George Lucas Names "Number One" Blockbuster, and It's Not 'Star Wars': "Bigger Than Anything"

George Lucas, the man who changed Hollywood, set the standard for blockbuster films for decades to come – he knew how to draw millions of viewers to their screens.

However, in an interview for the book The Directors: Take Four, Lucas named the greatest blockbuster of all time, and it wasn't his own creation.

According to Lucas, Star Wars and Jaws merely continued the tradition established by the 1939 epic melodrama.

George Lucas Says 'Gone With the Wind' Is a Blockbuster "In Every Sense of the Word"

Lucas never took credit for inventing the blockbuster, he said:

“Closer to when I was making my films, there were the James Bond films, which were big blockbusters. There were Irwin Allen's disaster films like The Towering Inferno and [The] Poseidon Adventure.

Those films were big blockbusters. And then Francis [Ford Coppola]'s The Godfather and Stephen Spielberg's Jaws, which were both big blockbusters. I came along after that group.”

Lucas considers Gone with the Wind to be the greatest blockbuster of all time and he has good reason to think so: in North America alone, the movie sold over 200 million tickets – more than any other film in history:

“Gone with the Wind was a blockbuster in every sense of the word. Even bigger than anything I have ever done, and it's still number one.”

What Is 'Gone With the Wind' About?

The events unfold against the backdrop of the Civil War. Scarlett O'Hara, the spoiled daughter of a plantation owner, is unaccustomed to rejection. She is in love with another man and rebuffs the advances of the charming smuggler, Rhett Butler.

War destroys their familiar world, and the family loses their plantation, facing hunger and poverty. Scarlett must fight to survive, doing things she never thought she could.

Meanwhile, Rhett makes a fortune through smuggling. He admires Scarlett's resilience but fails to achieve reciprocity for years.

Even 87 Years After Its Release, 'Gone With the Wind' Doesn't Look Dated at All

With its scale and epic scope, Gone with the Wind has become a symbol of old Hollywood, but, unlike many movies of that era, it doesn't feel like a museum piece.

Yes, the film is morally complex, romanticizing the South and depicting slaves in a stereotypical manner. However, as a work of art, it continues to captivate.

A few years ago, HBO Max removed Gone with the Wind from its library because it contains ethnic and racial prejudices that were wrong then and remain wrong today.

This decision angered some viewers, prompting HBO to return Gone with the Wind to its streaming service with detailed commentary explaining the historical context.

What Did Critics & Viewers Think of 'Gone With the Wind'?

• Gone With the Wind has 90% from critics and 92% from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes.

• On IMDb, the movie has a score of 8.2/10.

• On Letterboxd, Gone With the Wind scored 3.9/5.0.

Where to Watch 'Gone With the Wind'?

Gone With the Wind is available to stream on HBO Max.