Fan discovers George Lucas Disney World photobomb years later

These days George Lucas’ fingerprints are all over the Disney theme parks, given the company’s acquisition of Lucasfilm in 2012 for over $4 billion. But back in 2005, visitors to Walt Disney World might not have been expecting a barrage of “Star Wars” movie tie-ins (or failing galactic hotels). And they certainly wouldn’t have been expecting a photobomb from Lucas himself.

But that’s exactly what happened to Mark Chase’s family on Feb. 27, 2005 — they think.

Chase, a New Jersey 29-year-old who works in the restaurant industry, went viral last week for a photo on Twitter from an old family vacation. He was visiting Disney World with his family at age 11 and Mom snapped a family picture of Chase, his father, three siblings and a costumed Br’er Rabbit cast member. What they didn’t realize until the film was developed was that there was another person sitting in the background of the photo, and all signs lead to him being the man who invented “Star Wars.”

Chase told SFGATE that the family first noticed the accidental photobomber’s resemblance to Lucas around a decade ago.

“We were like, oh, that looks like George Lucas,” Chase said. “And it never really went further than that. We kind of just laughed it off, because it seems to be an implausibility.”

When Chase’s mother was reorganizing photos recently, the Disney World image reappeared. She shared the photo with the family group chat, and then Chase’s sister found an article placing Lucas at Disney World the same week for vacation and a promotional event for “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.”

In the article, a promo image shows Lucas standing next to a Jedi Mickey Mouse. Lucas is wearing a pair of classic white ’80s sneakers and a watch on his left wrist, both of which match up with Chase’s photo. The jeans and shirt appear to be slightly different shades of blue, however Chase chalks that up to film deterioration. Sunglasses obscure the eyes of the man in Chase’s photo, but the beard and white pompadour haircut are signature Lucas.

Granted, there are plenty of gray-haired men out there with Lucas’s build and an affinity for dad-friendly footwear, but Chase — and 99% of the commenters on his post — seem convinced that it was Lucas in his photo.

“It’s either him, or it’s like the greatest coincidence in the world,” Chase said.