George Clooney's Barack Obama Fundraiser Drums Up Record-Breaking $12 Million

Actor will be hosting a sold-out dinner for the president at his Los Angeles home on May 10, and it's expected to draw a who's who of luminaries and bigwigs

We all knew George Clooney could rake in dem big box-office bucks.

Apparently, he's not too shabby at pulling in political cash, either.

The superstar actor-cum-activist-cum-overall awesome guy will reportedly rustle up $12 million at his May 10 fundraising dinner for President Barack Obama in Los Angeles, scoring a record as the biggest U.S. presidential campaign fundraiser in history, per The Hollywood Reporter.

Or, let's put it this way: That's more money than what the heavily hyped The Five-Year Engagement recently made on its opening weekend.

About 150 guests are expected to attend the sold-out shindig, which is being held at Clooney's Studio City home and is costing folks a cool $40,000 a pop. (Hey, that rare house tour alone should justify the steep price tag, yes?)

The dinner itself is projected to rake in $6 million from paying guests plus an estimated $6 million from online donations, bringing the final tally to about $12 million.

The demand for tickets was so strong that the guest list was reportedly limited only to those living in Southern California. That doesn't mean the average joe can't partake, though: The Obama campaign recently announced a contest offering grassroots supporters a chance to be a guest

Clooney knows a thing or two about politics, having directed the politically charged Good Night, and Good Luck in 2005 and playing a presidential candidate in last year's The Ides of March. But his political activism extends well beyond Hollywood lip service: He was famously arrested in March for protesting outside the Sudanese embassy but was released a few hours after.