Forbes magazine recently listed the wealthiest celebrities in America, and ‘Star Wars’ creator George Lucas toped it with a substantial $5.4 billion. Others at the top of the list include Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey, and Michael Jordan.
Lucas wrote and directed ‘Star Wars,’ which released to critical acclaim in 1977. The film was an instant smash-hit and rocketed Lucas to fame, fortune, and initiated the development of a multi-billion dollar empire. While the creativity and adventure represented in the film drew audiences, Lucas’s biggest achievements may in fact be his business savvy. From the very beginning, Lucas maintained the merchandising rights for toys and other products for Star Wars, making him one of the wealthiest filmmakers at that time. The Lucasfilm Ltd. production company founded shortly after the film’s world-wide success was also responsible for developing other successful franchises such as Indiana Jones, as well as producing special effects, video games, and computer animation.
In 2012, over 35 years after the original film was released, Lucas sold The Walt Disney Corporation the rights to Star Wars for $4.1 billion. Lucas no longer is in charge of Lucasfilm Ltd., and has no involvement in the new films and other ‘Star Wars’ projects other than providing his endorsement. Disney bought the subsidiary rights to the LLC as part of their acquisition of the ‘Star Wars.’ Disney has earned around $3 billion from their new Star Wars films alone, though in their contract with Lucas he still maintains a certain amount of control over in the franchise, though the exact extent is unknown.
