Film director George Lucas’s Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, set to open in 2026, will be trailed at San Diego Comic-Con this July. 

The museum, which was originally intended to open in 2025, is the brainchild of George Lucas and his wife, businesswoman Mellody Hobson. It has an estimated $1-billion budget.

That will fund a 300,000 sq ft, five-floor building with 100,000 sq ft of gallery space, two state-of-the-art theatres, learning studios and visitor facilities. 

The huge collections of the new museum, including George Lucas' own archives, have a suitably space age home, courtesy of Ma Yansong’s MAD Architects, with Stantec as executive architect. Rooftop gardens and solar power help to contribute to the project's sustainably. 

An imagined view of the museum at night. It should become one of LA's largest cultural attractions.  

The museum will be located in an 11-acre former parking lot alongside other leisure and cultural facilities. 

The collection takes in narrative art throughout history and across forms. Ancient pottery, Renaissance paintings, more modern artists like Frida Kahlo and Norman Rockwell and comic books artists including R Crumb. 

The Lucasfilm archive will be housed there, as will a separate cinema archive documenting African-American filmmaking. 

Museum director Sandra Jackson-Dumont said the museum "aims to connect us and help shape a more just society.”  

Building began in March 2018 after sites in San Francisco and Chicago were considered.