It did, however, make a lot of money. With direct costs of a little over $1 million, American Graffiti earned more than $55 million in rentals, making it one of cinema’s most profitable returns on investment, then or ever. With his points in the film, Lucas earned nearly $4 million, after taxes. As he had vowed to his father more than a decade before, Lucas was a millionaire before the age of thirty. In fact, he had done it with two years to spare.
