The new 'Star Wars' movies have already made more than the $4 billion Disney paid for the franchise in 2012
- With "The Last Jedi" making over $900 million worldwide at the box office, Disney-owned "Star Wars" movies have combined to earn over $4.5 billion.
- That's how much Disney paid for Lucasfilm, the company that makes the "Star Wars" movies, in 2012.
In 2012, Disney bought Lucasfilm for $4.06 billion and took full control of the "Star Wars" empire.
Five years later, the studio has made that amount back from just the ticket sales from the new "Star Wars" films.
With the saga's lastest movie, "The Last Jedi," passing $900 million worldwide at the box office on Thursday, the Disney-owned releases of "Star Wars" ("The Force Awakens," "Rouge One," "The Last Jedi") have combined to surpass the $4.06 billion pricetag Disney spent on San Francisco-based company, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Though this doesn't count the millions spent to make and market the movies, this figure also doesn't count the money Disney has already made from "Star Wars" merchandising and attractions at its theme parks (both of which are more lucrative than what the studio gets from ticket sales).
The news comes as "The Last Jedi" performs strong in theaters, but not to the level of 2015's "The Force Awakens," which broke numerous box office records.
The mixed reaction by fans, its two-and-a-half hour running time, and the fact that Christmas Eve landed on a Sunday this year are all factors for the historic $151 million drop at the domestic box office for "The Last Jedi" in its second weekend in theaters. But some things are too big to fail, and a "Star Wars" movie is one of them.
"The Last Jedi" is currently the second-highest domestic grossing movie of 2017 with over $445 million (it's only been in theaters for two weeks!) and has its sights on being the top-grossing domestic movie of the year by December 31.