When George Lucas was in the midst of making Star Wars, the insanity surrounding the movie's production began to weigh on him. He started to believe the doubters and think that the film was going to be disastrous. He shared his doubts with his friend, fellow director Steven Spielberg, who was working on Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Steven had more faith in George and told him so. George decided to make a crazy bet- he would give Steven 2.5% of Star Wars' gross if Steven gave him 2.5% of Close Encounters of the Third Kind's gross. George had greatly misjudged things- while both films were successful, Star Wars was wildly so. The crazy bet cost George Lucas $40 Million.
