themes in the director’s future work. Lucas was deeply troubled, however, by distributor Warner Bros.’ efforts to remove scenes from THX. The film’s struggle to gain commercial footing upon its March 1971 release exacerbated financial pressures within Zoetrope. While Coppola planned to direct an adaptation of the popular crime novel by Mario Puzo, The Godfather, Lucas decided to set out on his own.
Initially, Lucasfilm was solely an imprint which the filmmaker could employ on his future projects. It was not necessarily destined to become a large organization with many divisions and enterprises. Within a month of the company’s founding, Lucas was striking an early development deal with United Artists for what became Lucasfilm’s first production, American Graffiti (1973). He also secured an interest in a vague but rapidly growing concept for what the filmmaker called “a space-opera fantasy film in the vein of Flash Gordon.”
