Star Wars – the Ultimate Movie Gamble
Graffiti went on the set in motion the 50s nostalgia trend, was spun off into the successful “Happy Days” TV show and launched the brilliant career of Harrison Ford.
You would think with that success, studios would have seen the genius of George Lucas and embraced Star Wars. But from the very beginning, Star Wars was a gamble. The vision was unique and untried and to studios, that meant risk. Too often innovative and bold film making is not successful at a financial level. Studios like to go with things that are going to make money for sure. That is why studio after studio turned down the chance to make Star Wars, even Universal Studios, who made American Graffiti, passed on it because they said it was a “silly idea.” You can imagine how the studio ate those words when Star Wars took the movie business by storm and netted hundreds of millions of
