After completing his first cut of Star Wars, George Lucas reportedly showed it to a few of his director friends to see what they thought - Brian De Palma's alleged reaction was to turn to Lucas and describe it as "the worst movie ever", Whether or not this story is true, it consolidates Lucas's own lack of faith in his science fiction creation - sure that he had a flop on his hands, Lucas didn't even bother attending the premiere. One person who correctly predicted great things for Star Wars was Steven Spielberg, who said that he thought it would make millions. He was on the right track - in the end, Star Wars and its sequels and spin-offs would amass a fortune of billions for Lucas and turn him into a shrewd businessman, if not a particularly good film director. Given all the evidence which points to George Lucas as being a mediocre writer and filmmaker (and perhaps that's being too generous), it's impressive that Star Wars went on to be the most popular franchises of all time. And, with Disney's acquisition of the series plenty more tales from a galaxy far, far away are heading our way. What other predicted flops went on to become huge box office hits? Why not tell us about them in the comments?
