I don't recall hearing about this last year, and I've been around the interwebs a few times, which seems to me that C&D was fairly low-key. Sort of a discreet tap on the shoulder. Given that, I don't blame Lucas one iota for stepping in personally.
Even with ownership aside, if you fought tooth and nail to get a passion project on film - a project that had absolutely no guarantee of being successful - and wound up becoming the highest grossing film and a cultural phenomenon.....wouldn't you be protective of what you put into it? I mean, Star Wars and Indiana Jones are essentially all Lucas can claim as his own (and only about 50% of Indy at that).
Even with ownership aside, if you fought tooth and nail to get a passion project on film - a project that had absolutely no guarantee of being successful - and wound up becoming the highest grossing film and a cultural phenomenon.....wouldn't you be protective of what you put into it? I mean, Star Wars and Indiana Jones are essentially all Lucas can claim as his own (and only about 50% of Indy at that).