Joseph Koehler
Economics
Mr. Reuter
December 11th, 2015
Money from Space
This winter holds a special place in the hearts of many fans who grew up dreaming of a galaxy far far away. With a new addition to the Star Wars movie collection, as well as the release of the ten years in the making Star Wars Battlefront video game, a wide fan base - from people who simply like the movies to the more geeky fans with a tattoo of Yoda wearing 3D glasses, a Star Wars snapback, holding a popcorn bucket with the words “The Force is strong with this one” across the front - are all excited for the release of these new additions to the world of Star Wars. After existing for over 38 years, since May 25th, 1977, it is fair to assume that Star Wars has amassed a large profit.
With the multitude of movies, videogames, books, and merchandise, the closest estimate to Star Wars’ profit is over $27 Billion as of 2014, before the new releases of Episode VII and Star Wars Battlefront, as well as not including the $4 Billion purchase of the entire rights to the Star Wars franchise made by Disney in the year 2012. 15.84% of Star Wars’ profit ($4,277,000,000) comes straight from the box office, 13.98% comes from DVD sales, both of which one would imagine would be the most profitable. However, both are both dwarfed to the profit of merchandise, bringing in 44.44% of the total revenue of star wars, an estimated $12 Billion. This video shows the multiple areas Star Wars earns its large income.
The Force is still strong with Star Wars as it continues in the year of 2015, with an estimated ten million copies of Star Wars Battlefront to be sold at $60 a pop, as well as an estimated $2.2 Billion from the release of Episode VII, not to mention the merchandise to come prior to both releases. The estimated copies of Star Wars Battlefront being sold comes from a combination of surveys as well as an insanely large amount of downloads of the free Beta testing, while the movie’s estimates come from questioning countless fans similar to those seen in the movie Fanboys.
Over the course of nearly 40 years, Star Wars has and will continue to accumulate a massive wealth - given that the current owners do not run the entire series into the ground - for a very long time in the foreseeable future. It will be no problem for the series going far beyond $27 Billion dollars with the major releases of the 2015 Winter and any future additions onto the already massive Star Wars universe. Anyone else excited for the new releases?
Part of the reason the sales of merchandise would be the advertising done through the movies. Most Americans have seen the original or new star war movies and this has increased the demand of the Star Wars merchandise. The high consumer expectations for the new Battlefront game and the new movie have also increased the demand for Star Wars merchandise.
ReplyDeleteIt's crazy to think they made that much money even without all the new things being released, or that have been in the past months. In the end you say you hope the producers don't run the series into the ground, but i couldn't imagine that ever happening because the demand for Star Wars by so many fans is crazy, and almost seems never endless.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what Ryan Said that it is crazy to think that they were able to make that much money off of a movie when you compare them to all of the newer released movies. And as movie series go on some series tend to just bottom out and destroy the whole series. But like you said in the end " given that the current owners do not run the entire series into the ground" I personally can not see that happening because the fans will not let that happen.
ReplyDeleteI knew that Star wars was big and had to be making a lot of money but I never wold have expected it to be worth $27 billion. Also I am surprised that it is still making more and more movies and all. Everywhere you look there is someone wearing a Star wars T shirt so it is not hard to imagine the massive amounts of money the creators are swimming in.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting perspective, I often see countless TV shows airing about the star wars universe. I think it would be great to see how they had an effect on how much money the franchise has made. These TV shows were critical in keeping younger generations interested in the franchise, and these younger generations are those who want merchandiser such as toys.
ReplyDeleteIt is certainly interesting to see the evolution of the Star Wars franchise. What was once a distant idea is now such a grand money maker. The way it started was definitely different too. Most movies are made from books but this was the opposite. The movies came first then books, merchandise, tv shows and more movies have followed. I cannot wait to see the new movie and play the full version of Battlefront.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Joey! I always knew Star Wars had a large amount of money, but not on the scale that you reported. I think this is partially due to Star Wars having a relative "monopoly" over the section of Sci-Fi/Space Entertainment. The fact that the majority of the profits came from toys could also point to a major portion of Star Wars fans being children, which we all know is true. It will be interesting to see how "The Force Awakens" does in the box office, and whether or not it will live up to the hype. I personally think it will.
ReplyDeleteLoved the topic Joe! thought it was very interesting on how in depth you went on a wide variety of topics. I never truly knew how much money Star Wars really made and how it's still making so much money years after the last produced movie. Thanks for the post. -Tyler Hull
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