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Did Disney break even/lose money with Star Wars?

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
OP makes a strong case, so what if Star Wars made Disney relevant? That's better than $
 

Gp1

Member
You guys are not considering the brand as a asset.

That said, even with the reduction in revenue overall, i believe that they broke even (ie. paid the initial investment, which in fact was paid half in money, half in disney shares...) only with merchandising and licensing agreements.

ps: And don't forget that disney bought lucasfilms as a whole. That includes ILM, indiana jones etc.
 
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cryptoadam

Banned
I'm not going to waste my time reading any numbers here. You have to be an idiot to not immediately know that it was an amazing purchase for Disney. I've seen far less valuable things sold for more. Some people don't understand the money they make on just the existing IPs, merchandise, etc. The Mandalorian has shown it's worth into building Disney+ as a strong streaming service. It has absolutely increased Disney's value and stock price. That is what it's all about.

Many of you are basing your opinions on the new trilogy's sales, which still made a lot of money btw. You don't judge an acquisition that way. Don't forget the future movies to come. They've barely scraped the surface. No one's ever really gone.

this may be true, but we have to factor in how much they have run the franchise into the ground. SW must be at its lowest point right now. The toys are not selling, the movies are not selling, they have 0 presence in the Chinese market.

They took the biggest IP that they bought for 4 billion and probably devalued it the way they went with the movies. Lets remember that they were supposed to be making spin offs every year, another triology for RJ, and then probably another main line triology as well. Disney instead is taking a "break" from star wars. We should be having the Boba Fett movie (now the Mandalorian), and then the Obi movie (now a streaming show) and probably after that RJ's triology. Instead nothing until they create Episode X in a few years.

Disney has not grown the brand, and instead have left it in tatars to the point that the only positive thing about Star Wars is Baby Yoda.

Imagine if Avengers 1 bombed and instead of 20 marvel movies Disney made 8 of them. Star Wars was supposed to be Marvel 2.0 with movies every year making 1 to 1.5 billion. It was also supposed to be a trojan horse into the the chinese market. Now its essentially dead with dead toy sales and dead box office.

Its going to take either a huge break or a lot of work to give the brand back the power it had with TFA.
 

MilkyJoe

Member
I'm not going to waste my time reading any numbers here. You have to be an idiot to not immediately know that it was an amazing purchase for Disney. I've seen far less valuable things sold for more. Some people don't understand the money they make on just the existing IPs, merchandise, etc. The Mandalorian has shown it's worth into building Disney+ as a strong streaming service. It has absolutely increased Disney's value and stock price. That is what it's all about.

Many of you are basing your opinions on the new trilogy's sales, which still made a lot of money btw. You don't judge an acquisition that way. Don't forget the future movies to come. They've barely scraped the surface. No one's ever really gone.

When did they buy it? 9 years ago? and they are still 2 billion away from making a penny profit in the lucasfilm division, and to top it off they have alienated the core fanbase and the next generation doesn't give two shits about Stars Wars.

This time last year Gillette was the go to razor brand...


PS Who the fuck is paying for Disney+ to watch the Mandalorian when the bay and KODI exist? That's right, no one outside of the US. Yet another spectacular fuck up by Bob "I have no idea what I am doing" Iger

I've got the complete 1st series f the Mandalorian sitting on my desk on DVD, here

giggle.gif
 
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gatti-man

Member
I did a Time Value of Money(TMV) and Rate of Return (ROR) calculation based on what numbers I could find and they were in the red, deep in the red.
Making their money back versus ROI is completely different. If I give you $4 and tomorrow you just give me $4 back I have earned nothing. Breaking even isn't bad but clearly Disney would like to see a return on investment. (And technically given TVM receiving my $4 back the next day is less than having $4 currently (inflation))

First I would like to say you're completely right about the other revenue streams. I have no way of finding that data easily. I use what I can from the annual reports such as TWDC 2019 Annual Report and make some assumptions about things.


But to simplify things down a bit lets just have a little fun and look at it this way.

Disney had a choice to acquire LucasArts for $4B, or invest in something else. Just for shits and gigs lets say they decided to invest that $4b into the S&P 500 (not remotely likely. Just to exemplify the point.)

YearInvestmentS&P Yearly Return
20124,000,000,000YOI
2013
5,184,000,000
29.60%
20145,184,000,00011.39%
20156,279,165,866-0.73%
20167,498,579,8789.54%
20177,017,171,04919.42%
20189,043,730,049-6.42%
20199,320,468,18828.88%
20203.06%
ROI79.79%

S&P Historical Return Data

OK so if Disney has opted to do that roughly right now there investment would be valued at close to $9 billion.

Now due to Star Wars primarily being a film franchise first a foremost ( Yes I understand that Star Wars is a multimedia behemoth but lets just continue.)
let us take a look at their movie revenue post acquisition.

