Star-wars intro inspiration

Question

Looking at intro of Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (from 01:18):

And further diving into Forbidden Planet trailer (in color):

(The intro on the movie however is not of the same:

)

Are either or both inspiration to Star-Wars intro?

Answer 1

George Lucas has openly admitted that the opening crawl of Star Wars was inspired specifically by the similar introductions used in the Flash Gordon serials. He has said this on the DVD commentary of Revenge of the Sith - reference Wikipedia. Such an opening crawl was also used in other Saturday Morning Serial Cinema such as Buck Rogers.

Some of Lucas's greatest work (early Star Wars and Indiana Jones) was inspired by such Saturday Morning Serials - and draw upon science fiction as well as swash-buckling adventures with characters such as Robin Hood. Many of these serials (since they are episodic) started with a brief explanation of the plot so far. The crawl used in Star Wars is just one example of how these were shown in such serials.

The Forbidden Planet trailer crawl (20 years after Flash Gordon) uses a similar visual style, but itself appears to be merely co-oping the style to invoke a similar feeling rather than being an inspiration itself (though an awesome movie in its own right).