charges every time someone enters a Universal park

In 1987, while Warner Bros. was trying to sign him to make films for it (something that would not come until the 2001 Amblin co-production ‘AI’), Steven Spielberg signed a deal with Universal that had nothing to do with film. Decades later, that Creative Consultant contract in theme parks brings him more money than any of his films and has gone down in history as one of the most lucrative in the history of entertainment. And the best: it has no expiration date.

The origin of the contract. In 1987, Universal Studios didn’t have the money to compete with Warner. What it did have was Sid Sheinberg, the president of MCA, Universal’s parent company, who had been betting for years on a young director whom he had signed when he was barely a teenager and for whom the director had provided hits like ‘Jaws’ or ‘ET the Extraterrestrial’. When Warner launched a financial offensive to snatch up Spielberg, Sheinberg improvised a cashless solution: making his star director a creative consultant for the theme parks Universal planned to build, with a share of the gross receipts. Forever.

How was it known? For two decades, the terms of the agreement were known only to a small circle of lawyers, but came to light thanks to a footnote in the financial documents that Universal presented in 2009, in the midst of the economic crisis. It was then known that Spielberg perceived 5.25% of all gross revenue generated by the two parks built after the signing (Orlando and Japan), an amount valued at up to 70 million dollars annually (approximately 120 dollars per ticket, 2.38 dollars for each ticket sold) and that It later spread to Singapore and Beijing.. Universal Studios Hollywood was excluded because the park already existed before the initial agreement.

It doesn’t stop, it doesn’t stop. The key term here is “in perpetuity”: no expiration date. The original text included a clause granting Spielberg 2% of all box office grosses and a portion of concessions, in perpetuity. These are not royalties linked to a specific film or a specific attraction. Spielberg charges for each ticket sold at the parks covered by the agreement, regardless of whether any of his films have a presence there.

The financial crisis of the late 2000s put Universal in an uncomfortable position. The agreement included a clause allowing Spielberg to demand a final payment and terminate the contract, which he did. The figure was estimated to be around $200 million. But the studio was building The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and could not afford that payment. Spielberg agreed to postpone it until June 2017 in exchange for an increase in his share from 2% to 5.25% of gross receipts, just as the opening of the Harry Potter zone promised to skyrocket attendance. In 2017 he agreed to continue collecting royalties.

Other cases. Spielberg’s deal with Universal has no direct equivalent in the industry. Perhaps George Lucas’ situation with the ‘Star Wars’ franchise, which sold to Disney in 2012 for $4 billionis comparable, but it is still a simple sale of rights. In other words: no matter how much the franchise films make now, Lucas receives nothing.

Of course, Spielberg was very smart there: the opening of Epic Universe in Orlando in May 2025 adds a new source of gross revenue to which Spielberg is entitled under his contract. According to the latest estimatesif visitor volume reaches projections from previous expansions, the director’s annual revenue could exceed $100 million over the next few years. What I said: a great business.

Image | William Warby