After the first Star Wars, Lucas became the owner of his films, essentially leasing them to 20th Century Fox for a fee. His mentor Francis Coppola set up Zoetrope Studios, his own little MGM, and friend Steven Spielberg eventually became part-owner of DreamWorks. But it was the way Lucas spent his money that was farsighted. He founded ILM, the pioneering SPFX company, whose airy eye-tricks defined fantasy movies for decades. And to spur the digital revolution, Lucas created a small research company to find new ways to edit sound and sound effects, and to make composite FX shots. From that company came many of the innovations all movie technicians use today. Then Lucas sold the company to Steve Jobs. Yep, Pixar.