George Lucas had trouble getting a studio to support 'Red Tails'

Jan. 10, 2012, 12:34 PM EST WENN

Movie studio executives turned down the chance to distribute George Lucas' new movie "Red Tails" because they didn't think the big-budget epic about the heroic African-American Tuskegee Airmen would be a hit overseas.

Lucas spent 23 years planning the period film, which he financed himself, but when it came time to put the movie out, he had trouble finding a major studio that would support him. He explained on Monday's "The Daily Show," "I figured I could get the prints and ads paid for by the studios and that they would release it, and I showed it to all of them and they said, 'No, we don't know how to market a movie like this."

"It's an all-black movie. There's no major white roles in it at all," Lucas added. "It's one of the first all-black action pictures ever made. ... It's a reasonably expensive movie ... and they don't believe there's any foreign market for it, and that's 60 percent of their profit."

Lucas eventually partnered with 20th Century Fox to release the film, which he hopes will be a big hit. He said, "I wanted to make it inspirational for teenage boys. I wanted to show that they have heroes; they're real American heroes, they're patriots, they helped make the country what it is today. ... If we get a good first weekend, there is a prequel and a sequel, and they're better than this movie by a long shot."