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George Lucas, the man who created what may possibly be the most seminal pop-culture phenomenon film franchise of all time (and I'm not talking about Twilight) has announced that he's done with the movie business. With this week's release of Red Tails, in which Lucas serves as executive producer, the legendary filmmaker will bow out of an industry that he no doubt helped shape. For some fans, it's a bittersweet moment, especially to those critical of his more recent work in the Star Wars prequels and his perpetual tinkering with the original trilogy with its subsequent home releases. What will become of Star Wars fandom without the white-bearded Godfather? As Lucas state unequivocally: “I’m retiring, I’m moving away from the business, from the company, from all this kind of stuff.” The task of getting Red Tails, a big-budget film chronicling the World War II deeds of the famed, socially-significant Tuskegee Airmen was a difficult one for Lucas, who has always been known to appreciate having the autonomy to do the kind of films that he wants to make, the way that he wants to make them. On Red Tails, studio bigwigs were obstinate on the project, not giving him the time of the day, treating the iconic filmmaker as if he was pitching a sequel to Plan 9 From Outer Space. By the time, he eventually overcame those obstacles and finally got the film made with director Anthony Hemingway, it might be the case that he just had enough. There was also the issue of the rabid fanboy backlash, which may have affected the usually stone-faced Lucas more than he would have them think. As Lucas tells The New York Times: “I think there are a lot more important things in the world” than feuds with fanboys. Later adding: “On the Internet, all those same guys that are complaining I made a change are completely changing the movie,” Lucas says, referring to fans who, like the dreaded studios, have done their own forcible re-edits. “I’m saying: ‘Fine. But my movie, with my name on it, that says I did it, needs to be the way I want it.’ " From his perspective, the studios have been ruining his films since the early days with American Graffiti and THX 1138, a process which Lucas, the car buff, describes as "someone keying your car." Yet, it was not until the success of Star Wars where he had achieved the kind of independence from the studios which he craved. So, now, with some of his muscle seemingly diminished in the eyes of those bigwigs who make the movies happen, to come full-circle and find himself at their mercy, may not be the way he wants to continue. It's an interesting phenomenon that the man who reaped untold fortunes off the most popular franchise of all time still felt a type of artistic OCD when it came to his work. While I'm sure you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who thought that the heart-wrenching climax of Return of the Jedi could have used a "Nooooo," one still has to respect that, despite the "money-grubbing" persona that haters often affix to him, that Lucas remains within, that skinny kid at the University of Southern California that just wanted to make HIS movies. At the end of the day, I think that even the haters can put aside the issues and join the chorus of fans to say, "Thanks for everything, George."

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