It’s an old story but new to me. Lucas and Spielberg traded 2.5% points for Star Wars and Close Encounters. A good smart bet for both.
Spielberg tells the story:
George is back from Star Wars worried. He didn’t feel that Star Wars came up with the idea he originally had. He felt that he had just made this film for young children. He came to Mobile, Alabama where I was shooting Close Encounters on this funny set and stayed with me for a few days.
He said, ‘Oh my God, your movie is going to be more successful than Star Wars. This is going to be the biggest hit ever.’ He said, ‘You want to trade some points? I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you two and a half percent of Star Wars if you give me two and a half percent of Close Encounters.’
I said, Sure, I’ll gamble on that, big time. And I think I came out on top of that bet. I did much better than George!
Both the films were very profitable. Close Encounters made a lot of money and saved Columbia from bankruptcy. It was the most money I’ve ever made for a movie before, but Close Encounters was a small success story. Star Wars was amazing and I was the happy recipient of a few leftover points from that movie that I still see money in today!
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