How Much Money Each Star Wars Movie Made For Disney

"Star Wars" is one of the biggest franchises on the planet and it pretty much has been ever since George Lucas introduced us to a galaxy far, far away back in 1977. This was decades before Hollywood would become utterly 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 we now have some numbers to back that up.

The folks at Forbes recently ran the numbers to determine how much money Disney has made from each of the "Star Wars" movies the studio has released, beginning with "The Force Awakens" in 2015. It should be noted that this isn't hailing directly from Disney's accounting department, so these numbers shouldn't be taken as gospel, but they do offer some idea of how well the franchise has performed over the last decade. With that said, here's how it shakes out...

1. "The Force Awakens" – $500.2 million profit

2. "The Last Jedi" – $324 million profit

3. "Rogue One" – $258.4 million profit

4. "The Rise of Skywalker" – $48.3 million profit

5. "Solo" A Star Wars Story" – $103.3 million loss

It should come as little surprise that director J.J. Abrams' "The Force Awakens" came out on top as the movie made $2.07 billion at the box office worldwide, including a record $936.6 million domestically. It was an unrivaled pop culture phenomenon at the time. Of the five "Star Wars" movies released by Disney, only one of them lost money — 2018's "Solo: A Star Wars Story" was a financial disaster.

"Solo" bombed because its budget ballooned after directors Phil Lord and Chris Miller were fired well into production. So, when it only made $393 million globally against a $300 million budget, the numbers just didn't add up. 

No studio hits it out of the park every time, and every franchise has its duds. Four out of five is a great batting average. Based on these calculations, Disney has profited $2.25 billion at the box office alone from the franchise after paying $4.06 billion for Lucasfilm. Mind you, the "Star Wars" movies passed that $4.06 billion figure in raw box office dollars back in 2017. It's largely gone very well, a few caveats aside. 

One such caveat is that "The Last Jedi," though profitable, proved to be intensely divisive and casts a shadow over the fandom to this day. "The Rise of Skywalker" was less divisive, but only because it was more universally disliked, and it cost an insane $489.9 million to make before marketing expenses. So, even though it made $1 billion at the box office, that high production cost ate into its profits. But this is just theatrical profits. All of these movies generated untold millions between VOD, streaming, Blu-ray/DVD sales, and merchandise — and that's just the tip of the iceberg. No question, that $4 billion investment is chump change compared to what "Star Wars" has earned Disney on the whole.

The fact that Disney was able to turn "Rogue One," a movie based on two lines of text, into a $1 billion hit, shows the value that lies in this property. Lucasfilm has also generated huge hits for Disney+, such as "The Mandalorian" and "Andor." Sure, there have been bumps in the path, but the path has largely been paved with profits.

As for the future? Next year will see the release of "The Mandalorian and Grogu" in theaters, with "Star Wars: Starfighter" on deck for 2027. Since we haven't had any movies on the big screen for six years, it may well be that audiences have built up an appetite once again, which could mean big things for Disney's bottom line.