Star Wars was supposed to be a flop - why did it not become one?

 

We have come to believe that Star Wars was some kind of prodigious project, a focused effort of numerous talented people who firmly believed in its success. The reality was somewhat different and we can trace the humble beginnings of this massive franchise to the early years of George Lucas's career. This is not going to be a post about the whole history of how Star Wars came to be, but more of a reminder that great things often happen through connection of multiple coincidences that don't seem to be working out until they really do.

George Lucas, the man responsible for the success of Star Wars?

After making American Graffiti, George Lucas was a very seeked-out director and his plans involved creating a remake of the old school 1930s film "Flash Gordon", but he got scooped by the 20th Century Fox in order to create the next movie. Since the license for Flash Gordon wasn't available, he moved towards other ideas, which finally led him to Star Wars.You can definitely see Flash Gordon influences in the story, for example in the fight against an evil empire.

Evil Emperor on a throne was also derived from Flash Gordon

Although Lucas is often considered a brilliant ideaman, someone with powerful imagination and creativity, he lacks sober judgement and is prone to making bad decisions. We can see that now clearly through his numerous idiotic additions in re-releases of the original trilogy, but back in the day he was just considered a mediocre screenwriter. His first draft was very rudimental and had to be reworked by people passionate about the project to the point of usability. So was the case with many elements of the movie, including the art direction, which undergone a serious change for the better from campy to epic thanks to Ralph Mcquarrie, whose concept images still make for an amazing viewing.

One of Ralph Mcquarrie's concept arts for Star Wars

Even the main cast was making fun of the movie, not believing in its success. Since most of them were young, time spent on set consisted mostly of laughing, joking and pranking each other. Sir Alec Guinness, a prominent british actor portraying Obi-Wan Kenobi, could not believe what he got himself into.

The set often looked like a college campus

All in all, it worked out fine. Star Wars became what it is today, because of conjuction of multiple coincidences that happened to form into something of great value. Hard work of everyone passionate about and involved in this project should not be forgotten!

QUESTIONS:

1. How did the main three actors ended up playing their roles?

2. What was the movie that was coming out around the same time and was expected to rule the movie theaters?