In July 1978, Lucas revealed that "Radioland Murders" was still in development, and that both Steve Martin and Cindy Williams were approached for the two leads. The script was being rewritten and the planned start date was early 1979. However, throughout the 1970s to early 1990s, "Radioland Murders" remained in development hell. Between this time, Lucas commissioned Theodore J. Flicker to perform a rewrite. In early 1993 Lucas told Universal that advances in computer-generated imagery from Industrial Light & Magic (owned by Lucasfilm), particularly in digital mattes, would help bring "Radioland Murders" in for a relatively low budget of about $10 million, which eventually rose to $15 million.