George Lucas Selects Chicago For the Star Wars Museum

netringer writes: George Lucas has selected Chicago over Los Angeles and San Francisco as the future home of The Lucas Museum of Narrative Arts, housing his collection of Star Wars art and movie memorabilia along with exhibits of the technology of Industrial Light and Magic (ILM). Where else but on the Chicago Lakefront will be it easy to recreate the ice planet of Hoth?

Is there any 'value' to Star Wars?

[bayankaran]

When the current generation who grew up on Star Wars go away, will it remain in public memory like paintings or music, or even cinema? And that too at Chicago, home to excellent museums.
Me thinks there is no permanence to Star Wars. Its already looking dated and silly.
Meanwhile '2012 A Space Odyssey' still feels fresh.

Population Proximity, Travel Hub, Central Location

[Scot Seese]

Well.. ,

Hardly surprising. This is the same kind of decision typically made by large entertainment ventures - e.g., Six Flags, Universal, etc. - after doing careful studies of population density, demographics and travel connections.

You've all heard the " ... there are N millions of people within a 4-hour drive or 1 flight,no transfer, from Y amusement park." Yep, same math.

While New York or LA may be closer to the entertainment industry, Chicago is central to the people who matter most - The fans.

If you stuck a pin in Chicago on the map and plotted a circle to estimate how many millions of people live within 2 states in any given direction - easy traveling considering the transportation arteries that converge into I-80 & I-94 - it's a hell of a lot of people. That one of the largest, most capable international airports in the world - O'Hare - sits on the edge of town, massively connected through multiple rail, bus and taxi lines - is a big fat cherry on top.

This is the kind of head-scratching math that puts enormous amusement parks like Kings Island in Cincinnati Ohio, or Six Flags halfway between Chicago and Milwaukee in the middle of nowhere - because they are actually in the middle of a ton of midwesterners unafraid of a car trip.

Having the ability to ride the nations' only electric interstate train all the way from South Bend, Indiana to Millennium Station in the heart of downtown Chicago for $22 round trip - I can't wait for the museum to open!