Well, to be fair, the majority of the crew budget did go to people holding up Lucas' 800lbs jowels

So the cheapest part of the whole production... was the script. Huh. Who'da thunk that?

trollin', trollin' trollin', by star wars not extollin'...

I think there was a lot of Jawa lube hidden in the indirects.

Teen Wolf Blitzer: Well, to be fair, the majority of the crew budget did go to people holding up Lucas' 800lbs jowels



Lucas wasn't a fat turd in those days.

Swarley: So the cheapest part of the whole production... was the script. Huh. Who'da thunk that?

trollin', trollin' trollin', by star wars not extollin'...

You came in that thing?

Well, that box office they brought in included about $25 in 1977 dollars out of my scrawny 6 year old ass, that's for sure. Worth every penny.

cretinbob: Set workers made more money than Luke and Leia.....

That was split between ALL the set workers.

herrDrFarkenstein:

You came in that thing?

I'm braver drunker than you think.

Obligatory.

Converted for inflation Star Wars still managed to cost $40 million less than Jack and Jill.

ArkAngel: The real question is how much did it cost Fox when they let Lucas keep the merchandising rights

Indeed. I think that dwarfed ticket sales and rentals.

elvindeath: Well, that box office they brought in included about $25 in 1977 dollars out of my scrawny 6 year old ass, that's for sure. Worth every penny.

You were peddlin' your ass as a six year old just to watch a movie? I had parents that took me.

Spielberg tells a story of how while he was making Close Encounters, Lucas visited the set. When Lucas saw how big the film was in terms or production he was sure it was going to be a big hit and Star Wars would flop. Lucas asked if Spielberg would trade some points with him and he agreed. Spielberg said he is still getting nice residual checks from Star Wars-- not so much from CE.

Anyone know if the 100k bill for music is in salaries, or just a one-off for the score? If the former, OK, If the latter, damn. You just know Williams was making bank on his iconic tunes by the time Empire came out. The music is a key element in those three films. Hell, the theme might be best known but it's actually the least powerful of all the score. Great stuff.

Dude must have had residuals. Or if not, he sure as fark did when Empire came out. There's some really incredible music in those first three films. Despite the leaps the movie made, without the tunes it would've been decidedly weaker.

The Dreaded Rear Admiral: Obligatory.

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Just as an arguing point, Mark Hamill's relatively famous for his voice acting these days.

He's the joker I grew up listening to in the Batman animated series. His actual acting career...I dunno. Last thing I can recall seeing him in was Jay and Silent Bob Strike back.

But still, not nothing.

Also, I find it hilarious that a campy written movie with moderately good special effects has proven to be one of the iconic sci-fi movies of a generation (or three). Especially when compared to most of everything Hollywood craps out now. It's almost like...well written movies have staying power.

dletter: kroonermanblack: The Dreaded Rear Admiral: Obligatory.

[www.geeksaresexy.net image 520x306]

Just as an arguing point, Mark Hamill's relatively famous for his voice acting these days.

He's the joker I grew up listening to in the Batman animated series. His actual acting career...I dunno. Last thing I can recall seeing him in was Jay and Silent Bob Strike back.

But still, not nothing.

Also, I find it hilarious that a campy written movie with moderately good special effects has proven to be one of the iconic sci-fi movies of a generation (or three). Especially when compared to most of everything Hollywood craps out now. It's almost like...well written movies have staying power.

Well, yeah, compared to me, not nothing. Compared to Harrison Ford who is arguably in the Top 10 most successful actors over the past 30 years, well, there is that.

Clint Eastwood is the most successful actor over the past 50 years.

Why have they not been in a movie together?

ArkAngel: The real question is how much did it cost Fox when they let Lucas keep the merchandising rights

A billion or so.

kroonermanblack: The Dreaded Rear Admiral: Obligatory.

[www.geeksaresexy.net image 520x306]

Just as an arguing point, Mark Hamill's relatively famous for his voice acting these days.


