8 Moments That Almost Killed Star Wars
From the loss of LucasArts to Solo forcing Disney to change their plans...
When Star Wars was released in 1977, it was a cultural phenomenon that went on to become one of the most profitable franchises in history. Every Sci-Fi movie that came after it owes George Lucas’ creation some thanks for paving the way and the franchise remains a Force to be reckoned with — pun definitely intended.
Of course, no franchise can exist for more than four decades and not hit a stumbling block along the way. In an effort to profit off of his creation, Lucas cashed in on his IP, and who could blame him? Anyone who watched a certain Holiday Special might have something to say, but that’s hardly the only time Star Wars released something terrible.
Over the years, attempts at introducing new video games, concepts, characters, and more have upset and outraged the fandom, and while there are plenty of things about the galaxy far, far away that are up for debate, one thing that definitely isn't is that the Star Wars fandom is not an easy group to please.
As a result, there have been a few moments in Star Wars’ history that could have gone very differently and might have even led to killing off the franchise altogether.
While that has yet to happen, there have been times when the fandom was ready to walk away. Still, there were some bad moments and these 10 were some the franchise somehow survived.
8. A New Hope Nearly Died During Production
Most people look back on A New Hope with fond memories of seeing it for the first time. That's all well and good for fans, but making the movie was something of a nightmare for the people who created it. Sure, it made them rich and famous, but that doesn't mean it was easy.
Star Wars' production was anything but easy, and it nearly died several times before and during the cameras started to roll. Firstly, it was rejected twice before it managed to find a distributor, which didn't help it get the budget it truly needed. After that, the filming in Tunisia was just terrible.
Ironically, Tatooine was meant to be a jungle planet, but filming in that environment seemed problematic, so it became a desert. That locale was no better, and prop breakdowns, serious cast injuries, electrical problems and a rare Tunisian rainstorm drove costs up, caused schedules to be chucked in the bin, and production to become strained.
Add to that the fact that the movie's first cut was unwatchable, and nobody seemed to care about the project other than George Lucas. It truly did defy the odds.