The True Profits and Losses for Disney-era ‘Star Wars’ Movies Have Been Revealed
When Disney bought Lucasfilm in 2012 for $4 billion, it was betting big on Star Wars. Since then, the company has made five movies in the galaxy far, far away. Now, documents filed in the U.K. have revealed how much each of those movies really cost and how much profit they made, and the results are surprising.
The financial details come from company filings in the United Kingdom. All of Disney’s Star Wars movies were filmed there, and productions made in the U.K. must report their expenses to claim tax reimbursements.
These records lift the curtain on how much Disney actually spent and earned from each film, something that’s usually hidden behind Hollywood accounting.
When movies are filmed in the U.K., studios can get up to 25.5% of what they spend back from the government. To qualify, they need to show that at least 10% of the production costs were spent in the country.
That’s why Disney set up a separate production company for each Star Wars movie, and those companies had to file detailed reports.
Those reports include everything from production costs to reimbursements and even staff payments. By looking at these documents, analysts can figure out how much Disney spent and how much it got back in tax credits. Once that number is clear, it’s possible to estimate the studio’s profits by comparing it to box office earnings.
Box office data is public and comes from sites like Box Office Mojo. However, not all of the money from ticket sales goes to the studio. Theaters keep a share, and according to a study by film industry expert Stephen Follows, the average split is roughly 50-50. That means the studio typically gets about half of the total ticket sales.
A Disney spokesperson explained last year that box office numbers don’t tell the full story. “There will be other income generated by the production (such as DVD/Blu-ray sales, merchandising, etc.). It’s not reflecting a true account of whether the film was overall profitable.”
That said, marketing costs, often huge for blockbusters, aren’t included in the production filings either. So while merchandise and streaming revenue might boost profits, marketing likely cuts into them.
Using the box office share and the U.K. filings, analysts have been able to estimate which Disney-era Star Wars movie made the most money at the box office. The results are interesting.
Despite being the most expensive of the bunch, The Force Awakens made the biggest profit. It cost about $638.9 million to make but earned Disney around $1.035 billion from ticket sales, leaving a profit of roughly $500 million. It was the first Star Wars movie in ten years, and the excitement among fans clearly paid off.
The Last Jedi came next with around $324 million in profit, followed by Rogue One, which made about $258 million. Interestingly, Rogue One had the highest return on investment, or ROI, because it cost much less to make.
Things didn’t go as well for the next films. The Rise of Skywalker cost nearly $594 million to produce and brought in only $48 million in profit. Solo: A Star Wars Story did even worse, losing around $103 million at the box office.
To summarize:
- 1. ‘The Force Awakens’ – $500.2M
- 2. ‘The Last Jedi’ – $324M
- 3. ‘Rogue One’ – $258.4M
- 4. ‘The Rise of Skywalker’ – $48.3M
- 5. ‘Solo’ – –$103.3M
This uneven track record explains why Disney hasn’t released a Star Wars movie in six years. The studio has focused instead on streaming shows like The Mandalorian. Its next Star Wars film, The Mandalorian & Grogu, is set for 2026, and Disney is likely hoping that the long wait will spark the same excitement that made The Force Awakens such a huge hit.
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