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- A-list actors, directors, artists and politicians — from Oprah Winfrey and Harrison Ford to Leonardo DiCaprio and Gavin Newsom — packed the plaza for the Lucas Museum’s star-studded opening-night gala.
- George Lucas and Mellody Hobson used the night to defend their ambitious narrative art museum, arguing that illustration and pop culture belong alongside masterworks as legitimate, emotionally resonant art.
- After a decadelong battle to bring the museum to L.A., opening night doubled as a declaration of a new cultural landmark, capped by a drone spectacle and Black Eyed Peas performance.
If George Lucas invites you to a party, you go.
That much was clear Saturday at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art’s opening-night soiree, where the guest list was as celebrity-heavy as any Academy Awards after-party. As the festivities kicked off around sunset in the courtyard under the museum’s towering elliptical oculus, Oprah Winfrey hugged Robert De Niro, and Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart skipped the red carpet after chatting with Spike Lee. Laura Dern and Greta Gerwig laughed together by the entrance while Samuel L. Jackson plopped down on a curved bench, joking, “Hey, look what I did!”
For the record:
1:22 p.m. Sept. 20, 2026A previous version of this article said James Cameron was photographed along with a large group of directors at the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art. He was not.
He didn’t sit for long because Cynthia Erivo and Andy Garcia showed up and there were more hugs and handshakes and hellos. Owen Wilson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kim Kardashian, Meg Ryan, Jack Quaid, Gov. Gavin Newsom, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, Justin Trudeau, Mark Hamill and Magic Johnson were there too, and that was just the beginning.
After a rousing performance by a white-robe-clad vocal collective called Voices of Fire, co-founded by Pharrell Williams, Lucas’ wife Mellody Hobson noted that, “George kept saying, ‘Will this person come? Do you think this person will come?’”
“I said, ‘They will all come,’” Hobson said as the crowd laughed during opening remarks on a raised platform in the museum’s grand lobby.
