“Star Wars” – $32 Billion “Star Wars” still holds the Guinness World Record for the most successful film merchandising franchise in history since it was first given the title in 2012.
They compared the cost of goods like food, weapons and vehicles in Star Wars to that in the USA to get a vague idea of the exchange rate. What they found was that, after accounting for inflation, 1 USD would buy you around 1.44 Galactic Credits.
Now, almost a half-century later, the pop culture franchise is still going strong with the release of the latest Obi-Wan Kenobi series on Disney+. The Star Wars saga reportedly has an estimated total value of US$70 billion and currently ranks fifth as the highest-grossing franchise of all time.
Lucas is best known for creating the Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchises and founding Lucasfilm, LucasArts, Industrial Light & Magic, and THX. He served as chairman of Lucasfilm before selling it to The Walt Disney Company in 2012.
“Star Wars” still holds the Guinness World Record for the most successful film merchandising franchise in history since it was first given the title in 2012.
How much does Disney make off Star Wars merchandise?
Star Wars on the whole generates between $2-3 billion total retail sales for Disney every year. (With a one time boost in 2015 due to The Force Awakens.)
So how do the Harry Potter movies compare? Harry Potter ranked third in the category of highest-grossing films. The $9.7 billion (£8.3 billion) in box office profits generated by the eight movies means it gains a score of 8.9, putting it ahead of Spider-Man but behind Star Wars.
According to Lucasfilm, Return of the Jedi (1983), despite having earned $475 million at the box office against a budget of $32.5 million, "has never gone into profit". Art Buchwald received a settlement from Paramount after his lawsuit Buchwald v. Paramount (1990).
What is the highest-grossing franchise of all time?
1. Marvel Cinematic Universe. The overall highest-grossing franchise by almost $6 billion, the Marvel Cinematic Universe is an immortal giant that towers over all other franchises mentioned here.
R2-D2. The most expensive Star Wars memorabilia ever sold is the famous R2-D2 droid. Auctioned in June 2017, the unique piece measures 43 inches in height. According to the auction house, Profiles in History, the droid was compiled from parts used throughout the filming of the original trilogy.
Harrison Ford played smuggler and captain of the Millennium Falcon Han Solo in Star Wars' original trilogy, returning to the role for The Force Awakens. It was reported that he made more money than anyone else in the cast, earning a salary between $10 million to $20 million, per Variety.
A Story With Many Elements. Just like any other great film, much of the success of the Star Wars franchise is due to its story. On the surface, the Star Wars story premise is that of the classic conflict of good versus evil. Within this core shell of a story; however, there are several interwoven themes and subplots.
Two main currencies existed in the galaxy: the Republic credit, which later became the Imperial credit before being replaced by the New Republic credit, and the wupiupi, the latter circulating almost exclusively in the Outer Rim Territories.
Thus, Solo became the first Star Wars movie to actually lose money, with Lucasfilm taking a $77 million write down on the film. The studio would halt all plans for further big screen spinoffs following Solo's flop at the box office.
Star Wars creator George Lucas wasn't just a visionary filmmaker, he was also an exceptional business executive whose true genius lay in controlling the budget. The first Star Wars movie had an incredibly low budget by today's standards, around $74 million adjusted for inflation, but Lucas had to work with what he had.
Analysis of 39 sets of financial statements shows that Disney spent total of $2.0 billion (£1.7 billion) on making its five Star Wars films which generated $1.3 billion of profits after factoring in a total of $343.9 million (£287.9 million) of reimbursements.
The force remains strong with Star Wars, which beat out Marvel as the top franchise in a new survey of U.S. and UK gaming and entertainment fans by online community and data firm Fandom. The 2023 list (check it out below) is full of surprises beyond the top two spots.
Back on October 30, 2012, the Walt Disney Company made a bold leap into the world of fantasy movies with its surprise announcement that it was acquiring Lucasfilm, home of the immensely successful Star Wars brands, from its founder, George Lucas, for $4.05 billion, split evenly between stock and cash.
Disney is owned by many shareholders, as it's a publicly traded company. According to CNN Business News, the Vanguard Group, Inc. is the largest shareholder of Walt Disney Co. with a 7.49% stake.
How much money has Star Wars merchandise made since 1977?
Between 1977 and 1978, Star Wars sold $100 million worth of toys. Over the next 35 years, those toys went on to produce $3 billion in revenue. There is also the $3.5 billion in video games, $2 billion in book sales and $1.3 billion in licensing deals.
