New George Lucas museum in LA gives sci-fi fans glimpse behind the cinematic empire

There’ll be plenty of space at LA’s soon-to-launch Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.

The 300,000-square-foot architectural marvel will first welcome the public to its Exposition Park campus on Sept. 22 — but a sneak peak inside the spaceship-style building, built to showcase the art collection of George Lucas, reveals plenty of treats in store for lovers of the Hollywood legend’s own, world-famous work of art: Star Wars.

The fun for fans begins right upon entering the museum — where sci-fi followers will recognize the massive yellow Naboo N-1 Starfighter jet from 1999’s “Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace.”

The museum will open with an exhibit that tells the Star Wars story — showing versions of Luke Skywalker’s landspeeder from the first, 1970s film, and speeder bikes from 1983’s “Return of the Jedi.”

But don’t confuse the museum as a shrine to the films, officials say.

Museum CEO Tracey Bates told the Associated Press that only around 7% of the museum is dedicated to Star Wars. The rest are pieces of Lucas’ and wife Mellody Hobson’s sizable personal art collection.

Lucas is a prolific collector of comic art — as well as the work of commercial artists including Norman Rockwell and Maxfield Parrish, which can be found among the museum’s halls.

The museum has an entire gallery dedicated to Rockwell, the 20th century painter whose imagery is synonymous with Americana.

The museum’s galleries are organized by aspects of daily lives, including sports and civic activism.

“We’re interested in the stories that they’re telling, rather than these kind of somewhat artificial categories defined by discipline,” Linkof told AP. “The gorgeous idea of these myths, myths of everyday life, the stories that we tell ourselves.”

The work of other 20th-century icons, including Frida Kahlo and Andy Warhol, are also on display.

Designed by architect Ma Yansong, construction on the museum broke in 2018. Building the museum cost been $1 billion to $1.5 billion, funded entirely by Lucas and Hobson.

“For me it’s like a cloud or like a tree canopy that’s floating above you,” Ma told the AP. “It feels formless almost. But you want to discover. So you have to start a journey. You have to start to walk around.”

“We designed an architectural space with emotion,” he said. “We want to see people’s reaction to those spaces.”

In total, the museum boasts 100,000-square-feet of exhibition space with 33 galleries and around 1,300 artworks on display.

There are two theaters in the museum, with one showing a curated selection of movies throughout the day, and another dedicated to exploring film as a storytelling medium.

Tickets will cost $25 for adults, according to the museum.

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