This past few weeks have seen a tsunami of Star Wars come our way. In no less than four days we had The Acolyte trailer, new drops from Hasbro (including confirmation of a new Haslab), Hayden Christensen at the Empire State Building, a new episode of The Bad Batch, announcements of a May 4th marathon, tickets for the 25th anniversary screenings of The Phantom Menace go on sale and to cap it all off…information on tickets for Celebration Japan 2025.
Phew. Take a breath and let that soak in.
With all this going on, I was recently discussing with a friend a few topics relating to the galaxy far, far away. Mostly we talked about upcoming shows, the 25th anniversary of The Phantom Menace and our favourite films and how we differ on them or share similar thoughts. For some reason a quote from Mark Hamill popped into my head. “Just because something makes money…doesn’t mean it’s good.” Mark was referring to The Force Awakens. A mammoth hit the likes of which hadn’t been seen before, he explained how people seemed to enjoy it but going by the box office alone is a tough call. After all, some of the highest grossing movies of each year tend not be favoured critically. Blockbusters do what they need to do. Bring people into the cinemas and, in turn, smaller art house films (which typically don’t make any cash) get a chance to be shown thanks to the profit turned over by the big epics.
This brings us to Star Wars. With all the news announced this week I wondered where things stood with the franchise. Just curious but it piqued my interest to do some research and put it all together in one place. Is your favourite film of the series also the highest grossing, or is the film you simply cannot stand to watch ever again high up on the critics list?
Below, we’ll look at where the 11 movies released so far fall into each category. We’ll omit The Clone Wars animated movie here.
Box office grosses are from Box Office Mojo and critics while audience scores are from Rotten Tomatoes.
Highest Grossing Star Wars films at the Box Office
- STAR WARS: EPISODE VII – THE FORCE AWAKENS ($2.07 billion worldwide)
- STAR WARS: EPISODE VIII – THE LAST JEDI ($1.3 billion worldwide)
- STAR WARS: EPISODE IX – THE RISE OF SKYWALKER ($1.07 billion worldwide)
- ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY ($1.05 billion worldwide)
- STAR WARS: EPISODE I – THE PHANTOM MENACE ($1.02 billion worldwide)
- STAR WARS: EPISODE III – REVENGE OF THE SITH ($868 million worldwide)
- STAR WARS: EPISODE IV – A NEW HOPE ($775 million worldwide)
- STAR WARS: EPISODE II – ATTACK OF THE CLONES ($656 million worldwide)
- STAR WARS: EPISODE V – THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK ($549 million worldwide)
- STAR WARS: EPISODE VI – RETURN OF THE JEDI ($475 million worldwide)
- SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY ($393 million worldwide)
It’s no surprise that The Force Awakens is at the top. It still stands as the highest grossing film in North America and is now 5th on the all-time box office charts. It did colossal cash when it came out. I think, however, that’s it’s safe to say that the film would always do solid business at the box office. There had been a gap of a decade between live-action films and 32 years had passed since Return of the Jedi and even the most casual of filmgoers were intrigued by the return of Han, Luke and Leia.
A few other observations. The Phantom Menace is the only pre-Disney era film to stand over 1 billion and it’s to be noted that the film didn’t gross that in its original run in 1999. It was close, very close but the extra cash came from the 2012 3D re-release.
You’ll notice that the original trilogy stands quite low in comparison to the prequels and sequels but the savvy among us will know that if we adjust the box office for inflation then A New Hope would be the highest grossing film. Grosses are accounted by the time of their release.
One final note is that of Solo. When written down in black and white it’s sad to see just how much this movie tanked. The only Star Wars film to lose money at the box office had everything against it. A poor marketing campaign, the fallout from The Last Jedi and general audiences (crucial for legs at the box office) just weren’t interested in it.
Star Wars Films by RT Audience Scores
- STAR WARS: EPISODE V – THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (97%)
- STAR WARS: EPISODE IV – A NEW HOPE (96%)
- STAR WARS: EPISODE VI – RETURN OF THE JEDI (94%)
- STAR WARS: EPISODE VII – THE FORCE AWAKENS (86%)
- ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY (86%)
- STAR WARS: EPISODE IX – THE RISE OF SKYWALKER (86%)
- STAR WARS: EPISODE III – REVENGE OF THE SITH (66%)
- SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY (63%)
- STAR WARS: EPISODE I – THE PHANTOM MENACE (59%)
- STAR WARS: EPISODE II – ATTACK OF THE CLONES (56%)
- STAR WARS: EPISODE VII – THE LAST JEDI (42%)
Star Wars Films by RT Critics Scores
- STAR WARS: EPISODE V – THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (95%)
- STAR WARS: EPISODE VII – THE FORCE AWAKENS (93%)
- STAR WARS: EPISODE IV – A NEW HOPE (93%)
- STAR WARS: EPISODE VII – THE LAST JEDI (91%)
- ROGUE ONE: A STAR WARS STORY (84%)
- STAR WARS: EPISODE VI – RETURN OF THE JEDI (83%)
- STAR WARS: EPISODE III – REVENGE OF THE SITH (79%)
- SOLO: A STAR WARS STORY (69%)
- STAR WARS: EPISODE II – ATTACK OF THE CLONES (65%)
- STAR WARS: EPISODE I – THE PHANTOM MENACE (52%)
- STAR WARS: EPISODE IX – THE RISE OF SKYWALKER (51%)
Things get really interesting here, and yes, I’m aware of ‘review bombing’ on RT and all that jazz but it’s the best way to gauge reactions.
Let’s kick off back with Solo. The film that made the least amount of cash is actually nowhere to be found at the bottom of both of these lists showing that, while not a masterpiece, is actually warmly regarded in the community on the whole. Unsurprisingly, The Empire Strikes Back tops both lists while the most striking difference is that of The Last Jedi. While #4 on the critics list, it’s all the way at the bottom on the audience list. Something interesting to note also is on the critics list and that’s The Rise of Skywalker just coming in under The Phantom Menace. My favourite thing about all of this though lies with the Revenge of the Sith audience score. Take a closer look and try not to smile, smirk or do the impression.
The Phantom Menace 25th Anniversary is just over a month away. I’ve got my tickets all booked and cannot wait. I love this about Star Wars. I’ve seen it over 500 times but am just as excited as I was when I was eight years old back in 1999. Star Wars seems to be ramping back into high-gear and I, for one, cannot wait.
- Hardcover Book
- Revis, Beth (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 48 Pages - 12/03/2024 (Publication Date) - Random House/Star Wars (Publisher)
