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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.