George Lucas – Net Worth, Money and More
NET WORTH: $ 4.2 Billion as of 2013
HIS EARLY LIFE AND PASSION TOWARDS RACING:
On 14th of May 1944, one of the most financially successful filmmakers of the American film industry, George Walton Lucas was born in Modesto, California. His parents Dorothy Ellinore Lucas and George Walton Lucas Sr had owned a stationery store. He always had a dying passion for a cars and motor racing. His aim was to become a race car driver. He used to hang out at garages and spend time at underground circuits. Once, while racing, his car Autobianchi Bianchina had flipped when another driver broadsided him. The incident nearly killed him and also made him lose his interest in racing as a career.
HIS EDUCATION AND PASSION TOWARDS FILMING:
He then took his interest towards films. He started filming car races with an 8 mm camera. He joined University of Southern California – School of Cinematic Arts to pursue his education in fine arts. There, he became friends with many film students including the great Steven Spielberg. Many films inspired him during the period which made him develop his passions towards camerawork and editing. He was then awarded a student scholarship by Warner Bros. to observe and work on the making of a film of his choice.
HIS CAREER IN FILM INDUSTRY:
He stepped into film-making by creating nine short films in the 1960s. He is the man behind Star Wars and the legendary Indiana Jones. His first major feature THX 1138 was an adaptation of one of his short films titled Electronic Labyrynth: THX 1138 4EB. He has also established his own effects company ‘Industrial Light and Magic (ILM)’ while making the original Star Wars film and the company is now one of the successful in the industry. He is the proud owner of Lucasfilm Ltd which later got merged into Walt Disney.
His film American Graffiti released in 1973 was a stunning success by grossing at $50 million in the box office. The film was produced by just $780,000. He has worked extensively for a number of Hit movies as a writer-producer.
Other notable projects of Lucas are Kagemusha, Body Heat, Labyrinth, Powaqqatsi, The Land Before Time, More American Graffiti. Howard the Duck was the biggest flop of his career.
He indulged himself in the media business industry through his THX Ltd which contained equipment for stereo, digital and theatrical sound for films and music, Skywalker Sound and Industrial Light & Magic being the sound and visual effects subdivisions of Lucasfilm and LucasArts which produces products for the gaming industry.
WEALTH – WEALTH – WEALTH:
Most of the wealth of George Lucas came to him when his production company Lucasfilm was purchased by Walt Disney for a mind boggling amount of $ 4.05 billion. Even before that he was a rich guy but this event boosted his bank accounts and he skyrocketed to be one of the 70 richest americans from 120. Disney paid half of the offer in cash and the other half in stocks.
It is also known that George Lucas gets to keep his Skywalker Ranch, a 4000 acres campus located in Marin County where he work and reside. The ranch alone is worth around $ 100 million with a swimming pool, volleyball court, aerobics room, fitness center, in-site restautants, barn with animals, vineyards, a theatre and a hilltop observatory. It even has its own fire station.
Lucas also owns Big Rock Ranch which is a later development of Lucasfilm at Lucas Valley Road. Until 2005, It was where all the marketing, licensing and distribution related works of Lucasfilm took place.
Lucas even owns a mansion at Carpinteria, California for which he invested around $ 19,500,000. It has 6 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms in total.
He owns a Mosler MT900S priced around $ 164,000, a Fiat Bianchina and a Ferrari F360 spending around millions for car and properties. He is surely a man with a taste of earning and spending dollars for his assets!
THE GEORGE LUCAS EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION AND OTHER CHARITABLE ACTIVITIES:
George Lucas in 1991 founded this non profit operating foundation to encourage innovation in schools. He also testified before the United States House of Representatives to advocate for a free wireless broadband educational network.
In 2005, Lucas gave $1 million to help build the Martin Luther King, Jr. National Memorial on the National Mall in Washington D.C. In 2006, he had donated $175-180 million to his alma mater to expand the film school. He has also pledged to give half of his wealth to charity.
HIS MARRIAGE AND CHILDREN:
Lucas was married to film editor Marcia Lou Griffin and adopted a daughter, Amanda Lucas in 1981 and got divorced in 1983. As a single parent, he then adopted two more children, Katie Lucas born in 1988 and Jett Lucas born in 1993. Lucas has then married Mellody Hobson in June 2013 and they have a daughter Everest Hobson Lucas.
HIS AWARDS:
He has been awarded with a Life Achievement Award in 2005 by the American Film Institute. He has won a number of prestigious film awards like Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Evening Standard British Film Award, Saturn Award, Hugo Award, Golden Raspberry Award, Empire Award, MTV Movie Award in his successful career.
