An old story but new to me. Lucas and Spielberg traded 2.5% net points on Star Wars and Close Encounters. A pretty smart bet for both.
Spielberg told the storeYes :
George came back from Star Wars very nervous. He didn’t think Star Wars fit the vision he initially had. He felt like he had just made this little children’s film. He came to Mobile, Alabama, where I was shooting Close Encounters on this huge set and hung out with me for a few days.
He said, “Oh my God, your movie is going to be way more successful than Star Wars.” This is going to be the biggest hit of all time. He said, “Would you like to exchange 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 play with that, great.” And I think I succeeded in this bet. I did much better than George!
Both films were extremely profitable. Close Encounters made a lot of money and saved Columbia from bankruptcy. It was the most money I’d ever made from a film before, but Close Encounters was a meager success. Star Wars was a phenomenon and I was the lucky recipient of some net points from that film that I still make money from today!