Star Wars Movie Revenue

Release DateTitleProduction BudgetOpening WeekendDomestic Box OfficeWorld Wide Box Office
12/20/2019Star Wars: The Rise of Skyw…$275,000,000$177,383,864$492,019,801$1,026,619,801
5/25/2018Solo: A Star Wars Story$275,000,000$84,420,489$213,767,512$393,151,347
12/15/2017Star Wars Ep. VIII: The Las…$200,000,000$220,009,584$620,181,382$1,332,539,889
12/16/2016Rogue One: A Star Wars Story$200,000,000$155,081,681$532,177,324$1,056,057,273
12/18/2015Star Wars Ep. VII: The Forc…$306,000,000$247,966,675$936,662,225$2,068,223,624
Total Production Cost$1,256,000,000
Total World Wide Box Office$5,876,591,934
Net Income$4,620,591,934



So now that we have some fun data lets extrapolate what we can.

  1. 8 Years after the 2012 $4b acquisition Disney have managed to make box office revenues of $4.6b
  2. The difference between our alternative investment vs. Lucas Arts purchase is 9,320,468,188 - 4,620,591,934 = 4,699,876,254
  3. Star Wars non-movie revenues would need to almost equal that of the movies.

I was going to include from PV and FV calculations but I just figured then we would be getting into the weeds of things.

I am kind of closing this up quickly due to other commitments but here are my closing notes.

  1. Yes there are plenty of holes in this assumption but that is was speculation is.
  2. Do I believe Disney has realized a meaningful gain on investment into Lucas Arts? No.
  3. Will that change over time? Most likely yes.
  4. Could Disney have used that $4b for other investments? Absolutely.
  5. What does any of this mean? Keep your mind on your money and your money on your mind.

Cheers Mate!
thanks for basically agreeing your prior post was completely wrong. ROI vs saying they are deep red is 2 different things. You can have a shitty ROI and not be red. Not that Star Wars has been a shitty ROI. Assuming they were in the black before TLJ, Disney is probably on the way to doubling its initial investment.

what has almost single handedly powered Disney+ and made it socially relevant? Star Wars (the mandelorian). Then you have all the legacy sales that will keep selling forever and the digital rights for video games which are incredibly lucrative. That’s not even counting future sales and future movies/streaming shows. Star Wars May not 10x it’s investment like it used to but any studio would kill for even its current profit output.
 

cryptoadam

Banned
thanks for basically agreeing your prior post was completely wrong. ROI vs saying they are deep red is 2 different things. You can have a shitty ROI and not be red. Not that Star Wars has been a shitty ROI. Assuming they were in the black before TLJ, Disney is probably on the way to doubling its initial investment.

From declining toy sales? They haven't made money from the movies at this point. 6 Bill BO, /50% for their take - 4 billion for up front cost - 1.5 billion for production costs.

what has almost single handedly powered Disney+ and made it socially relevant? Star Wars (the mandelorian). Then you have all the legacy sales that will keep selling forever and the digital rights for video games which are incredibly lucrative. That’s not even counting future sales and future movies/streaming shows. Star Wars May not 10x it’s investment like it used to but any studio would kill for even its current profit output.

My original question though for this thread is has Disney broke even or lost money as of today. In the future they will for sure make money of the IP.

But sitting today have they even broke even? Basically we need to expect 2 billion or more in toy sales/licensing etc.... Disney+ is so new that any revenue made from it is probably pretty small.

How much do you think Disney has made after 8 years of owning the IP?
 

Hinedorf

Banned
So here's my take, I don't care whether they're making money, my assumption is that they are based on their game plan for star wars. 1. buy the ip 2. license the ip. 3. create new ip and finish skywalker trilogy...... AND NOW WAIT

My guess is the numbers will have at least break even following RoS and will continue to make profit on items like this:

According to Disneyland's website, you can build a custom lightsaber at Savi's Workshop for $199.99, plus tax. The experience is so authentic and is expected to be so popular, you may need to book a reservation

At this point they've concluded the original IP and anything they choose to do going forward can be done in their creative room separate of any ties to the original characters and nostalgia. Now Disney truly owns Star Wars for good or bad, most people would say for bad based on the last trilogy and continued bleeding of soul for a fucking 200$ toy.

Between toys, video games, and merchandise everything is likely profit going forward at a marked up rate.
 
I have to imagine they've made a ton of money of merch/toys/etc since buying the brand. The lead-up to TFA was FULL of marketing tie-ins, etc. I think TROS has the weakest merchandise, but the OT stuff is still selling.

I will be curious to see how the "whole saga" sells on 4K UHD when it comes out.

My guess is they've broken even by now, all things considered. Though I imagine there are scenarios where you could make the number work either way. Do you include the cost of constructing Star Wars land against overall profitability? Etc.

I think a general re-group and re-launch of SW is in the best interest for Disney and fans. Get someone (hopefully Feige) to plan out the next 5-10 years of general content, and then go to work ensuring the quality of each product lives up to the namesake.
 

Kadayi

Banned
So here's my take, I don't care whether they're making money, my assumption is that they are based on their game plan for star wars. 1. buy the ip 2. license the ip. 3. create new ip and finish skywalker trilogy...... AND NOW WAIT

My guess is the numbers will have at least break even following RoS and will continue to make profit on items like this:

According to Disneyland's website, you can build a custom lightsaber at Savi's Workshop for $199.99, plus tax. The experience is so authentic and is expected to be so popular, you may need to book a reservation

At this point they've concluded the original IP and anything they choose to do going forward can be done in their creative room separate of any ties to the original characters and nostalgia. Now Disney truly owns Star Wars for good or bad, most people would say for bad based on the last trilogy and continued bleeding of soul for a fucking 200$ toy.

