The Star Wars movie series is arguably the biggest franchise in cinematic history, spanning over 40 years with 11 live action films (13 if you include the two Ewok movies), cartoon series like Droids, Ewoks, Clone Wars and Rebels and now a live action series of the bounty hunter Boba Hutt from The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi in The Mandalorian not to mention countless computer games, comics/ graphic novels and more merchandise than you can shake a Tusken raider's gaderffii stick at.
What if after the original 1977 ‘Star Wars’ George Lucas had decided that was it even before it had a chance to be rebranded as ‘Episode IV : A New Hope’? Well we would not have met the likes of Emporer Palpatine, Lando Calrissian, Jabba The Hutt or evenYoda (but we also wouldn’t have had to endure Jar Jar Binks or Hayden Christensen trying the be a believable young Darth Vader), there would be no AT-AT’s or pod racing, no Tauntans or Sarlacc Pits but would George Lucas have been able to achieve more visionary works? While he co-created Indiana Jones post Star Wars, would he even worked on solo (not Han) projects and gone on to win Oscars much like his Indiana Jones partner Stephen Spielberg did with Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan? Could he have helmed great movies like Back To The Future or Forrest Gump much like another Spielberg alumni in Robert Zemeckis? What if he had used his Lucasfilm and Industrial Light And Magic special effects studios to direct Jurassic Park or had a chance to give his version of Titanic? He could have worked with Warner Bros. and created a D.C. universe years before Marvel ever did with 1989s Batman adding heavyweights like Superman, Wonder Woman and Aquaman to Tim Burton’s dark gothic version. It would mean we would never have had the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special which was so bad, there is a reason that Lucas has never allowed it to be shown again with IMDB scoring it lower than the likes of Jaws: The Revenge, Caddyshack II or the 1998 remake of Psycho.
All the Star Wars films that followed Lucas' ground-breaking original story have somewhat taken away from just how phenomenal this was on release in 1977 as it's a film that break the mould with special effects and allowed the viewers imaginations to divulge but it still left questions that made fans want even more as it hinted at a rich history of secretive monk like Jedi's and events that happened previously to set up Luke meeting Ben or why Chewie and Han were so good at what they did it seems but owed so much money. Also how would billions have been spent over the years that has been used to buy Star Wars merchandise (how many households can confidently say they have nothing Star Wars related in it, particularly if it has someone aged 45 or under living there?).
What Lucas did though is constantly stay at the helm of his Star Wars universe throughout, writing and producing the two sequels before re-mastering the original Star Wars films to be re-released again in 1997 (for purists he did allow the original theatrical releases to come out on dvd in 2007). He let other companies create multiple video games and novels with his guidance based and characters and worlds he created to keep the Star Wars universe rich, can you think of any other movie franchise that is as big and bountiful as Star Wars has become over the past 40 years? That has been George Lucas’ focus mostly until he sold all the rights to Disney in 2012 for a total of over $4 billion (that much would get you a ride easily on any ship that can do the Kessel run in less than 12 parsecs) so in all fairness, if it’s about money he did something over the years no other film maker could match financially which anyone would be right to do.
While we will never know what would have happened if there was just the one Star Wars film, what we do know is that it has created memories and joy for the generations that followed with each trilogy and while Avengers Endgame, Avatar and Titanic have taken made more money at the box office globally, Star Wars : The Force Awakens is the highest grossing movie in the USA and UK as multiple generations of fans have built and grown over the past 40+ years to such an extent that they crave new stories in droves to such a point that between 2015 and 2019 Disney released 5 live action fans with The Force Awakens, Rogue One, The Last Jedi, A Solo Story and The Rise Of Skywalker grossing almost $6bn dollars in ticket sales (making Disney back the $4bn they spent acquiring the rights as well as almost $2bn on top of that before other licenses and merchandise are even added to the amount) which shows the Star Wars universe is a juggernaut that isn't slowing down anytime soon with Disney announcing Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, Jojo Rabbit and who ironically voiced the robot IG-11 in The Mandalorian) starting work on a new trilogy which is currently expected to start in 2022 which makes you wonder, one day will someone do a blog about if there was only ever 100 Star Wars movies in a not too distant future not too far, far away.
