George Lucas slams Hollywood for ‘just doing sequels’ and having ‘no original thinking’

The 'Star Wars' director criticised the current state of the film industry.

Lucas, now 80-years-old, is known for creating some of the biggest blockbuster movies in cinema history - including Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark and American Graffiti.

The American filmmaker had a lot to say when asked about the film industry during a conversation with Brut at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.

"Same thing as it is now. What happens now - and it happens in streaming probably more than features, but features, it's the same thing - nobody knows what to do," he said.

"The stories they're telling are just old movies. 'Let's do a sequel, let's do another version of this movie.' And it's not just in movies, but in almost everything, there's almost no original thinking."

Interestingly, Star Wars is one of the most notable movie franchises to receive a constant feed of sequels and spinoffs, with a total of five Star Wars movies sent to theaters since the release of Episode VII – The Force Awakens in 2015.

Lucas added: "It's like, 'I saw something, let's do something like that,’ " Lucas added. "It's also a way that movies are sold. If you go in and say, 'I've got something that you've never seen before and you don't understand it,' it's very hard to get a deal."

In 2012, Lucas sold his Lucasfilm empire to the Walt Disney Company for just over $4 billion, and with multiple films, games, shows, and more spinoffs now under its belt, Star Wars has evolved into something of a machine.

Reflecting on the sale and what Disney have done with the franchise ever since, Lucas said: "I was the one who really knew what Star Wars was…who actually knew this world, because there’s a lot to it.

"The force, for example, nobody understood the force," he added. "When they started other ones after I sold the company, a lot of the ideas that were in [the original] sort of got lost. But that’s the way it is. You give it up, you give it up."

Since 2012, Disney have produced spinoffs such as The Mandalorian, The Book of Boba Fett, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Andor, and Ahsoka.

Many took to social media to dispute Lucas' comments.

One Twitter user wrote: "I don't know if I agree with that. Hollywood makes a lot of original movies a year. Its just they don't get the attention that the remakes get."

Another sarcastically said: "It was completely different when Lucas was doing it, though."

One person, however, agreed with the iconic director.

They commented: "He's right in the sense that the big movies, studios push are generally established franchises, remakes, action movies or super hero movies.

"There are some new ideas but generally they're the minority. The Bikeriders is one movie I have my eye on this year."

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