The “casual conversation in a car park” that robbed Ron Howard of his career’s biggest hit
Ron Howard says George Lucas once offered him the chance to direct *Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace* during an informal conversation in a car park. Howard declined immediately, feeling Lucas should direct it himself, and the decision meant he missed the biggest commercial hit of his directing career.
Released in 1999, *The Phantom Menace* earned $924 million worldwide, compared with $760 million for Howard’s biggest hit, *The Da Vinci Code*. The article notes that the Star Wars film was the second-highest-grossing release in cinema history at the time, and that its later re-releases added to its total.
- Lucas asked Howard to direct *The Phantom Menace* in a car park.
- Howard declined because he thought Lucas should direct it.
- The film earned $924 million, ahead of Howard’s $760 million hit.
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Ron Howard is an American film director whose work includes Apollo 13 and The Da Vinci Code. George Lucas created Star Wars and directed its original films; he later returned to direct The Phantom Menace, the first prequel to the original trilogy.
The film, released in 1999, introduced a new generation of characters and explored events set before the original Star Wars stories. It became one of the era’s biggest cinema releases, while The Da Vinci Code went on to be Howard’s most successful film at the box office.