George Lucas’ Red Tails Comes Out 20 Years Late, Takes #2 At Box Office

George Lucas’ latest film Red Tails hit theaters this past weekend. The action drama, about a group of African American U.S. service members from World War II known as the Tuskegee Airmen, landed at a very respectable number two at the box office. We know this project had been Lucas’ baby for some time but thanks to a recently uncovered scan of a 1990 issue of Lucasfilm Fan Club magazine, we now know this film arrived exactly twenty years later than planned. 

The tumblr blog, Look At This Frakking Geekster, posted the scans on Saturday of the Lucasfilm Fan Club magazine, issue #12. Here’s the wonderfully 90s cover.

The second scan was of an article not mentioned on the cover, one of Lucas’ Red Tails project.

The article gives a history of the Tuskegee Airmen then goes on to say how screenwriter Kevin Sullivan (John Ridley and Aaron McGruder are now credited with the screenplay) travelled to Tuskegee, interviewing the pilots. “George Lucas will serve as Executive Producer on Red Tails which is scheduled for release sometime in 1992,” it says. “Stay tuned to The Lucasfilm Fan Club for more in-depth articles on the making of Red Tails.” Oh well, better late than never, right?

Red Tails, directed by Anthony Hemingway and starring Terrence Howard, Nate Parker, Cuba Gooding Jr. and more, took home $19.1 million dollars over the weekend. The number one spot went to Underworld: Awakening with $25.4 million. Coincidentally enough, Lucas said in an interview with the NY Times recently that $20 million was what they were aiming for to prove that this sort of project could work. “If we can get over $20 million in our first weekend, we’re kind of in the game. We’re in The Help category,” he said. “If it gets $30 (million) in the first weekend, then those guys get to make their movies without even thinking about it.”

(via Look At This Frakking Geekster)