Back in 2012, Disney signed a contract to purchase the rights to Lucasfilm from the founder and chairman of the brand, George Lucas for $4.05bn. One of the questions that Star Wars fans asked was – was it the right decision to pass on ownership?
Although this posed a significant risk on Disney’s behalf and divided fans, it has been deemed as one of the brightest decisions ever made in the corporate industry in the USA due to the returns it has provided since the initial investment. Speaking to CNBC, Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore said: “This was one of the smartest acquisitions in history,”
As a result of this successful investment which hit the news over 7 years ago, people from across the globe have been striving to find out more about how to make their own investments, such as the likes of CFD trading; stocks or bonds. There are a vast number of examples of CFD Trading to research to discover the best option for you.
Disney’s take-over of Lucasfilm commemorated a whole new age for the Star Wars franchise, which was founded back in 1971.Although the Walt Disney Corporation had big plans after investing, it was unclear how great a return they would receive after producing just four movies. According to ComScore, the latest four Star Wars films earned over $4.8 billion at the box office.
The very first Star Wars film that Disney released in 2015: Star Wars: The Force Awakens made $9636 million at the box office in America alone and $1.13 billion abroad, however, there was a $245 million budget to create the film and a further $350 million on marketing globally.
However, one of the main aspects to note is that Disney doesn’t obtain all of the cash that it receives at the box office. The cinemas in which the films are streamed take a large proportion of these earnings; with approximately a 60/40 divide to Disney. With all of the figures taken into consideration, it is estimated that Disney would have earned $645 million from The Force Awakens alone.
This figure also doesn’t take into consideration the merchandise sales that follow the film’s release including the likes of DVDs, Blue Ray and online streaming services, as well as toys and games sold in stores across the globe after signing licensing agreements. In recent years, Disney opened Star Wars lands in both the Florida and California Disneyworld, which is drawing in more tourists who perhaps had never considered visiting previously and therefore, receiving larger profits on ticket sales.
The Mandalorian was launched in November 2019, as a spin-off to the Star Wars saga. It has been released on one of the newest online streaming services founded by the Walt Disney corporation, Disney+. With an impressive nine-future budget, the brand decided to opt for online streaming to dramatically cut down costs as opposed to cinema distribution, without the need for heavy marketing. By placing its own production on its own streaming service, Disney can reap a greater profit than it ever has in the past.
While the future of Star Wars may not be guaranteed for the year to come, Disney has certainly made a clever investment to reap billions of dollars of profit from its latest releases.