The Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, founded by George Lucas and wife Mellody Hobson, has had its opening date pushed back again. Originally scheduled to open in 2022, the date was pushed back to 2023 due to the pandemic, and has now been moved again to 2025.
The museum, currently slated to open in 2025 at Exposition Park, will feature a five-story, 300,000-square-foot building on an 11-acre campus that includes a surrounding park and gardens.
Director and CEO Sandra Jackson-Dumont emphasized that the facility, featuring a focus on all forms of narrative art rather than solely displaying movie memorabilia, will mix both high-brow and mass-produced work. She also shared 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,” she said in a statement. “We believe that narrative art can connect us and help shape a more just society. As a result, every element of this institution contributes to that idea — the site is one physical manifestation of that.”
During a press visit Tuesday, Jackson-Dumont told The Hollywood Reporter that delays were due solely to supply chain issues caused by the COVID-19 pandemic: “The pivots we’ve had to make are a result of that fallout.”
Additionally, THR learned that construction is currently focused on adding the panels that will clad the building, along with planting trees in the extensive park grounds (designed by studio MLA designed for an area of L.A. historically lacking in parks). The early-stage site tour also revealed the beginnings of an outdoor rain fountain to cool the building with recycled water, and a moat-like cavity surrounding the building, which protects it in the case of a seismic event. An oculus in the center of the construction gives access to the open sky, and the circular roof will be marked by trees on one half and solar panels on the other.
“The Lucas Museum sits at the intersection of art, people, places and ideas. George Lucas has said that narrative art — the art of telling stories through images — embodies the beliefs and ideals that hold communities together,” Jackson-Dumont said at the event. “With a founder like George Lucas who created one of the most well known and enduring worlds of our lifetime, we can imagine that the capacity of narrative art to create worlds along with their stories is a strong theme in the Lucas Museum collection.”
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