Has being connected to Lucasfilm and star wars helped the indy franchise or hurt it

00Kevin

Indyfan
Hope this isn't a repeat discussion, I was thinking about the unique relationship between the indiana jones franchise and star wars.

On the one hand, the success of star wars had provided a number of opportunities for the indy franchise. George Lucas had to take his script for star wars all over Hollywood and went through a lot to get that film made. but after the success of that film and his subsequent reputation in Hollywood, he was able to get a good deal for raiders of the lost arc. Companies practically founded for star wars have contributed to indiana jones. Lucasfilm, Industrial light & magic, thx, and Skywalker sound would play a role in the making of the indy films. While LucasArts, high from the success of a barrage of star wars games in the nineties, have continued to release at least one indiana jones game every few years up until the end of the last decade. And now there's Disney who, having acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, will apparently be starting to get around to indiana jones in the near future, having spent the last few years reigniting the flames of star wars.

Still, one has to wonder if the indiana jones franchaise could have been more expansive if, say, George Lucas never made star wars. If indiana jones was his crown jewel, he might have spent more time and energy into the series, resulting in more indy movies and video games. Look at James Bond, author creator Ian Fleming wrote a new bond book every year until he passed away and is not known for any other work except Chitty chitty bang bang. Also the broccoli family have been producers behind the bond films since the beginning and have been fairly consistent in delivering a new installment every 2-3 Years. So is it so fantastical to think that indiana jones would have benefited more from a creator who could have invested more attention into the series?

Curious to see if any of you have thoughts on this matter.
 

Walecs

Active member
You do have a point. I remember reading somewhere that Lucas always preferred Indiana Jones to Star Wars, and I guess he never did any Indy movie in the '90s or early 2000s because he never came up with a plot he thought good enough to justify a movie, then in the late '90s he worked on Star Wars prequels and never thought about Indy until after Revenge of the Sith was released.
 

Stoo

Well-known member
What?

Guys, there were 33 hours of Indiana Jones made between 1989-2008, plus numerous novels & comics. No lack of attention there. ;)

Oh, and Lucasfilm was founded for "American Graffiti" (not "Star Wars").
 

Major West

Member
If Star Wars had never been made, chances are Ford would never have been cast in Raiders.

If you remove Star Wars, you basically don't have Indiana Jones. As Star Wars enabled Lucas to do whatever project he wanted. Indiana Jones was always a three film deal, and return of the Jedi came out in 1983. I don't think anything hindered Indiana Jones other than Ford and Spielberg feeling they were done with it after Last Crusade.
 
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