George Lucas' Lucas Museum Of Narrative Art, Future Home Of The Lucasfilm Archive, Has Delayed Opening Until 2025
Those wishing to indulge in the collections presented at the forthcoming Lucas Museum of Narrative Art will have to wait a little bit longer to do so. The museum had hoped to open its doors to the public next year, but unfortunately, according to The Hollywood Reporter, it will now not open for another two years until 2025. That means that it will have been over a decade from when the project was first announced to when it is a proper reality.
While most see the name George Lucas and think that this will be a museum solely dedicated to filmmaking, that is not the case. Yes, filmmaking will be part of the collection. Most notably, it will house the Lucasfilm archive that I'm sure so many "Star Wars" fans cannot wait to gawk at. Cinematically speaking, the museum will also be where people can dig into the Separate Cinema Archive, which chronicles the history of Black cinema in the United States. But the collection goes beyond movies. Art from every medium will be there for you to enjoy, from the Americana paintings of Norman Rockwell to the comic book art of Jack Kirby.
The museum broke ground on March 14, 2018, which means it will have taken seven years to build. That is unless they delay the opening again.
The many struggles of the museum
Now, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art is in construction in the Exposition Park area of Los Angeles. This was not the originally intended location of the museum, however. It was first established in 2014, and San Francisco was supposed to be its home, as it is also the location of Lucasfilm and Skywalker Ranch. After San Francisco fell through, they set their sights on Chicago as their new home. That didn't happen due to pushback from the Chicago-based environmental group Friends of the Parks.
In 2017, they secured the current Los Angeles location and were able to break ground the following year. Things seemed to be going fine, and then ... the pandemic happened, which has of course put a massive strain on every single facet of everyone's lives. That includes massive construction projects. Even though things have been opening up over the last year or so, supply chains are still limited, and the vision for the museum is still evolving. According to THR, construction is "currently focused on adding the panels that will clad the building, along with planting trees in the extensive park grounds."
While I would love to be able to visit the Lucas Museum tomorrow, I hope that all the time they are taking to build it makes the experience wonderful for the folks like me who want to appreciate the art on display. Clearly, a lot of care is being put into this project, and if it takes until 2025 to experience it, so be it.