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Monday, November 29, 2010

Did you know?

(Thanks for sharing, Ryan G.)

Director George Lucas had trouble getting funding for Star Wars because most studios thought that people wouldn’t want to see it.
All the major Hollywood studios passed on Lucas’s script until 20th Century Fox gave in to his final desperate attempt (even though they also thought the film would flop!). Star Wars went on to become the highest grossing film ever at the time! Shows how much studio executives really know... 
(source)


Nov 27, 2010 09:00 AM by Emily L, IL - Facts

19 comments:

  1. WOW! That's so funny considering Star Wars is a family favorite and so popular! It's like the old saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover." Don't jut dismiss a movie just because YOU don't like it. Others might think it's amazing! And especially something like Star Wars, with a great plot and interesting twists and turns... how would people not like that? Granted, for those who don't like science fiction-type books (myself included), this might be a bit tedious, but I don't think that people should have just rejected his ideas like this.

    Mira Merchant
    Period 3

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  2. If I were a Hollywood producer and saw the Star Wars script, I'd think I struck a gold mine. Maybe I'm bias, though, considering the fact that I've already seen the movies, and I know already how good Star Wars is. If I was a producer from the 70's, and you said Star Wars to me and I didn't understand what you were talking about, I may have a second opinion.

    Is the comic implying that Lucas added unnecessary ideas to Indy 4, while Speilberg was the main brain behind it? Because if it is, I may agree with it somewhat, though I do not remember any gophers in the movie,

    -Alex Israel
    Per. 5

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  3. Same thing happened with Harry Potter. As many fans would know, J.K. Rowling wrote her bestseller series on napkins in coffee shops until after so many failures, did one publisher see the potential of her work.

    Similar things happen in other areas, such as sports. Go back to the 2003 NBA Draft, went Darko Milic, taken as the second pick ahead of perrenial all-stars such as Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Chris Kaman, David West, Josh Howard, Mo Williams, and several other terrific players coming out of that draft. The Detroit Pistons thought he would be the next legendary center, and he would be a bust that swapped many different, low-record teams, and today is a benchwarmer on the Minnesota Timberwolves.

    -Rodolfo H. Period 4

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  4. ^^^^^^^^

    Correction: "Go back to the 2003 NBA Draft, where Darko Milic was..."

    I didn't proofread. It really defies my comment on the proofreading blog post. :-(

    -Rodolfo H. Period 4

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  5. This reminds me of the video we watched earlier about why America is great. It said that one person fired Oprah as a reporter and said that she wasn't fit for T.V. Also, many companies would not publish the first Dr. Seuss book. It seems that a lot of executives really don't know what the majority of the American population wants. It's a good thing that all these people continued to try even after failing, though. If people like George Lucas or Theodor Seuss Geisel did not continue to try, then I would expect America to be extremely different from how it is now.

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  6. It seems as if all the most popular movies or books have been rejected many times before someone wanted to publish them. As already stated, some examples are Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Dr. Seuss.

    I think that the publishers believe that by turning down a book, they will not publish a boring or unproductive book that may be bad for their company. However, I bet that all the publishers that turned down Star Wars, Harry Potter, or Dr. Seuss are regretting it.

    Yuval S.
    Period Three

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  7. Ryan Greenberg P6

    This surprised me as well, considering this is a very popular film. Goes to show why the USA is great, you can fail a thousand times and still be succesful. Also, the site is called

    www.omg-facts.com and its a great place for fun and interesting facts!

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  8. Hi Mrs. Powers,

    This is really surprising. I am not a Star Wars fan, but it is really surprising to see that he was having trouble funding it while it was being created. Seeing now that it is so popular, it doesn't seem like that would have been a problem. Almost everyone you talk to, they are familiar with Star Wars, so it is ironic that he had no support when publishing it.

