Star Wars creator George Lucas has officially been declared the wealthiest celebrity in 2018. The famous director is mostly known for creating the tale of a galaxy far, far, away, but he is also known for creating the Indiana Jones franchise and for co-creating the American Zoetrope Studio with legendary filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola.

While Lucas has been a well-known filmmaker for the majority of his career, he made headlines in 2012 when he decided to sell his own film studio, Lucasfilm, to Disney for $4 billion. Not only was this a huge win for Lucas, but it was a win for fans as well, since it was announced that the Star Wars franchise would be getting a seventh film in 2015. Fast forward to 2018, after four Star Wars movies have been distributed by Disney, and Lucas is now the wealthiest celebrity in America.

According to Forbes’ ranking of the wealthiest celebrities in the United States, Lucas is sitting at the top of the list with a net worth of $5.4 billion. Forbes credits this mostly to him selling Lucasfilm to Disney. Lucas’ current net worth puts him billions ahead of the number two spot; Steven Spielberg at $3.7 billion. Lucas is also ahead of Oprah Winfrey ($2.8 billion) and Michael Jordan ($1.7 billion). Other celebrities that made the list this year include Kylie Jenner, Jay-Z, and David Copperfield. Collectively, Forbes calculated that the top 10 wealthiest celebrities in the US are worth around $18.7 billion.

While selling Lucasfilm to Disney made Lucas even wealthier than he already was, Disney has already turned a profit from their purchase. Disney passed $2 billion with The Force Awakens, and also raked in $1.3 billion with The Last Jedi. As for the spinoffs, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story hit the $1 billion mark, but Solo: A Star Wars Story was considered Disney’s first Star Wars box office failure

In the coming years, Disney will make even more money off of Lucas selling Lucasfilm since they are not only planning several more Star Wars movies, but are also building Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge - an upcoming attraction at Disneyland locations. Despite Disney making more than the $4 billion it cost to buy Lucasfilm, it is still quite the accomplishment for Lucas to reach $5.4 billion. Lucas may not be directing any more movies in the coming years but given his net worth, the filmmaker could probably afford to retire.

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Source: Forbes

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