Cory Edwards

RED FUSION’S new album “BREAKOUT” is here! Go get it!

George Lucas traded $350,000 in directing salary for something Fox executives thought was worthless: the right to sell Star Wars toys. It was 1976. Over 40 studios had already passed on his script, including Disney. Fox only greenlit the project because they wanted Lucas for other films. Nobody at the studio expected to make money on a space opera with no stars, so when Lucas offered to cut his directing fee from $500,000 to $150,000 in exchange for merchandising and sequel rights, Fox said yes on the spot. Movie merchandise was a dead business. Fox had lost money on Doctor Dolittle lunchboxes a decade earlier. They thought they were getting the better deal. Lucas couldn’t even find a toy company that wanted in. Kenner, a division of cereal company General Foods, finally bought the licensing for a flat $100,000. Then Star Wars opened. Between 1977 and 1978, Kenner sold $100 million worth of toys off that $100,000 investment. They couldn’t make enough for Christmas ’77, so they sold empty boxes with IOUs inside, promising to mail the action figures later. Parents paid real money for cardboard and a promise. Nobody around the production saw any of this coming. Alec Guinness, who played Obi-Wan, privately called the script “fairy-tale rubbish.” But he was shrewd enough to negotiate 2.25% of royalties instead of a flat fee. About 20 minutes of total screen time earned his estate somewhere between $50 million and $100 million. Lucas himself was so convinced the film would flop that he offered Spielberg a bet while visiting the Close Encounters set: swap 2.5% of each other’s profits. Spielberg took it. That handshake has paid him around $40 million. And then the money started compounding. Lucas poured his Star Wars profits into ILM, the effects house he’d built for the film. When its computer graphics division got too expensive to maintain, he sold it to Steve Jobs in 1986 for $10 million. Jobs renamed it Pixar. Disney bought Pixar twenty years later for $7.4 billion. Then in 2012, Disney came back for the rest, buying Lucasfilm itself for $4.05 billion. Total franchise revenue today sits around $46.7 billion, over $20 billion from merchandise alone. The filmmaker 40 studios passed on is now worth $5.3 billion according to Forbes. Fifty years ago today, cameras rolled on a desert in Tunisia. The $350,000 pay cut that made it all possible might be the best trade in business history.

“Turns any screenplay into film directly.” With NO decisions? Where to edit, what shot is preferred? When to slow down or speed up? The very nature of this statement shows a huge misunderstanding — and disrespect— of what “turning a screenplay into film” even MEANS.

A great deep dive from someone in the trenches. Intentionality. Choices. Control. These are human things that only humans can do. And as a director, that’s all I’m interested in when creating in VFX / animation.

Alright... let's do this. Let's talk about AI generative images. youtu.be/YLpUGoSSUCE

Hey @FXNetworks, if you’ve “got the movies, TURN UP THE VOLUME on them. Last night’s broadcast was literally half the volume of the commercials.

Sure, Michael B. Jordan won an Oscar. But how does that make his BROTHER feel?

@EddieMcClintock THE BANKS OF GOTHAM ARE NOT SAFE!

This is who runs this account.

A strongly worded letter can solved just about anything. ✉️ Check out new issues of “Glipwood” right here every Monday, and stream The Wingfeather Saga on Angel!

@TheCartoonBase No actual human Jeff Bridges pic??

New cast for ‘MINIONS & MONSTERS’ has been revealed. • Jeff Bridges (Big Z) • Jesse Eisenberg (Blu) • Trey Parker (Eric Cartman) • Christoph Waltz (Count Volpe) • Allison Janney (Peach the Starfish)

@CantUnseeMovie @NextBestPicture Sound mix was SO WEIRD. What about Conan spending about 15 seconds after a break not knowing he was back on again?

@NextBestPicture Generally show was good. Two glaring problems: inconsistent audio quality on mics (audio for Bridesmaids cast was the worst) and writing for presenters was weak, at times painful. Oscars worst nightmare happened, too: a tie — and therefore 2 speeches — for a Shorts category.

What did you all think of the show? How are we feeling? #Oscars #Oscars2026

@TheCartoonBase May I suggest PUPPETS.

‘TED’ creator Seth MacFarlane says there’s enough story for 20 seasons, but the expense of creating the bear is preventing that. (via: Collider)

This is gonna be an amazing movie summer. ⭐️ Mortal Kombat, He-Man, Mandalorian, Spider-Man, Supergirl, The Odyssey, Toy Story 5 and a Spielberg UFO movie?? 14 Year-old me is PSYCHED. 🤓

#Hoppers is great! Funny, full of momentum and super weird in the best way.

Things get BIG in Season 3. ⚔️

Hoodwinked has a special place in my heart. We laughed so much while working on the mix stage on this one. I’m glad that it’s available to enjoy again. And remember… “never trust a bunny!”

@GiganticCranium Thanks Mac!!

Left side is a human lung. Right side is a tree. The tree breathes in what the lung breathes out. The lung breathes in what the tree breathes out. God's design is incredible.

@paddywarbucks - Hey, “HOODWINKED” is back, on @Tubi! 🐺 🧺 🐿️

RED FUSION RED FUSION RED FUSION! Wren Chatterji / Elliot Edwards 🎼🎶🪩🎸 Get the whole album on iTunes now!