Star Wars creator George Lucas reveals why he is quitting blockbusters

George Lucas has decided that he won’t be making any more big-budget films, saying that he’ll be embarking on a "new destiny" after he takes a step back from the blockbuster movie business.

The creator of the ‘Star Wars’ franchise cites the growing animosity for him among film fans as one of the main reasons for his retirement.

“On the Internet, all those same guys that are complaining I made a change are completely changing the movie,” he told the New York Times, referencing fans who have made their own re-edits of the famous sci fi trilogy.

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“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.’”

He’s currently promoting ‘Red Tails’ in the US - which he battled to get to the big screen and has funded himself as a consequence.

“Why would I make any more when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?”, he said, referring of course to every movie he’s been involved with since ‘The Phantom Menace’ in 1999.

“I’m moving away from the business, from the company, from all this kind of stuff.”

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His friend, producer Rick McCallum, explained: “Once this is finished, he’s done everything he’s ever wanted to do. He will have completed his task as a man and a filmmaker.”

Lucas says that he will continue to make films, but he’s more interested in smaller-scale movies that are personal, and similar to those he made while at USC film school in the 1960s.

The only blockbuster project he’s leaving open as a possibility is a fifth outing for Indiana Jones, but other than that he’s looking towards a quieter future, film-wise.