The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art announced on Tuesday that the institution, which is now under construction in Los Angeles’s Exposition Park, will open in 2025.
In 2017, Los Angeles won the location sweepstakes over San Francisco for George Lucas’ one-of-a-kind museum, which will house art from films including Lucas’ own “Star Wars,” as well as photography, Renaissance paintings, and ancient Roman mosaics. When construction began in 2018, it was expected to open in 2022, then was delayed to 2023.
Sandra Jackson-Dumont, director and CEO of the museum, shared the “significant progress” already made on the five-story, 300,000-square-foot building, which will be surrounded by a park and gardens on its 11-acre campus.
She also told The Hollywood Reporter that the museum, which will include two 299-seat movie theaters, will house the Lucasfilm archive.
“It’s humbling and energizing to see how all aspects of this new public resource are taking shape,” said Jackson-Dumont in a statement on the museum’s site.
The main building, shaped to resemble a tree’s canopy, is designed by Ma Yansong of MAD Architects with Michael Siegel of Stantec as executive architect. The Lucas Museum’s park and gardens, designed by Mia Lehrer of Studio-MLA, will provide an “expansive, multilayered experience fully integrated with the building.”
Exposition Park area is situated near the Los Angeles Coliseum, which was home to the 1984 Olympics, and Lucas’ alma mater, USC.
The museum will host an extensive art collection owned by Lucas and wife Mellody Hobson, which several reports estimate is worth $400 million. It includes works by Norman Rockwell, N.C. Wyeth and cartoonist R. Crumb.
“Thanks to George Lucas and Mellody Hobson, millions of Angelenos and visitors will enjoy an extraordinary collection anchored in storytelling — an art that carries so much meaning in the history and legacy of Los Angeles,” Garcetti said when Los Angeles was chosen as the city for the new museum.
Per the original announcement, Lucas is self-funding the project and also plans to establish a a $400 million endowment for its maintenance.
