George Lucas welcomed some of Hollywood’s biggest names to Los Angeles for the opening celebration of the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, with Oprah Winfrey, Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Harrison Ford, Kim Kardashian, Mark Hamill and Steven Spielberg among the guests.
The star-filled evening transformed the museum in Exposition Park into one of the most exclusive cultural gatherings of the year, bringing together actors, directors, artists and major figures from entertainment ahead of the museum’s public debut.
Hollywood’s biggest names arrive
The guest list rivalled a major awards-season party.
Oprah Winfrey was photographed with museum co-founder Mellody Hobson and Gayle King, while Robert De Niro, Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart mingled with guests.
Leonardo DiCaprio, Cynthia Erivo, Laura Dern, Greta Gerwig, Samuel L. Jackson, Owen Wilson, Meg Ryan, Jack Quaid, Magic Johnson and Mark Hamill were also among those celebrating the opening.
Kim Kardashian joined the crowd, alongside political figures including California Governor Gavin Newsom, Nancy Pelosi and former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
The ultimate Hollywood directors photo
One of the night’s standout moments came inside the museum’s fifth-floor Skywalker Grill, where an extraordinary collection of filmmakers gathered for a group photograph.
The lineup included George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, Guillermo del Toro, Peter Jackson, Francis Ford Coppola, Spike Lee, Jon Favreau, Ron Howard, Jon M. Chu, Tyler Perry, Denis Villeneuve, Robert Rodriguez, Bryce Dallas Howard and Chris Columbus, among others.
It was the kind of photograph rarely possible even during awards season — several generations of filmmakers responsible for some of the most influential movies and franchises in modern cinema all gathered in one room.
Artists including Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, Judy Baca and Refik Anadol were also present, further blurring the boundaries between Hollywood, contemporary art and popular culture that sit at the heart of Lucas’ museum.
George Lucas defends his idea of art
The glamorous guest list was only one part of the evening.
Lucas also used the opening to explain why he spent years fighting to create a museum devoted to narrative art — a category that places illustration, comics, cinema, popular imagery and traditional fine art within the same conversation.
The filmmaker has faced criticism over the museum’s curatorial approach, particularly its decision to display celebrated artworks alongside material historically treated as commercial or popular culture.
Lucas rejected the idea that institutions should decide what deserves to be considered art.
His philosophy is intentionally democratic: if an image creates an emotional response, it can have artistic value regardless of whether it was created for a gallery, a magazine cover, a comic book or a film.
He also spoke about the illustrators he worked with throughout his career, arguing that many possess the same artistic ability as creators traditionally celebrated by major museums but have rarely received equivalent recognition.
A museum years in the making
The opening represented the end of an unusually long journey for Lucas and Hobson.
Plans for the museum faced years of challenges as potential locations were explored in San Francisco and Chicagobefore Los Angeles ultimately became its home.
Hobson joked during the ceremony about just how difficult it had been to give a city a museum, while praising her husband for refusing to abandon the project despite criticism and setbacks.
The finished institution contains around 100,000 square feet of gallery space, with Lucas personally taking a major role in shaping the presentation of the collection.
‘People’s art’ takes centre stage
The Lucas Museum is designed around storytelling in visual culture rather than traditional artistic hierarchies.
That means visitors can encounter works associated with names such as Norman Rockwell, Banksy and N.C. Wyethalongside imagery connected to comics, illustration and Star Wars.
For Lucas, the contrast is precisely the point.
His ambition is to give forms of popular art a museum setting without treating them as culturally inferior to conventional fine art.
The approach has already generated debate among critics — something Lucas, after decades of controversy surrounding his films, appears entirely comfortable with.
Oprah and Samuel L. Jackson narrate a drone spectacle
The celebration eventually moved outside for one of the most cinematic moments of the evening.
A large-scale drone show narrated by Oprah Winfrey and Samuel L. Jackson filled the Los Angeles night sky with images connected to the museum’s collection.
The display included references ranging from prehistoric cave imagery and classic illustration to Banksy’s Girl With Balloon and one particularly familiar object from Lucas’ own universe: the Star Wars Millennium Falcon.
The evening then continued inside with a performance by the Black Eyed Peas, following an earlier appearance from Voices of Fire, the vocal collective co-founded by Pharrell Williams.
George Lucas opens a new chapter beyond ‘Star Wars’
For decades, Lucas has been defined publicly by the cinematic worlds he created through Star Wars and Indiana Jones.
The Lucas Museum represents something different.
Rather than another extension of a film franchise, it is an attempt to reshape how audiences think about the images surrounding them — from celebrated paintings to movie concepts, illustrations and popular culture.
And judging by its opening night, Hollywood was ready to celebrate the ambition.
With Oprah embracing Robert De Niro, Mark Hamill returning to Lucas’ orbit and an extraordinary generation of filmmakers gathered beneath the same roof, the museum’s first major evening felt less like a traditional art opening and more like a celebration of modern visual storytelling itself.
