Dino De Laurentiis, the legendary Hollywood producer, was indirectly responsible for the “Star Wars” universe. George Lucas initially wanted to adapt “Flash Gordon” for the big screen. Unfortunately for George, however, Mr. De Laurentiis held the movie rights for “Flash Gordon”. George then decided to write his own space saga- “Star Wars”.
While George Lucas may not have thought so initially, losing the bidding for “Flash Gordon” was the greatest thing that would ever happen to him. Aside from the fact that Dino’s campy “Flash Gordon” was a huge flop, had George made it instead of “Star Wars”, he would not have been able to create his empire. Since “Star Wars” was a new creation, George could license and merchandise it to the hilt; the proceeds for a “Flash Gordon” film would have mostly flowed back to the rights holder. Since George had negotiated with Fox Studio to retain merchandise rights to the film, all of that money went to him exclusively. This money allowed George to establish his own production company and buy all rights to his creation from Fox.
