Star Wars will probably go down in history as one of the most successful media franchises of all time. However, before the release of the first movie back in 1977, the creator of the series, George Lucas was not too sure of how his project would perform at the box office. Fortunately, it all worked out in favor of the American director, and the Star Wars movie gave birth to a multi-billion dollar franchise that would still be a massive success even four decades later.
George Lucas was very nervous about Star Wars
Steven Spielberg and George Lucas have been friends for decades now and Spielberg once even opened up about how Lucas was a nervous trainwreck before the release of the Star Wars movie. Around the time of filming the movie that would kick off the space opera franchise, Spielberg was also working on a sci-fi drama movie, Close Encounters of the Third Kind. After being too troubled and nervous while working on the movie, Star Wars, Lucas took a few days to cool off and went to visit Spielberg on the set of his movie. Spielberg once talked about the same in an interview with Turner Classics Movies and said,
“George came back from ‘Star Wars’ a nervous wreck. He didn’t feel ‘Star Wars’ came up to the vision he initially had. He felt he had just made this little kids’ movie. He came to Mobile, Alabama where I was shooting on this humongous set.”
Steven Spielberg further revealed that the duo would end up making a bet that would hugely benefit him in the years to come.
George Lucas and Steven Spielberg made a bet about Star Wars
After seeing the set of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, George Lucas allegedly even got more unsure about Star Wars and felt like Steven Spielberg’s movie would end up doing much better than his own movie. The duo even made a bet that greatly benefited Steven Spielberg in the years to come. Spielberg said,
“He said, ‘Oh my God, your movie is going to be so much more successful than ‘Star Wars’! This is gonna be the biggest hit of all time. I can’t believe this set. I can’t believe what you’re getting, and oh my goodness.’ He said, ‘All right, I’ll tell you what. I’ll trade some points with you. You want to trade some points?I’ll give you 2.5% of ‘Star Wars’ if you give me 2.5% of ‘Close Encounters.’ So I said, ‘Sure, I’ll gamble with that. Great.’ I think I came on top of that bet.”
Both of the movies did great at the box office but George Lucas’ Star Wars ended up becoming a global phenomenon which started a multi-billion dollar media franchise and that single movie went on to make almost $775 million. Steven Spielberg further revealed how George Lucas still sends him money to this day because of a bet they made more than four decades ago.
Star Wars is currently streaming on Disney+.
