Film students, business majors, movie fans, industry insiders, and all those who appreciate human ingenuity will be fascinated and inspired by "George Lucas' Blockbusting" - a comprehensive look at how 300 of the most successful motion pictures of all time were made and financed despite seemingly insurmountable economic, cultural, and political challenges. Even in the face of war, the Great Depression, blacklisting, and more, every era has enjoyed movie blockbusters. Included here are sure-fire successes, complete surprises, movies made on scant budgets, others that were leveraged to the hilt, films celebrated upon release that have since lost their glow, those that have become more popular with time, and a few that remain inexplicably unheralded by the awards community today. In its detailed examination of each film's costs and revenues as well as each era's prevailing production, distribution, exhibition, marketing, and technology trends, this book provides a truly unique perspective of the movie-making business. Filled with essays, charts, and graphs drawn from diverse sources - not the least of which is the exhaustive Lucasfilm library - it ultimately presents the compelling story of the medium's evolution, from inception through its continuing reinventions. No true movie lover should be without it.

Author Biography

Alex Ben Block is an internationally known entertainment industry journalist, author, broadcaster, and show business historian. He was Editor of two of Hollywood's top trade publications-The Hollywood Reporter and Television Week, which Block helped successfully re-launch. He was also an Associate Editor of Forbes magazine and a movie critic in Detroit, Miami, and Los Angeles. He oversaw programming for the American Pavilion at Cannes, 2008. Currently Editor-at-Large for The Hollywood Reporter and Show Business Historian for Hollywood Today. Lucy Autrey Wilson began her career with Lucasfilm in 1974, typing the script to the first Star Wars movie on an IBM Selectric typewriter. She then explored areas as diverse as construction, film, special effects, licensing, and merchandising. In the late 1980s, she launched an all-new Star Wars publishing program comprised of more than 1,500 titles, including 63 New York Times bestsellers, before moving on to new challenges in nonfiction publishing. She currently serves as the Director of Publishing for George Lucas Books, a division of JAK Films.