Steven Spielberg is one wildly successful directer, producer, screenwriter and businessman. His net worth is over $3 billion and growing. Believe it or not, millions of dollars of that net worth is attributed to a friendly bet made with an old friend about a movie made a long time ago on a set far, far away.
The Background: In the 1970s science fiction films were not popular. The only movie to achieve success was “2001: A Space Odyssey”, which made $56 million in 1968. At the time, George Lucas was trying to sell his movie “Star Wars”. He finally received backing from 20th Century Fox. The movie struggled from the get-go. It was delayed, over-budget and every other problem you can think off. The troubles causes a discourage Lucas to visit a friend making his own sci-fi film in Alabama. That friend was Steven Spielberg and he was making the 1977 classic “Close Encounters of a Third Kind”.
The Bet: Lucas was distraught. His vision was failing and he told Spielberg this while spending time on the set of his movie in Alabama. After watching Spielberg for a couple of days he felt that his movie was going to be so much more successful than ‘Star Wars’.
“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.'”
The Result: Well, first Lucas was right. “Close Encounters” was a success. It made a remarkable $303 million at the box office. Unheard of at that time. Then there was ‘Star Wars’. Long story short, the film went on to do $460 million (that’s $1.48 billion adjusted for inflation). That would mean that Spielberg netted close to $40 million (in terms of inflation). For the record, the ‘Star Wars’ franchise has gone on to make $30 billion and growing. In case you were wondering, that’s close to a billion dollars if they bet the entire franchise. Not bad eh?
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