NEW YORK: The director and producer of the Star Wars blockbuster films, George Lucas has emerged as the wealthiest Hollywood tycoon with a fortune of USD 5.4 billion, according to Wealth-X, a global wealth intelligence and prospecting company.
Lucas tops Wealth-X's Hollywood Rich List with a fortune of USD 5.4 billion, mostly derived from revenue from the Star Wars franchise and the sale of LucasFilm to Disney for USD 4 billion in 2012.
Arnon Milchan has been ranked as the second richest on the list. The maker of popular films like Pretty Woman and 12 Years A Slave, has a fortune of USD 5.2 billion. Interestingly, unlike other directors and producers, Lucas, 70, banked on one film idea, directing only six feature films over the course of his career, four of which were Star Wars movies.
In sharp contrast, Steven Spielberg, who ranks third on the Wealth-X list with an estimated fortune of USD 3.3 billion, has directed more than 30 feature films, including classics such as ET, Jaws and Jurassic Park.
Others in the list include Austin Hearst (4th, wealth of USD 1.9 billion), Ryan Kavanaugh (5th, USD 1 billion), Jeffrey Katzenberg (6th, USD 910 million), Thomas Tull (7th, USD 870 million), Jerry Bruckheimer (8th, USD 850 million), Steve Tisch (9th, USD 720 million) and James Cameron (10th, USD 670 million).
All 10 individuals on the Wealth-X Hollywood Rich List are male film producers and directors and collectively, they control more than USD 20 billion of personal wealth.
Wealth-X is the world's leading ultra high net worth (UHNW) intelligence and prospecting firm with the largest collection of curated research on UHNW individuals, defined as those with net assets of USD 30 million and above.