Red Tails – one of the first new non-Star Wars movies from George Lucas – has taken a while to hit theaters, mostly because of reshoots done by the veteran producer/director himself.
Now Red Tails is nearly here, as the long-awaited film opens on January 20. As with many movies today, the first seven minutes of Red Tails can be viewed before its release, a la The Dark Knight Rises.
Of course, the big question still remains unanswered: does Lucas really have anything new or exciting to say post-Star Wars?
Interestingly enough, Lucas recently told USA Today he feels that Red Tails could hurt serious leading roles for African American actors if the movie doesn’t fly.
“I realize that by accident I’ve now put the black film community at risk. I’m saying, if this doesn’t work, there’s a good chance you’ll stay where you are for quite a while,” Lucas explained. “It’ll be harder for you guys to break out of that (lower-budget) mold. But if I can break through with this movie, then hopefully there will be someone else out there saying let’s make a prequel and sequel, and soon you have more Tyler Perrys out there.”
As the Hollywood Reporter notes, Lucas also just appeared on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and said he had a hard time pushing through a movie with an all African American cast.
According to Lucas, the major studios “don’t believe there’s any foreign market for it and that’s 60 percent of their profit. I showed it to all of them and they said, ‘No. We don’t know how to market a film like this.” And as previously reported on TG, Lucas really put his money where his mouth is, by putting up $58 million of his own cash to make the movie, and $35 million more for distribution.
Red Tails is being released through Lucas’s alma matter, Fox, and hits theaters on January 20th.
