George Lucas is a director, writer, producer, and businessman who has a net worth of $10 billion. He is most known for his work as a director, writer, producer, and businessman. Among his most well-known works are the Star Wars and Indiana Jones film franchises, which have collectively produced more over $12 billion in global box office receipts to date. He is also the creator of the production firm, Lucasfilm, as well as the technological effects company, Industrial Light and Magic, which he founded with his brother.
In addition to being the richest celebrity in the world with a $10 billion net worth, George Lucas is also the richest filmmaker and the richest person in the entertainment industry overall, according to Forbes.
Lucas is a signatory to the philanthropic “Giving Pledge,” which states that he intends to contribute at least half of his wealth to charity before or at the time of his death.
George Lucas Disney Sale
Earlier this year, George Lucas announced that he had sold the Star Wars franchise to Disney for a total of $4 billion in cash and stock. Lucas received $2.21 billion in cash as well as 37 million shares (37,076,679) of stock, which was valued at roughly $50 at the time of the transaction. As a result, after the transaction was completed, he received Disney stock worth $1.85 billion. Lucas receives around $64 million in dividend payments every year as a result of his shareholdings and Disney’s semi-annual $0.88 payout.
The value of the 37 million shares increased to $7.4 billion in March 2021, when Disney’s stock price was approaching $200 a share.
George Lucas Early Life
After a potentially catastrophic vehicle accident in high school in which he was broadsided by another driver, George Lucas changed his mind about pursuing a career in racing. He was born and raised in Modesto, California, on May 14, 1944, and graduated from there in 1959. After graduating from high school, Lucas’s father wanted George to work for him in his stationery store, which was owned by his father.
George, on the other hand, wanted to go to art school and announced upon leaving home that he was resolved to be a millionaire by the age of thirty years old.
At Modesto Junior College, Lucas discovered a passion for photography and filmmaking that he has carried with him ever since. He began by capturing car races and other material using an 8 mm camera, which was his first step.
He subsequently proceeded to the University of Southern California, where he met and became friends with fellow filmmaker Steven Spielberg. During his postgraduate studies, he received numerous honours, including a student fellowship from Warner Brothers. His 1967 student film, Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB, was later developed into his first full-length feature picture, THX 1138, which was released in 1971.
Despite its negative reception, the project served as a springboard for a more successful effort in American Graffiti, which received five Academy Award nominations and grossed $115 million in domestic income alone, with a total worldwide gross of $140 million. American Graffiti is considered to be one of the most profitable pictures in history, despite the fact that it was shot with a budget of only $777,000.
George Lucas Star Wars
It was his following film that would go on to become an even bigger smash, cementing Lucas’s place as a Hollywood cinema legend in the process. When it was released in 1977, Star Wars, which was made on a budget of $11 million, became an international phenomenon. Lucas would eventually spend $15 million on restoration expenditures for the film’s re-release, which would take place decades later. In the early 1980s, two additional sequels to Star Wars were released, both of which were enormously successful and contributed to the expansion of the Star Wars universe.
During the late 1990s and early 2000s, George Lucas directed a second Star Wars trilogy, which focused on events that occurred before the events of the original movie. After Lucas sold the rights to Disney, the most current sequel trilogy–as well as offshoot films and television series–came to be. With more than $12 billion in worldwide earnings to its credit, the Star Wars brand has captivated viewers for nearly four decades and continues to do so today
George Lucas Other Films
While Lucas only directed six films in total, he served as producer, executive producer, and writer on a number of other projects as well. Body Heat (1981), Labyrinth (1986), The Land Before Time (1988), and the Indiana Jones film trilogy are just a few of his notable accomplishments in the film industry.
It was the latter that saw him re-capture the imagination of moviegoers with yet another epic film franchise, this time in the form of The Hunger Games. Lucas teamed up with Star Wars actor Harrison Ford once more for the Indiana Jones movie, resulting in the creation of yet another renowned character. Steven Spielberg, a renowned Hollywood veteran, will be working alongside him as director. The films that resulted from this collaboration have grossed approximately $2 billion at the box office.
In addition, Lucas established THX, Skywalker Sound, Industrial Light and Magic, and LucasArts as divisions of his parent business, Lucasfilm Ltd., to further his vision. In filmmaking and gaming, these firms have established new benchmarks by developing cutting-edge graphics and sound technologies that continue to captivate audiences while pushing the frontiers of what is possible and enhancing the whole experience.
George Lucas Personal Life
For the period 1969-1983, Lucas was married to film editor Marcia Lou Griffin (who was nominated for an Academy Award for her editing work on the first Star Wars). In 1981, they became the parents of a daughter, Amanda Lucas. As a single parent, Lucas adopted two more children: Katie Lucas (b. 1988) and Jett Lucas (b. 1989). Lucas has three children in all (b. 1993).
They all appeared in the three Star Wars prequel films, which he directed. In the 1980s, Lucas was also in a relationship with singer Linda Ronstadt. After courting for seven years, Lucas tied the knot with Mellody Hobson (chairwoman of DreamWorks Animation) in 2013. Lucas’ Skywaker Ranch served as the setting for their wedding. They have a daughter who was born through surrogacy in 2013.
George Lucas Property
The almost 6,000-acre Skywalker Ranch, located in Marin County, California, is George’s most valuable real estate asset. He purchased the ranch in 1978 and has invested more than $100 million in transforming it into a private residence, movie studio, retreat centre, and screening theatre with seating for 300 people.
The property also includes a private mansion with 50,000 square feet of living space, many pools, tennis courts, and other amenities. Lucas has committed around 5,000 acres of the property’s land into a perpetual conservation easement with the Marin County Agricultural Land Trust, which will protect the land forever.
In 2017, he paid $33.9 million for a 9,000-square-foot property in Los Angeles’ Bel Air area, which he designed himself.
It cost him $19.5 million to build a seaside property in Carpinteria, California in the year 2010. (just south of Santa Barbara). He demolished the original house and replaced it with a considerably larger Cape Cod-style structure on the plot. George spent $28 million to purchase the house next door in December of this year. Prior to that, the house next door had been held by a woman named Frances Morehart, who passed away in 2018 at the age of 93 years old. It has a combined oceanfront area of more than 3 acres in Carpinteria, California.
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