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“Star Wars” is one of the biggest franchises on the planet and has been practically since George Lucas introduced us to a galaxy far, far away in 1977. This was decades before Hollywood became completely obsessed with franchises, but that’s another conversation entirely. For the last decade and change, this particular franchise has been in the hands of Disney since its purchase of Lucasfilm in 2012. Has it been a good investment? Yes, and now we have some numbers to back it up.
the people of Forbes I recently ran the numbers to determine how much money Disney has made from each of the “Star Wars” movies the studio has released, starting with “The Force Awakens” in 2015. It’s worth noting that this doesn’t come directly from Disney’s accounting department, so these numbers shouldn’t be taken as gospel, but they do offer some insight into how well the franchise has performed over the past decade. That being said, here’s how it plays out…
1. “The Force Awakens”: $500.2 million profit
2. “The Last Jedi”: profit of 324 million dollars
3. “Rogue One”: earnings of $258.4 million
4. “The Rise of Skywalker”: profit of $48.3 million
5. “Just” A Star Wars Story” – loss of $103.3 million
It should come as no surprise that director JJ Abrams’ “The Force Awakens” came out on top as the film grossed $2.07 billion at the worldwide box office, including a record $936.6 million domestically. It was an unparalleled pop culture phenomenon at the time. Of the five “Star Wars” films released by Disney, only one of them lost money: 2018’s “Solo: A Star Wars Story” was a financial disaster.
“Solo” failed because its budget skyrocketed after directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired while already in production. So when it only made $393 million worldwide against a $300 million budget, the numbers just didn’t add up.
Star Wars continues to be a very good investment for Disney
No studio succeeds all the time, and every franchise has its failures. Four for five is a great batting average. According to these calculations, Disney has earned $2.25 billion at the box office alone with the franchise after paying $4.06 billion for Lucasfilm. Of course, the “Star Wars” movies surpassed that figure of $4.06 billion in gross box office in 2017. In general, it has gone very well, leaving aside some caveats.
One of those warnings is that “The Last Jedi,” while profitable, proved intensely divisive and casts a shadow over the fandom to this day. “The Rise of Skywalker” was less divisive, but only because it wasn’t universally liked, and it cost a whopping $489.9 million before marketing expenses. So even though it made $1 billion at the box office, that high production cost reduced its profits. But these are just theatrical profits. All of these movies generated millions of dollars between VOD, streaming, Blu-ray/DVD sales, and merchandise, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There’s no doubt that $4 billion investment is a fool’s errand compared to what “Star Wars” has earned for Disney overall.
The fact that Disney was able to turn “Rogue One,” a movie based on two lines of text, into a billion-dollar hit shows the value that lies in this property. Lucasfilm has also spawned big hits for Disney+, like “The Mandalorian” and “Andor.” Sure, there have been bumps along the way, but the road has largely been paved with profits.
As for the future? Next year will see “The Mandalorian and Grogu” release in theaters, with “Star Wars: Starfighter” set for 2027. Given that we haven’t had a movie on the big screen for six years, audiences may have regained their appetite, which could mean big things for Disney’s bottom line.
