But it got me thinking - just how much is this massively successful franchise worth? The popularity doesn't seem to diminish with age and generations of children and adults have enjoyed the many films released over the years. The first star wars film was released the year I was born in 1977 - 35 years ago! I think all the of girls in my generation spent hours playing Princess Leia and trying to wrap our hair in the iconic ear buns! My brother had all the little action figures and posters, and little boys played at being Luke Skywalker or Hans Solo. I can't remember how many times we saw the original films, but multiply that by the millions of other people across the world and across that time span and it's a whole lot of success! The POS sale displays over the years in toy shops, film rental shops, and supermarkets etc. are a good indication of the well oiled selling of this franchise.
So what's it worth?
According to 24/7 wallst. the franchise is worth $30 billion dollars and still growing with the release of computer games and the first of the new 3D film releases, The Phantom Menace coming up. They have taken the time to work it all out and as they say trying to calculate the worth of a franchise over 35 years is not an easy task. With the release of all the films in 3D this $30 million mark will be left far behind, as the Star Wars phenomenon continues to grow!
The $30 billion is made up of around $20 billion in licensing sales (toys, books, apparel etc), $3 billion in video games, $2.5 billion in DVD sales, $800 million in film rentals.
George Lucas' personal wealth is estimated at between $3.2 and $3.6 billion, putting him firmly on the Forbes top 400 rich list. The force is definitely with George!
So...may the 4th be with you today - International Star Wars Day!
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