George Lucas declares the Wars are over

THE man who created the greatest series in Hollywood history is hanging up his lightsabre.

George Lucas

THE man who created the greatest series in Hollywood history is hanging up his lightsabre.

Tired of criticism from people accusing him of over-commercialising his original creation, the initial Star Wars movie of 1977, director George Lucas has announced there will be no more sequels.

He’s also tired of dealing with Hollywood, he told The New York Times.

Lucas has been criticised by Star Wars fans over the years for re-editing and re-releasing his original sci-fi trilogy, and for making three prequels which tell the back stories of the main characters.

"Why would I make any more, when everybody yells at you all the time and says what a terrible person you are?" Lucas said. "I'm retiring. I'm moving away from the business, from the company, from all this kind of stuff," he said.

Star Wars won't be leaving us for some time yet though - all six films in the series are to be released in 3D over the coming years.

Lucas also said he had a tough time selling his upcoming movie, Red Tails, which tells the story of black US airman during the Second World War, to Hollywood executives because it had a mostly black cast.

"It's because it's an all-black movie," he told Jon Stewart on US TV last week. "There's no major white roles in it at all ... I showed it to all of them and they said, 'No, we don’t know how to market a movie like this'."

Rick McCallum, Lucas’s long-time producing partner, confirmed that Red Tails would be his final commercial project.

“Once this is finished, he’s done everything he’s ever wanted to do. He will have completed his task as a man and a film-maker,” he said.

Read more at The New York Times.