THE LUCAS WARS

By KIM MASTERS/LOS ANGELES

George Lucas is at it again. and all the studio bosses in Hollywood are hoping the Force will be with them as each pleads with the filmmaker for the chance to release three upcoming new installments in the Star Wars epic.

It's been a long, dry spell for Star Warshippers since the last movie, Return of the Jedi, hit theaters in 1983 (Fox released the original films but has no rights to any sequels). Lucas is now working on a three-part prequel. A source close to Lucas says he believes he can make the pictures at bargain prices by current Hollywood standards. The goal is to hold budgets at around $70 million, a feat that would be accomplished by using little-known actors and a lot of the computer wizardry that Lucas develops so brilliantly. Sets are already under construction in warehouses outside London. The release date is summer 1999.

Meanwhile Fox is preparing to release the original trilogy in theaters early next year, restored and improved with some brief new sequences (the cantina scene in Star Wars now includes additional characters, and there is also a confrontation between Han Solo and Jabba the Hutt that didn't make it into the original). Lest anyone doubt the public's interest in the series, Fox re-released the trilogy as a boxed set on video last August and sold 22 million units domestically in six months.

But it's the prospect of three brand-new Star Wars movies that has Hollywood's studios salivating. The leading contenders appear to be Fox and Disney, although Steven Spielberg hopes he can prevail upon his old friend Lucas--the two made the Indiana Jones movies together--to give a big bang to Spielberg's new company, DreamWorks. Sources close to Lucas doubt he'll slip his babies into the untested DreamWorks distribution pipeline. A Fox executive adds that Lucas has a keen sense of competition with Spielberg and is eager for the original Star Wars to pass Jurassic Park at the box office. (The score in the U.S. is Star Wars, $322 million; Jurassic Park, $357 million.) In fact, it was the special-effects breakthroughs Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic created for Jurassic that convinced Lucas he could realize his vision for the new episodes, which he has been planning since he first conceived Star Wars.

The likely also-rans--Paramount, Warner, Universal and the rest--have begun courting Lucas, who remains holed up at his Marin County office. "He ain't easy to woo," laments a studio chairman. "He's not easy to get to." Handicappers say Lucas talks first to Fox, which has shown its good faith by lavishing millions on the video boxed set and on redoing the original trilogy for theaters. Fox also has a big bargaining chip: Lucas owns the copyrights to the Empire and Jedi installments, but Star Wars belongs to Fox. A friend says Lucas wants to complete his collection; Fox might be willing to trade its copyright for an international film- and television-distribution deal. But Disney also has something to barter: Lucas has his theme-park deal there, and a source familiar with his thinking says the terms could be sweetened. Star Tours remains one of the most popular attractions at the Disney parks.

Whoever wins, Lucas will dictate the terms of the deal, which will require the winning studio to accept a distribution fee and then get out of the way. That means the bulk of the box-office revenue--as well as licensing and all other sources for what will presumably be a massive revenue stream--will go to Lucas. The distribution fee will be but a percentage of the gross--and with grosses like these, it's a seller's market.

--By Kim Masters/Los Angeles