As a native San Franciscan, it pains me to report that the George Lucas museum that was once pitched to open on our very own Treasure Island will actually now be settling in Los Angeles. This decision comes after much back and forth between the two cities, with one of the primary deciding factors being how much it would cost to lease the land. Lucas’ ambitious museum will house and tell the story of Lucas’ lifetime works, much in the same way as the Walt Disney Museum, which is located in San Francisco.
According to SFist, Los Angeles is leasing the land for only $20 a year to Lucas, whereas the Treasure Island parcel would cost about $23 million—an outright purchase. That would come on top of the already project $1 billion cost of construction, so maybe it’s not all that unreasonable that he decided to place the museum in LA, even if it is 400-something miles away from Skywalker Ranch.
LA Mayor Eric Garcetti took pains to explain that this isn’t just “a Star Wars museum,” though he definitely wasn’t shying away from the references, saying, “‘Do or do not — there is no try.’ Today, we did it.”
So what will the museum contain? It’s supposed to house Lucas’ collection of graphic art (which includes traditional paintings and vintage photographs) and Star Wars memorabilia, of which Lucas surely has a vast collection. I also wouldn’t be surprised if this museum also housed a movie theater screen or two, much like how the Walt Disney museum has its own screen for special events and such.
They’re eyeing a May 4th, 2020 (heh) opening date, so there’s plenty of time to launch into some wild speculation as to what treasures we can find inside.
(via The Hollywood Reporter)
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