Filmmaker George Lucas invested $40 million to develop the EditDroid system, a revolutionary nonlinear electronic editing system, from 1983 to 1986. This new system replaced the mechanical era of film editing and used laser disc players with raw footage. Although successful initially, the EditDroid disappeared from the film scene, and Lucas sold its patents to Avid. In 2005, two editors, Tom van Klingeren and Bruce Gray, searched for the EditDroid's lost history, visiting former users and exploring Lucas' archives at Skywalker Ranch.
The EditDroid, Rise and Fall
George Lucas, the creator of the Star Wars franchise, spent four years and $40 million developing a groundbreaking editing system called EditDroid from 1983 to 1986.
