Filmmaker George Lucas, the man behind the ?Star Wars? movie franchise, says he hopes to revitalize the study of cinema through a recent $ 175 million gift to the University of Southern California, his alma mater. Lucas? donation last month, the biggest private gift ever received by USC, is being used to endow and rebuild its School of Cinematic Arts. The university broke ground on the project on Wednesday.

?In the academic world, movies are not very high up on the radar.... Movies are kind of down there, sort of a sub-set of a liberal arts education,? Lucas, 62, told Reuters after the ceremony. ?I wanted to send a signal ... to all the universities that have film schools,? he added. ?This is like the law school or the journalism school or the architecture school. This is an important part of our society and needs to be taken seriously, and hopefully this will get their attention.? The USC School of Cinematic Arts, founded in 1929 by actor Douglas Fairbanks, is the oldest film school in the nation.

Lucas received his undergraduate degree there in 1966. After his first big success ?American Graffiti,? he went on to usher in a new era of special-effects filmmaking as creator of ?Star Wars.?