How The Creator Of ‘Star Wars’, George Lucas, Earns His Billions

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George Lucas came from a struggling family where his father worked as a small-town stationer while his mother was ill for long periods. With big dreams in his heart, Lucas got interested in the world of fantasy adventures and history. He knew he was passionate about filmmaking from high school. After a few failures, Lucas achieved astronomical success for his original ideas that were unlike anything seen before. He created Star Wars, which is one of the biggest movie franchises in the world. There was a time when nobody believed that the first movie could become successful, and now the movies are regarded as classic cinema.

Lucas didn’t direct a lot of movies. He only made six films in his career, which earned enough to last him a lifetime. His success story begins with a failing movie and continues with a lucrative deal made. Let’s take a look at how George Lucas earned a billion-dollar fortune over the years.

Failures Until Success

After completing graduation in film studies, George Lucas was ready to make movies. His directorial debut was in 1971 with a film called THX 1138 starring Robert Duvall. It was based on a futurist theme with a world surrounded by robots that force people to use drugs that make them suppress emotions. His creation was a failure as it did not perform at the box office. Lucas did not let failure stop him from trying to make his mark in the world.

Two years later, he directed American Graffiti starring Ron Howard and Harrison Ford, produced by Francis Ford Coppola. The film was highly successful and earned $200 million worldwide with a budget of only $775,000, as noted by Celebrity Net Worth. The movie was also nominated for Academy Awards for several categories, including Best Director, Best Picture, Best Original Screenplay, Best Editing, and Best Supporting Actress. The movie put Lucas on the map of Hollywood, and he became a sought-after director in the industry. George Lucas was not the kind of person to direct just any movie. He had a specific vision for his projects that he wanted to come to life. One such project was set in space in the Western era, better known as Star Wars today.

Smart Decisions Lead To Smarter Results

Following the success of American Graffiti, George Lucas worked for two years on building a script for a movie he called The Star Wars. While the previous movie had earned him a $150,000 salary, Lucas found himself in debt since his career was dwindling. He presented the idea of Star Wars to United Artists and Universal studios, but they rejected the movie. Lucas remained persistent and went to 20th Century Fox.

Alan Ladd Jr., an executive at the studio, did not understand the concept of Star Wars, but he was a fan of Lucas-directed American Graffiti. He convinced the studio to give a green light for the movie, which went into production with an $11 million budget. Lucas was offered a $500,000 salary for his work which is today’s 1.5 million, a 300% pay raise from his previous salary, but he made a proposition, as stated by Vanity Fair. He accepted a $150,000 for two small requests: he will keep the merchandising rights and retain rights to the sequels. Fox willingly agreed since the studio had lost millions of dollars with the 1967 Dr. Dolittle merchandise. The studio saw no potential in the movie and believed it would be an Indie movie that would lose big at the box office. Star Wars became the highest-grossing movie of all time.

The movie grossed $220 million within the first six months, which is $830 million according to today’s inflation. Including the squeals, the film has earned over $775 million, valued at $2.5 billion today. According to Box Office Mojo, Empire Strikes Back's sequels earned $209 million, and Return Of The Jedi made $252 million. The studio even re-released special editions to earn more profits from the movies.

Licensing Deals

While George Lucas earned a hefty amount from the box office collections, his real money came from the merchandise sold by the studio that he had full rights over. Star Wars sold $100 million worth of toys between 1977 and 1978. To date, it has sold over $12 billion worth of Star Wars-themed toys. Lucas had been cashing big checks for his earnings. The Star Wars empire made over $3.3 billion at the box office, sold $4 billion DVDs, video games worth $3 billion, books that earned $2 billion, and $1.5 billion from several licensing deals. By 2012, Lucas had a net worth of $3.3 billion. That’s when Disney called.

Disney made an offer to buy Lucasfilm, which was a tough call for George Lucas. As mentioned by CNBC, he sold the company for $4.05 billion, which was paid in cash and stock. He passed the movie to a new generation of filmmakers, which turned lucrative since the much anticipated 2015 sequel The Force Awakens made a whopping $995 million, the highest made by any Star Wars movie. Today, the Star Wars creator has a $7 billion net worth.

Persistent efforts and self-confidence were two important factors that helped George Lucas achieve his goals. He wasn’t afraid of failure and believed that his hard work would pay off someday. Lucas is an inspiration for anybody having doubts about pursuing their dreams. With the Star Wars franchise, he created a success story that will forever be etched in filmmaking books.

Sources: Celebrity Net Worth, Vanity Fair, Box Office Mojo, CNBC