In what should come as no surprise whatsoever, Star Wars: The Last Jedi is continuing to earn a lot of money. The sequel had the second-biggest domestic opening of all time, is due to reach the $1 billion mark worldwide over the new year, and is on route to be the highest grossing film of 2017. This is just par the course for Disney's new Star Wars movies, which have all been extremely successful commercially, and now, Star Wars has reached an impressive milestone. The Force Awakens, Rogue One, and The Last Jedi have earned over $4 billion combined.
In 2012, Disney bought Lucasfilm for the price tag of $4.06 billion. Now, over five years later with three movies completed, Disney has earned back its investment. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Star Wars: The Last Jedi has pushed the collective total of the new Star Wars movies past the initial $4.06 billion price tag. This, of course, does not include the millions of dollars Disney spent on production and marketing for the movies or the percentage that goes to movie theaters. It also does not factor in the sales from merchandising and other side revenues. So, Disney has long been making money off of Star Wars but it's still an impressive benchmark for the movies.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens kicked things off in 2015 with a whopping $2.068 billion globally. It also had an all-time best domestic gross of $936.7 million. The Force Awakens is currently the third highest grossing film ever made and it was largely fueled by the being the first significant Star Wars release in years and it also featured the return of the original cast.
Then came Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, the inaugural spin-off set in the larger universe of Star Wars. The film was something of a gamble, being the first Star Wars film not connected to the events of the main series, but that seems like a foolish concern in hindsight. The movie made $1.056 billion worldwide.
Finally, there's Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which will probably finish somewhere between the total earnings of The Force Awakens and Rogue One. As of this writing, the sequel sits at over $914 million. While it's true that The Last Jedi saw a huge dip from its opening to its second weekend, that by no means represents that the film is "in trouble." It was never expected to reach the heights of The Force Awakens, and The Last Jedi was facing some genuine competition during that second week in the form of Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle and The Greatest Showman.
Star Wars is likely looking at some serious box office numbers for a few more years before that ceiling begins to level off. If you'd like to contribute, you can always see Star Wars: The Last Jedi, which is in theaters right now.