Mark Hamill was also more prominently a voice-actor back in those days; his other 'big' 1977 role was as Sean in the Ralph Bakshi animated feature Wizards .. and his biggest pre-Star Wars role was as teen-age surfer Corey Anders in Hanna-Barbera's I Dream of Jeannie Saturday morning cartoon.

buckler: dickfreckle: Anyone know if the 100k bill for music is in salaries, or just a one-off for the score? If the former, OK, If the latter, damn. You just know Williams was making bank on his iconic tunes by the time Empire came out. The music is a key element in those three films. Hell, the theme might be best known but it's actually the least powerful of all the score. Great stuff.

Dude must have had residuals. Or if not, he sure as fark did when Empire came out. There's some really incredible music in those first three films. Despite the leaps the movie made, without the tunes it would've been decidedly weaker.

yeah, but was that his money, or that for him plus the orchestra? IIRC, they didn't use a studio orchestra for that.

It says Score and music, so I'd imagine the London Symphony Orchestra's cost is included. Wonder if Andrew Preview conducted?

Also, looking at how small the miscellaneous costs are, the coke budget must have come out of special effects.

Darth_Lukecash: FTFA David Pirie's 1981 book Anatomy of the Movies dissected the film's then-lavish $11-million budget

Incorrect. The average movie budget was actually $20 million dollars.

cretinbob: Set workers made more money than Luke and Leia.....

Except Luke and Leia got points. And became rather rich. Harrison Ford had to decide wheather he was going to take Han Solo job or keep on doing carpentry. He was making more a week more than what he was being offered for the role.

It shows him getting points too -- and making almost triple what they did. Somehow I doubt he was making $1M a week as a carpenter.

gerbilpox: Darth_Lukecash: FTFA David Pirie's 1981 book Anatomy of the Movies dissected the film's then-lavish $11-million budget

Incorrect. The average movie budget was actually $20 million dollars.

cretinbob: Set workers made more money than Luke and Leia.....

Except Luke and Leia got points. And became rather rich. Harrison Ford had to decide wheather he was going to take Han Solo job or keep on doing carpentry. He was making more a week more than what he was being offered for the role.

It shows him getting points too -- and making almost triple what they did. Somehow I doubt he was making $1M a week as a carpenter.

Also, IMDB shows he was in about 20 productions before SW.

/FTFM

So are Ford, Fisher and Hamill still getting points off that farking thing? Or was it just the box office because they couldn't perceive of videos, DVDs, etc. back in the day? Although they should have got a cut of the re-release back in the 90s, right?

For what it was Star Wars was considered a low budget film. So was Alien.

Say what you will about the prequels but they were made for less than people estimate. Lucas kept a tight budget on all his films.

The 1977 original is the only one of the series made with studio money. Lucas self-financed the rest, because of his need for control. Already owning the most valuable rights (sequels and merchandising) he eventually got Fox to hand over ownership of the original as part of the distribution deal for the Special Editions and/or prequels. Not sure what the film was valued at in that deal.

noazark: kroonermanblack: The Dreaded Rear Admiral: Obligatory.

[www.geeksaresexy.net image 520x306]

Just as an arguing point, Mark Hamill's relatively famous for his voice acting these days.


Mark Hamill was also more prominently a voice-actor back in those days; his other 'big' 1977 role was as Sean in the Ralph Bakshi animated feature Wizards .. and his biggest pre-Star Wars role was as teen-age surfer Corey Anders in Hanna-Barbera's I Dream of Jeannie Saturday morning cartoon.

Id say voice work has its perks too. No costume or make-up BS. Wear whatever your comfy in. A retake doesnt involve a full reset of the set, cast, cameras, effects, etc. Sure, it probably doesnt pay as well, but sounds like a great gig to me.

ArkAngel: The real question is how much did it cost Fox when they let Lucas keep the merchandising rights

Star Wars is the reason merchandising rights became valuable. Everyone afterwards owes Lucas a royalty.

"then-lavish" budget. Why do people make up shiat and act like they know something when they are completely clueless? Some idiot writer just decided that $11 million was "lavish" in 1976 and included it as fact in an article.

The average movie cost about $5 million back but that of course includes comedies, etc. In reality Star Wars was famous for its low budget for a high-production-value sci fi epic. It cost only $500,000 more than A Space Oddyssey which was made in 1966-67.

I'm surprised they didn't also say "Star Wars, which opened with a puny, pathetic $6,806,951 take in its first week of wide release" which reflects reality just as much.

Are there any editors for these stupid sites?

