Despite The Fan Backlash, STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI Was 2017's Most Profitable Blockbuster

Despite The Fan Backlash, STAR WARS: THE LAST JEDI Was 2017's Most Profitable Blockbuster

Despite the fact Star Wars: The Last Jedi pretty much split the fanbase straight down the middle, that didn't have a particularly negative impact on the sequel as it was 2017's most profitable release...

News
By JoshWilding - Mar 29, 2018 03:03 AM EST
Filed Under: Star Wars
Source: Deadline
When Star Wars: The Last Jedi opened last December, it had the second biggest debut of all-time with a massive $220 million (The Force Awakens remains in first place with $247.9 million). While the sequel failed to outperform its predecessor, it was still a huge hit and ended up making $1.3 billion globally. As a result, Deadline reports that the Rian Johnson helmed release was 2017's most profitable movie.

Disney paid $4 billion for Lucasfilm but the studio has made close to 40% of that back from The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story alone with collective profits of $1.5 billion.

In total, The Last Jedi turned a profit of $417.5 million, a 46% drop from The Force Awakens' $780.1 million. The cash on cash return ratio was a healthy 1.72 so there's no denying that the movie was a hit and won't change Disney's current plans for the franchise (which include a new trilogy from Johnson). 

Did the negative response from some fans have an impact on The Last Jedi's box office performance? It's hard to say but with J.J. Abrams at the helm of Episode IX, it's likely that the trilogy's conclusion will be a fan-pleasing affair which wraps this story up in a very satisfying manner. What do you think?
About The Author:
JoshWilding
Member Since 3/13/2009
A lifelong comic book fan who grew up on Spider-Man: The Animated Series in the '90s, Josh Wilding has been contributing to ComicBookMovie.com since 2009.

While he's also written for websites like Batman-News, HeyUGuys, and WhatCulture, Josh is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic for CBM and the site's #1 contributor with nearly two decades of experience covering film and TV news (including interviews with Tom Holland, Chris Pratt, Gary Oldman, Halle Berry, Jon Bernthal, Tom Welling, and hundreds more).

Based in the UK with his wife, Josh is also an avid WWE and Formula 1 fan and writes about those passions on CBM's sister sites, TheRingReport.com and FullThrottleHQ.com. Favourite superhero? Spider-Man. Favourite pro wrestler? CM Punk. Favourite F1 driver? Max Verstappen.
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MeAreLegend
MeAreLegend - 3/29/2018, 3:15 AM
Its a bit weird for me. I actually really liked the last jedi but i cant say that this movie has me excited for Episode 9. I think its a well made movie but not a good star wars movie and it has left me uninterested in this franchise
mastakilla39
mastakilla39 - 3/29/2018, 3:51 AM
@MeAreLegend - Well its not really split if it made 1.3 billion at the box office and is the highest grossing film of 2017. I think he reaction is only "split" between fans. Now that Harrison Ford, Carey Fisher, and Mark hamil are dead, Kathleen Kennedy is just dancing in money.
logicoverlord
logicoverlord - 3/29/2018, 7:37 AM
@mastakilla39 - some financial guy did a basic cost analysis on the rough numbers, at 5% expected annual interest on the purchase deal, plus factored production costs, Lucasfilm needs to make minimum $650M in profit for the buyout to be a worthwhile investment. In this regard 2017 was likely far in the red for Star Wars.

Merch for the new films is also not doing anywhere near as expected. Unless Disney is insane and doesn’t care about the money (haha) no way Kennedy isn’t in hot water with Disney brass.
logicoverlord
logicoverlord - 3/29/2018, 7:38 AM
@logicoverlord - $650m profit/year above.
mastakilla39
mastakilla39 - 3/29/2018, 2:05 PM
@logicoverlord - In the article it mentions that even though profits were down 40% compared to TFA, TLJ profit's were higher than Rogue 1, residual costs were lower than both TFA & Rogue 1 due to TLJ having a lower movie budget than both Rogue 1 and TFA, and Disney not having to pay out any bonuses to current actors since Harrison Ford's departure, made TLJ their most profitable film from both 2016 & 2017. It was noted to be more profitable than any MCU film since avengers 1.

If this proves anything, is that Kathleen Kennedy's feminist direction of Star Wars films is a positive. Since SW will be branching out to TV shows and streaming services too there is no shortage of incoming profits. Deadline's profit/cost analysis is more accurate than most because they actually "pay" for real time data rather than just getting the free box office numbers released every weekend. They are also advised by "former CEO's and Vice Presidents of the big movie studios" for their accuracy of cost/revenues percentages.
dracula
dracula - 3/29/2018, 3:17 AM
Phasma made more of an impression in the show Speechless than she did in both movies
dracula
dracula - 3/29/2018, 3:19 AM
@dracula - plus they played some awsome music whenever she does something
Nebula
Nebula - 3/29/2018, 3:25 AM
Doubt 9'll be.
EskimoJ
EskimoJ - 3/29/2018, 3:31 AM
I have no strong feelings one way or the other.
MeAreLegend
MeAreLegend - 3/29/2018, 3:32 AM
Do you guys think that the prequel trilogy is better than the new one? I am one of those people that actually kind of liked the prequels (a guilty pleasure of mine ;) )
bkmeijer2
bkmeijer2 - 3/29/2018, 3:41 AM
@MeAreLegend - as of right now I like the sequels for how they look and the prequels for its story (I do really like the whole clone wars era)
MotherGooseUPus
MotherGooseUPus - 3/29/2018, 4:49 AM
@MeAreLegend - i hate the prequels... so no, to me, TLJ is far better than those..but thats just me
The72nd
The72nd - 3/29/2018, 6:56 AM
@MeAreLegend - i think most people who would prefer the prequels are just blinded by nostalgia. You don’t have to like all of the story decisions made in the sequels, but they’re much more competently made movies
DanJack
DanJack - 3/29/2018, 7:21 AM
@MeAreLegend - Yes. The prequels are not perfect by any means, but they tell their own story and introduce memorable characters (i.e. Windu, Jango, etc.). They also feature some of the most memorable action sequences and light saber battles in the entire franchise. Even if one is not impressed with the story, they are worth watching for the visuals alone.

The new movies suffer in the negative in all of those areas. I really like TFA and love the character development JJ started for the characters. Unfortunately, Rian killed all of the development and most of the plot lines, so there's not much to look forward to in IX.
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