George Lucas is arguably best known for shaping the galaxy far, far away, with the filmmaker’s Star Wars franchise becoming a cultural and commercial juggernaut. However, before Lucas took the world by storm with his space opera saga, he directed the 1973 coming-of-age comedy-drama film American Graffiti, starring Harrison Ford.
During a recent appearance at the Cannes Film Festival, Lucas reflected on the difficult process he faced while trying to get American Graffiti made. The filmmaker recalled having a hard time getting a $750k budget approved for the movie. Nonetheless, American Graffiti emerged as a major success, grossing several times its initial investment. Here is what Lucas had to say about the making of American Graffiti.
George Lucas Fought to Get American Graffiti Greenlit and Into Theaters
Filmmaker George Lucas was awarded an honorary Palme d’Or for his contribution to cinema at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival. During the festival, Lucas reflected on his lengthy career in Hollywood, and also touched upon his 1973 coming-of-age comedy-drama American Graffiti.
The film starred Harrison Ford, Richard Dreyfuss, Ron Howard, and Paul Le Mat, who were all relatively unknown faces at the time. Lucas recalled that he had initially pitched the movie to United Artists, alongside his eventual blockbuster Star Wars. However, the studio was not interested in American Graffiti.
Lucas then fought to get the script out of United Artists’ hands and set up the project at Universal Studios. However, at the new studio, Lucas faced financing issues and had to work hard to get the project greenlit on a budget of $750k.
It was like a rock concert.
Lucas made the above comment, (via The Hollywood Reporter) remembering the initial audience reaction to an early cut of American Graffiti. However, his fight with the studio did not stop there. The filmmaker revealed that the studio wanted to dump the film on television, and wasn’t interested in giving it a theatrical release.
American Graffiti’s Success Paved the Way For George Lucas to Make Star Wars
Lucas explained how the positive early reactions helped convince Universal Studios to give American Graffiti a limited theatrical release. However, the film soon started making money, resulting in a wider release.
American Graffiti was released on August 11, 1973, and went on to make roughly $115 million at the domestic box office. Combined with its international gross, the film’s box office gross climbed to roughly $140 million. Hence, American Graffiti minted almost 153 times the money that was part of its initial budget.
American Graffiti was making money so fast, I actually made a lot of money off it. It was the first time anybody had ever made money on net.
Lucas made the above statement at the film festival, explaining how it was difficult for filmmakers to make money on the net box office collection at the time.
The filmmaker also revealed that American Graffiti‘s commercial success led Fox to become interested in acquiring his next project. Allan Ladd Jr., then head of production at Fox, approached Lucas with the prospect of collaborating on his next film, which turned out to be 1977’s Star Wars, and the rest as they say is history.
American Graffiti is streaming on Netflix.
