Steven Spielberg and George Lucas have shared a bromance of the highest order since 1967, thanks to a mutual admiration that began after Spielberg saw Lucas’ first film, THX 1138. The two were both Southern California film students with big aspirations at the time. Lucas showed way more promise back then, having been admitted to the University of Southern California’s prestigious film program, while Spielberg had been rejected by USC and had to settle for California State University, Long Beach. Spielberg’s envy of Lucas only grew after seeing THX 1138 at a film festival competition. “I realized that there was an entire generation coming out of NYU, USC and UCLA,” Spielberg recalled of the time, adding, “THX-1138 made me jealous to the marrow of my bones.”
By the mid-70s, however, that coin had flipped, as Spielberg’s film Jaws saw him suddenly become the hottest young director in Hollywood. While Lucas had still made his first successful film by that point, American Graffiti, Spielberg’s talent as a director had arguably surpassed his friend’s. The healthy competition between the two filmmakers fueled both of their careers to that point and motivated the two to make a good-natured bet as they were developing their most ambitious science fiction films in 1976. That year, Spielberg was shooting Close Encounters of the Third Kind, while Lucas had begun development on Star Wars. The two spent time on each other’s sets that year, leading to a wager between the two that would end up being a jaw-dropping eight-figure sum.
Spielberg and Lucas’ Rivalry Turned to Respect and Collaboration
There’s no doubt that Steven Spielberg’s ambition was directly tied to his admiration of George Lucas in the late ’60s. Spielberg felt that THX 1138, even in its original film school format, was better than his 15 short films combined. Spielberg had seen THX screened at a film school competition between USC and UCLA, from which Lucas took the top prize. Around that time, George Lucas had watched Steven Spielberg’s Amblin, but instead of sharing Spielberg’s envy, he actually thought Spielberg’s short film was “saccharine.”
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Steven Spielberg co-created Amblin, and the production company would go on to influence cinema with titles like The Goonies and Back to the Future.
Lucas’ opinion of Spielberg’s ability changed dramatically about four years later when Lucas’ other legendary friend, Francis Ford Coppola, screened Spielberg’s latest film at his house in Napa, California. The film, Duel, was anything but saccharine — an action thriller where a cross-country salesman finds himself suddenly being pursued by an evil semi-truck. Much like Jaws, Duel‘s antagonist was kept mostly hidden inside the truck, an effect that helped Duel make waves as ABC’s “Movie of the Week” in November 1971. By the time Jaws was released in 1975, the quiet rivalry between Spielberg and Lucas had become mutual admiration, though Spielberg was earning more flowers.
Consulting on Each Other’s Films Led to a Big Bet
The year after Jaws, Spielberg and Lucas both began two highly ambitious science fiction films, which, in retrospect, doesn’t seem like a coincidence. Still, Spielberg was coming off Jaws, a film so successful it literally led to the creation of the term “blockbuster.” That meant Spielberg had a longer rope with his backing studio, Columbia Pictures, and about $8 million more in budget to work with than Lucas had for Star Wars. Lucas and Spielberg had become close confidantes, and after the conclusion of his troubled shoot on Star Wars, Lucas visited the Alabama sets of Close Encounters.
Lucas was floored by what he saw in the giant aircraft hangars in Alabama that Spielberg was using as sound stages. Discussing his friend’s reaction to his film for Turner Classic Movies, Spielberg recalled Lucas saying, “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.” But Spielberg had already seen a rough cut of Star Wars and felt the same about Lucas’ film. Spielberg was so impressed, in fact, he bet against his own movie.
Spielberg proposed a bet tied directly to their mutual respect, offering Lucas 2.5% of Close Encounters‘ box-office gross in return for 2.5% of Star Wars, essentially betting that his friend’s film would be much more successful. Lucas had yet to finish the battle scenes in Star Wars, subbing in completely unrelated WWII footage for his screening, and his uncertainty over his own movie led to him accepting Spielberg’s wager.
Lucas Won the Box Office Battle, But Spielberg Won the Bet
Lucas wasn’t out of left field to question his own film’s potential, as after screening his film for 40 of his closest colleagues (including Spielberg), most of them, including luminaries like Brian De Palma, were unimpressed. Spielberg recalled the aftermath of the famous screening on the Smartless podcast, saying, “We went to a Chinese restaurant, and everybody just started coming down on the film. It didn’t make sense. Who are these guys? Who are the guys that look like Nazis, but they’re all in white — the Stormtroopers?” Spielberg understood Lucas’ vision, coming from the same influences like old-time film serials and Godzilla, and he knew that Lucas’s new visual effects company, Industrial Light & Magic, could easily fill in the battle sequences left out of Star Wars during that famous screening. He bet on his friend’s film over his own — likely knowing full well that George Lucas was about to be a multi-millionaire, anyway.
The two films were finally released the following year. Lucas was right that Spielberg’s film would be a success, earning $300 million at the gate. But Star Wars more than doubled that amount at the box office, meaning Spielberg won the bet by a tidy $40 million. That might have ended a normal friendship, but Lucas had made an enormous fortune off of Star Wars and the merchandising that he cleverly negotiated into his own pocket. That made it a lot less difficult when Lucas made good on the bet, writing Spielberg that eight-figure check that would make even Warren Buffett blush. Star Wars is streaming on Disney+. Close Encounters of the Third Kind is available to rent on Prime Video, Apple TV, and YouTube.