    Meredith Sheldon
    P.3

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  9. Wow! I never knew that Star Wars got rejected so many times. I mean it's always been one of my favorite movie series, and I never thought that anyone would think it was that bad. However, this does happen often in the movie, sports, and book world. So, as my coach tells me, "if you fall seven times, get up eight". (:

    Andrea De Abreu
    P.5

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  10. I do find it surprising that Lucas had trouble finding funding for Star Wars. I mean, that is one of the most popular movies of all time, not to mention, that almost everyone who has seen it, has loved it. I can honestly say that I love that movie and I am very glad that they found someone who was willing to fund it.
    Kevin Scott Period 5

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  11. I only find this semi-surprising since many popular books, movies, and other things, like the Harry Potter series and Dr. Seuss's books, have been rejected many times before it went out to the public. It makes me wonder if the people that decides wether or not the movies, books, and other things go to the public actually are good at their job. There might could have been a VERY popular book series out, but it was rejected many times.
    Maggie Meng P6

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  12. I didn't know that but I'm not surprised, FOX really is more willing to take risks. That Rupert for you.

    Tyler Levinson Period 6

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  13. Wow I had no idea Star Wars got rejected. I also heard that J.K. Rowling got rejected by many publishers for Harry Potter. It goes to show that if you don't stop trying nothing will ever happen.

    Nicolette Sam P.5

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  14. I think that somethings have to be rejected but like bad movies or books but it should not be one persons desision it should be a group of people that debate it. Also like Harry Potter the writer can just laugh at the studio or publisher that said no after it becomes a femominon. It also goes to shough that work and pay off. What if JK rowliing gave up and didn't get the book published yhen she might have given up her deams and could be working at Pulix so she could buy stuff or she might of writen another book that would not be as famous.

    Evan Harber p.5

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  15. Like what the majority of you guys said, Star Wars is became pretty popular so it's funny hearing that he had trouble making the movie. I personally am not exactly a fan of Star Wars but many people enjoy watching it.
    -I don't get anything of what we are reading right now in class(the Star Wars book).

    -Victoria Baram p. 4

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  16. Growing up with Star Wars terms around me, (Thanks Dad. And thanks for teaching my brothers so they, too, can annoy me) I had heard this before.

    However, it is really truly sweet and interesting to hear a young, upcoming director defy what he had been told before. This just proves that you just have to follow your dreams, as most of our moms have said from time to time. Going back to what Lawrence said, this also reinforces that idea of the American dream, that anyone can do anything, as long as they put their mind to it.

    And by the way, if I were George Lucas, I would really want to go the studios who rejected him and rub it in their faces. However, that would be inappropriate. Even though, Star Wars did win six Oscars. And 27 other awards. AND nominated for 21 other awards.

    -Diana S.
    L.A. 4

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  17. I found this very interesting. It's amazing how they didn't want to pass on Lucas' script in the beginning because they didn't think people would like it and yet it turned out to be a very popular film. Everyone has different opinions.

    -Kayla Moodie Pd.3

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  18. This is one of the maaaaany now-famous-people-who-got-rejected-many-times scenerios I've heard. Like Albert Einstein! The other day I was reading and article that my father showed me, and I was shocked by what it said about Einstein's childhood. The exact words on this article were: "Albert Einstein did not speak until he was 4-years-old and did not read until he was 7. His parents thought he was "sub-normal," and one of his teachers described him as "mentally slow, unsociable, and adrift forever in foolish dreams." He was expelled from school and was refused admittance to the Zurich Polytechnic School. He did eventually learn to speak and read. Even to do a little math."
    I thought this was really funny, as well as interesting. I also agree with Diana... I would want to go back to those who rejected me and rub this all over their faces :). I also agree with the part about that being completely inappropriate (LOL).

    -Isabel Hofmann, Pd.4

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  19. This really surprised me because star wars is such a popular film. Almost everyone I know if not everyone that I know has ether heard about or seen seen star wars. A lot of money has come from the movie star wars, if people could go back in time they wouldn't give a second thought about making star wars into a movie.
    -Aina Rivas pd.2

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