Mugato: dletter: That is still "only" $40 million in 2011 dollars. So, considering some movies made for $100+ million, still fairly reasonable.

The studios nowadays cook the books so that it doesn't look like they make a profit. As an example, Adam Sandler's latest opus Jack and Jill "cost" $79 mill before marketing.

I remember reading that they somehow managed to account things in such a way that "Forrest Gump" failed to make any profits for the study on paper. When they asked the author of the book the move was based on (who was rather grump at being screwed over by Hollywood accounting) to adapt the sequel, he refused because he "did not want the studio to lose any more money" .

The studios have made an art form of somehow making a paper loss from multimillion dollar success in order to screw over anyone else. I think it is important to keep in mind when being told by the MPAA that new IP-legislation i supposed to protect the artists.

This is exactly why we should have an 85% marginal tax rate.
No one should make $1M on one film by just being an actor.

cretinbob: Set workers made more money than Luke and Leia.....

That's a typo. It should say 1/20%

Mugato: The studios nowadays cook the books so that it doesn't look like they make a profit. As an example, Adam Sandler's latest opus Jack and Jill "cost" $79 mill before marketing.

HitB kinda nailed that one.

Notice though that the studio is the biggest scumbag in the deal. Their jacked up fees are why no movie ever makes any profit officially.

Negative costs $11M (the same as the total cost to create the movie)
Distributor's Fee $75M

All taken out before profit was assessed. The publisher used the made-up fees to push down the profits on an already outrageously profitable film. That ends up screwing everybody who negotiated a percentage of the profits and is responsible for negotiations changing to % of gross due to accounting tricks.

tenpoundsofcheese: This is exactly why we should have an 85% marginal tax rate.
No one should make $1M on one film by just being an actor.

I got into this discussion with my mother about sports stars. She was thinking it was crazy how much they're paid. I thought it about for a little bit, and it hit me. Think how much the studios make off of the names alone. It would be stupid for ANYONE to work their butt off to make a great film while some suit is in his office 90% of the time makes a ton off it.

kroonermanblack: The Dreaded Rear Admiral: Obligatory.

[www.geeksaresexy.net image 520x306]

Just as an arguing point, Mark Hamill's relatively famous for his voice acting these days.

He's the joker I grew up listening to in the Batman animated series. His actual acting career...I dunno. Last thing I can recall seeing him in was Jay and Silent Bob Strike back.

He recently did a cameo on Burn Notice as a weapons merchant or something like that. He got fat from the last time I saw him. He's starting to look like Shatner.

Really I'm Black: dang alec guinness made out big.

He wrote three memoirs: Blessings in Disguise, My Name Escapes Me and A Positively Final Appearance. They're great reads and in them, Guinness is beyond scathing about Star Wars nerds. He was very unhappy that he was a classically trained actor, with a long resume of distinguished film and stage work and yet he known mostly for Obi-Wan. He'll always be Henry Holland to me.

He was smart to take the percentage, he had the foresight to guess the first SW movie was going to be a hit.

Mugato: tailormadebassist: Think how much the studios make off of the names alone

Yeah, it has nothing to do with what they actually do. No one deserves a million dollars for memorizing lines and acting for a couple months. But they do deserve it if that acting makes someone else even more. Same with sports stars. They throw a ball around. But if throwing a ball around makes some suit a shiatton of money, the ball thrower deserves a cut. Just how it is, like it or not.

And that's why I've stopped complaining about it. I'm an aspiring musician, and I hope to make a shiat ton off it one day. I wouldn't want to run around doing something I love making no money while some big wig made a mint off my music. I'd want a nice little cut.

tenpoundsofcheese: This is exactly why we should have an 85% marginal tax rate.
No one should make $1M on one film by just being an actor.

Right .... we should never reward anyone for taking a risk.

/after an entire lifetime of acting - Alec Guinness finally had enough money to live reasonably comfortable

tenpoundsofcheese: This is exactly why we should have an 85% marginal tax rate.
No one should make $1M on one film by just being an actor.

That's why the old school communists hated artists.

tenpoundsofcheese: This is exactly why we should have an 85% marginal tax rate.
No one should make $1M on one film by just being an actor.

Why not? If people pay to see that person, why don't they deserve that?