As you’ll recall, back in the early stages of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens," producer Kathleen Kennedy and director J.J. Abrams had a mini-battle at Disney over the release date of the movie. They wanted to drop it in theaters in May 2016, but Disney CEO Robert Iger held firm to a release date this year. But had things gone a little differently, we’d be seeing ‘The Force Awakens’ in just a few months.
Chatting with USA Today about his upcoming animated film "Strange Magic," it was revealed that Lucas had a different plan before Lucasfilm to Disney. He had already developed a new trilogy of movies, was going to direct ‘Star Wars VII’ himself, release it in May of this year, and then sell his company afterwards. Certainly, having a newly relaunched franchise to add to the package would’ve made Lucasfilm all the more valuable, but Lucas looked at it a different way.
"The time is more important to me than the money," Lucas said, though it should be noted the Lucasfilm sale netted $4.05 billion dollars. And at the end of the day, he’s just excited to be an audience member for the series for the first time in his life.
"The only thing I really regret about ‘Star Wars’ is the fact I never got to see it — I never got to be blown out of my seat when the ship came over the screen," he explained. "The next one, I’ll be able to enjoy it like anybody else."
So, see you at the multiplex on December 18th, George. And thanks for not directing ‘Episode 7.’