George Lucas is an American film director and producer known throughout the world as the creator of Star Wars and one of the authors of adventure films about Indiana Jones. Forbes estimates that Lucas has a capital of $ 6.4 billion, making him one of the richest people in the world. Despite the reputation of a humble man in Hollywood, it is known that the 75-year-old director spends a fortune on real estate and charity. How the "Jedi Prophet" achieved such successes - further.
Own company and first movie
One of the most famous people in the world of cinema, of course, is George Lucas. Thanks to the creation of two popular franchises, the director, screenwriter and producer earned $ 6.4 billion.
In 1971, Lucas founded his production company Lucasfilm, with which he gained international fame. In 1972, the film "American Graffiti" was released, which to this day is one of the most profitable paintings of all time. The director spent on the production of 777 thousand dollars, and in the end earned 140 million.
"Star Wars"
Of course, the greatest fame for Lucas brought Star Wars. The first film was released in 1977. Fees around the world exceeded $ 620 million. The franchise’s second film, Empire Strikes Back, earned a total of $ 457 million worldwide. The third picture, The Return of the Jedi, was released in 1983. This part raised 418 million dollars.
Since the end of the twentieth century, in the 90s and in the 2000s, Lucas has released three prequels of Star Wars - Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones, and Revenge of the Sith. The total revenue of all prequel films was $ 2.4 billion worldwide.
Star Wars Extra Fees
All of the above amounts described only original films. But there are various special issues, reprints, updated versions of Star Wars. All this raised a total of about ten billion dollars. An average of half a billion dollars per film. However, it was not only the cinematic talent that made Lucas rich.
When the Star Wars distributor, who was confident that the picture would be a failure, demanded that the director give an additional half a million dollars in direct box office, he left Lucas the right to own licensed and commercial rights. This turned out to be a strategically successful step for the director. In 1978, after the first part of Star Wars, more than 40 million different franchise souvenirs were sold, which brought in more than one hundred million dollars. In 2011, toys and other thematic items brought the author more than three billion dollars.
According to 2012, Star Wars earned more than twenty billion dollars in products alone.
"Indiana Jones"
But Star Wars is not the only franchise that has made Lucas world famous. He is also the author of Indiana Jones movies. George was involved in the project with his good friend and colleague Stephen Spielberg, who eventually took the director's place.
A series of films was released between 1984 and 2008, it consists of four parts. Together, the paintings collected a total of almost two billion US dollars.
Other film projects
Star Wars and Indiana Jones spawned many different additional television releases on which Lucas worked as a producer. He also worked at Lucasfilm for special effects, sound processing, and computer animation, which the company was very successful at.It is worth noting that the Lucas Industrial Light and Magic project is one of the most successful in its industry.
Resignation
Lucas had all one hundred percent of Lucasfilm until 2012. But the maestro decided to partially retire on a well-deserved rest and sold Disney for four billion dollars in shares. Despite this, the state of Lucas is still growing. In 2018, Forbes published a ranking of the richest Americans, where Lucas, of course, was very close to the top.
The property
Silicon Valley, where Lucas actually lives, is not the only place where the director loves spending time. He owns several estates in California. Near San Francisco is the famous Skywalker ranch, which occupies almost two thousand hectares. Lucas has spent about a hundred million dollars on property development since 1978. He uses this land mainly as a studio site. There is also a technical building, whose area is fourteen thousand square meters. It has ten stages, a couple of design and installation apartments, as well as a theater with three hundred seats.
The house with an area of almost five thousand square meters is designed to look like a Victorian building in 1869. There is a fitness room with racquetball courts and a swimming pool. Of course, a cinema is equipped here, there are several viewing rooms and even underground parking. Skywalker Ranch even has its own fire brigade working around the clock.
Lucas also owned a house in Hollywood from 2008 to 2010. In June 2019, it was put up for sale for four million dollars.
In 2012, Lucas surrendered the territory he owned in San Anselmo, the Chamber of Commerce. The place turned into an eight hundred square meter Imagination Park.
In 2017, Lucas acquired a Bel Air property of three thousand square meters for more than thirty million dollars. It has nine bedrooms and eight bathrooms, as well as a library, kitchen and tropical gardens. Well, a movie theater, where without it.
Charity
After a peculiar resignation, Lucas is engaged in various experimental projects. “Despite the fact that I fulfill all my obligations, I really want to go to the garage and create hobby films,” the maestro said in an interview.
George Lucas also pays great attention to charitable projects. In 2012, he announced that he was going to donate four billion dollars to charity education programs. The director has always been prone to philanthropy. Back in 2010, he promised that he would give part of his wealth to improve education.
In 2015, the Lucas Foundation donated more than sixty million dollars to more than 200 organizations, from wildlife conservation to refugee assistance and support to various museums. The director also regularly donates to organizations such as the Cinema Foundation and the Cancer Foundation.
The maestro has allocated a million dollars for the construction of the Martin Luther King Jr. National Memorial in the US capital.
In 2017, Lucas said that he was going to build a Museum of narrative art in Los Angeles for a billion dollars. The thirty-thousand-square-meter facility will have a decent collection of works of art, as well as items related to Star Wars. It is planned to open at the end of 2021.
Reputation
Lucas has a reputation as a rather modest person. Many media call the director "a very quiet billionaire."
The maestro is highly respected by colleagues and has received a large number of awards. In 2005, he received a special award from the American Institute of Cinematography.
At Discovery, George Lucas was called "one of the greatest Americans."
Many friends and colleagues of the director note that the maestro is not driven by fame or money. If you look closely at his films, you can see an endless stream of imagination and fantasy - probably only this bothers George Lucas.