(Image Source: 20th Century Fox)

BY ALLYSON BROWN

ANCHOR LAUREN ZIMA

Is George Lucas’ ‘Red Tails’ going to be a hit, or get shot down? The film is facing struggles of its own, just like the Tuskegee Airmen portrayed on-screen.

“Nothing is difficult, everything is a challenge, through adversity, to the stars, from the last plane,  to the last bullet, to the last minute, to the last man. We fight! We Fight! We Fight! We Fight! We Fight! We Fight!”

Lucas has been trying to make the movie for 20 years, but he says studios weren’t interested in a movie with a predominantly black cast. Access Hollywood’s Billy Bush couldn’t believe studios would say ‘no’ to the man who made ‘Star Wars’ -- actor Terrence Howard explained what studios said.

“We don’t know how to market it. It’s like, ‘Why? You just market it. It’s an action movie.’ ‘Well, it’s an all-black cast, and the white guys are the bad guys.’”

Lucas ended up paying for production himself -- at a whopping $58 million. Eventually, 20th Century Fox stepped in to help distribute. But, now that it’s finally made -- how is Red Tails being received?

By critics -- not well. It only had a 33 percent approval rating on RottenTomatoes.com.

Still, the critics might not be reflective of box office numbers. Red Tails isn’t No. 1 thus far in its opening weekend, but it’s at a strong second. Deadline calls it a “surprise” hit, and reports it brought the movie brought in $6.2 million Friday.

“Hollywood studios were stunned by how well … Red Tails, did in matinees today. … Right now the pic appears very frontloaded but could keep surprising by flying towards $20M because of its ‘A’ CinemaScore from audiences.”

Deadline reports the success may be from Lucas’ marketing push in the African-American community. We’ll see who wins the battle at the box office when final numbers are reported on Monday.