One More Reason Hollywood's In Trouble

In an interview with the Reelz network, George Lucas talked about the problems he had with getting Hollywood studios and distributors interested in his forthcoming release, "Red Tails."  One might think that with the Lucas name and track record, an action movie set in the skies above Europe in WWII would be a no-brainer, but in over 20 years of trying, Lucas was unable to get any studio interested in producing the movie, and once he decided to produce it himself, he couldn't get a single major distributor interested in a distribution deal.  So Lucas funded it himself, putting more than $90 million into production and distribution so far.
Did Hollywood's lack of interest have anything to do with the fact that the film's heroes were the African-American pilots coming from the famed Tuskegee training program?
Well, as Lucas quipped,

Well, Will Smith's not in it and it's not a sequel. If we had that, we wouldn't have had the problem.

So as a result, Lucas added,

I financed the movie myself and went to the studios to distribute it and nobody wanted it. They just didn't feel there was enough of an audience out there for it...

So, a Hollywood system that thought they had sure winners in Heaven's Gate ($108 million in losses), Ishtar ($78 million in losses), The Adventures of Pluto Nash ($137 million in losses), Speed Racer ($108 million in losses), and last year's The Nutcracker in 3-D ($75 million in losses so far) and Mars Needs Moms ($136 million in losses to date), thinks a George Lucas action flick starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. is too much of a risk. (Loss figures in 2011 dollars, adjusted for inflation) 
Its what happens when media lose touch with their audience in a competitive environment where audiences get to choose what entertainment content they consume.
I hope Red Tails blows the competition away. Lucas has done it before, self-funding American Graffitti, and using its critical and financial success to launch the Star Wars saga.

Source - George Lucas Talks About Making Red Tails in Hollywood,  Reelz.com
George Lucas: Hollywood Didn't Want to Fund 'Red Tails' Because of Its Black Cast, Huff Post, BlackVoices Pop Culture
List of Biggest Box Office Bombs, Wikipedia

edit log - shifted one sentence around for better flow