When Disney purchased Lucasfilm a few years ago for a whopping $4.05B, there wasn’t anybody who sat around saying “OH yeah they totally overpaid for that.” Because that would have been a foolish stance to take given the money machine that is Star Wars. And here we are just two years removed from Star Wars: The Force Awakens and already Disney has recouped on their original investment.
With Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi blasting towards $1B worldwide, Disney has now hit $4.06B in Star Wars ticket sales. Okay, there are other factors that add to the cost, like marketing, distribution, and production, but the money the Mouse House laid down to have the rights to Star Wars has proven to be well worth it. And we haven’t even begun to look at how much they are raking in on merchandising. Cha-ching!
And we’re only five months away from Disney’s next cash grab with Solo: A Star Wars Story. While there may be some serious question marks about it, is there anybody who is seriously considering not going to see it? I didn’t think so. [THR]
