You probably know that Steven Spielberg and
George Lucas are buddies. But you may not
know that, because of a bet between the two
way back when, Spielberg has made a lot of
money off of Star Wars.
Spielberg recently explained the story to
Celebrity Networth.
George Lucas had serious problems assembling
the first cut of A New Hope. Throughout production
and post-production the filmmaker was faced
with an onslaught of obstacles, both in-house
and with the studio.
Apparently, Lucas was so depressed at one
point that he took a vacation to visit his
friend Steven Spielberg, who was working on
Close Encounters of the Third Kind at the
time.
While on set, Lucas made a bet with Spielberg
regarding Star Wars -- a bet that has continued
to pay off handsomely for Spielberg ever since.
"George came back from Star Wars a nervous
wreck," Spielberg said. "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 Close Encounters...and hung out
with me for a couple of days."
Steven quotes George Lucas:
"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.'
He said, 'You want to trade some points? I'll
give you two and a half percent of Star Wars
if you give me two and a half per cent of
Close Encounters.'
"I said, 'Sure, I'll gamble with that, great.'
Close Encounters made so much money and rescued
Columbia from bankruptcy. It was the most
money I ever made, but it was a meager success
story. Star Wars was a phenomenon and I was
the happy beneficiary of a couple of points
from that movie which I am still seeing money
on today."
How much money, you ask? Celebrity Networth
estimates that Spielberg has made about $47
million from his deal with Lucas... and that
number keeps growing every day.
This has to be one of the most profitable
bets of all time.
Your best bet is to keep it tuned to IGN.
