Star Wars plot driven by toy sales

Gary Kurtz, the producer of the first two Star Wars films, says toy sales may have determined the ending of Return of the Jedi.

Kurtz has spoken out against George Lucas, saying commercial priorities compromised the storylines of the films, the LA Times reported.

He told the paper that the original ending that he and Lucas had planned was "bittersweet and poignant", in contrast to the happy ending that eventually reached audiences.

"We had an outline and George changed everything in it," Kurtz said.

"The original idea was that they would recover [the kidnapped] Han Solo in the early part of the story and that he would then die in the middle part of the film in a raid on an Imperial base.

"George then decided he didn't want any of the principals killed.

"By that time there were really big toy sales and that was a reason."

He then went on to blame merchandise sales for his conflicts with Lucas.

"The toy business began to drive the [Lucasfilm] empire," he said.

"They make three times as much on toys as they do on films.

"It's natural to make decisions that protect the toy business, but that's not the best thing for making quality films.”

Kurtz, who rarely talks about his involvement in Star Wars, said that after The Empire Strikes Back came out in 1980, he realised that he and Lucas were heading in different directions and decided to leave the project.

The ending that Kurtz had planned, with the rebel forces in tatters and Luke walking off alone "like Clint Eastwood in the spaghetti westerns", was replaced with a forest celebration of the Ewoks.

Kurtz's statements have come on the back of the announcement that Lucasfilms will release all six films on Blu-Ray next year.

Speaking about what would be included in the Blu-Ray release, Lucas introduced one of the deleted scenes to people gathered at a Star Wars conference.

The footage, which is less than a minute long, shows Darth Vader on the Death Star as he attempts to persuade Luke to join him on the dark side.

Mark Hamill, who played Luke Skywalker in the first trilogy, said it was his “original entrance” in Return of the Jedi.

The Lucasfilm production company has made $18 billion from the Star Wars franchise.