Between toys, video games, and merchandise everything is likely profit going forward at a marked up rate.

They need constant income. It's not just about revenue on the films, it's about paying the ongoing wages of everyone employed by Lucasfilm.

As for things like the toy sales, albeit I would always suggest taking anything on the internet with a hefty grain of salt, channels like WCB have looked into the toy sales and they haven't been great: -



I mean that is quite notable is that Disney didn't have anything in place for when The Mandalorian first hit. It was only really when the show became an internet phenomenon that they went crazy with the cheese whip and that's all principally centred around Baby Yoda toys that they know are going to sell like hot cakes versus anything else (No Mando or Greef Carga figures etc *)


* I'm still hoping they'll get back to me about my suggestion for a Cara Dune Live Doll though .... 🤔
 
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They need constant income. It's not just about revenue on the films, it's about paying the ongoing wages of everyone employed by Lucasfilm.

As for things like the toy sales, albeit I would always suggest taking anything on the internet with a hefty grain of salt, channels like WCB have looked into the toy sales and they haven't been great: -



I mean that is quite notable is that Disney didn't have anything in place for when The Mandalorian first hit. It was only really when the show became an internet phenomenon that they went crazy with the cheese whip and that's all principally centred around Baby Yoda toys that they know are going to sell like hot cakes versus anything else (No Mando or Greef Carga figures etc *)


* I'm still hoping they'll get back to me about my suggestion for a Cara Dune Live Doll though .... 🤔


I actually saw Vintage series Mandalorian-branded stuff over the weekend at Best Buy of all places. They had an AT-ST from episode 4 or whatever. I see there are Mando and Cara Dude and Baby Yoda figures in the works too, but it is surprising they were not ready for the series debut (though glad they kept baby Yoda a secret).

I actually bought a stupid overpriced "Shadow Stormtrooper" figure at Target this weekend, no idea why, but it just looked cool.
 

Kadayi

Banned
I actually saw Vintage series Mandalorian-branded stuff over the weekend at Best Buy of all places. They had an AT-ST from episode 4 or whatever. I see there are Mando and Cara Dude and Baby Yoda figures in the works too, but it is surprising they were not ready for the series debut (though glad they kept baby Yoda a secret).

I actually bought a stupid overpriced "Shadow Stormtrooper" figure at Target this weekend, no idea why, but it just looked cool.

I dare say it's coming, but the point was, it's after the fact versus beforehand. If you search that WCB Youtube Channel they have a bunch of videos of the main dude visiting toy stores and just everywhere with tonnes of cheap as fuck/discounted Figures. There's a shocking amount of pure Landfill just sitting on shelves, not going anywhere.
 
I dare say it's coming, but the point was, it's after the fact versus beforehand. If you search that WCB Youtube Channel they have a bunch of videos of the main dude visiting toy stores and just everywhere with tonnes of cheap as fuck/discounted Figures. There's a shocking amount of pure Landfill just sitting on shelves, not going anywhere.

I wonder if they were not sure if Mandolorian would be a hit or not, or if the premier date was in flux up until launch? I imagine they should have (could have) easily had a generic "Wave 1" ready for the series premier. Mandalorian, Remenant Storm Trooper, Greef Carga, maybe a couple of aliens. Then released the follow up figure wave after the series ended with Baby Yoda, Mando with new Armor, other Mandos, Moff whatshisname, etc.

I *can* see holding back on a lot of those for before the series as they'd spoil what was to come. Even Cara Dune would be sorta spoiler'ish. The AT-ST would have been a major spoiler too.

But yes, the SW merch I've seen around town generally languishes.. granted I don't check in on it all the time like I used to. I see the same Snoke/Rey figures clogging the pegs though. I don't know if the newer waves are coming in and selling right out though, or if they're not even being ordered. The Shadow Stormtrooper I saw was sitting in some other section and I figured what the hell.
 

Kadayi

Banned
I wonder if they were not sure if Mandolorian would be a hit or not, or if the premier date was in flux up until launch? I imagine they should have (could have) easily had a generic "Wave 1" ready for the series premier. Mandalorian, Remenant Storm Trooper, Greef Carga, maybe a couple of aliens. Then released the follow up figure wave after the series ended with Baby Yoda, Mando with new Armor, other Mandos, Moff whatshisname, etc.

I *can* see holding back on a lot of those for before the series as they'd spoil what was to come. Even Cara Dune would be sorta spoiler'ish. The AT-ST would have been a major spoiler too.

But yes, the SW merch I've seen around town generally languishes.. granted I don't check in on it all the time like I used to. I see the same Snoke/Rey figures clogging the pegs though. I don't know if the newer waves are coming in and selling right out though, or if they're not even being ordered. The Shadow Stormtrooper I saw was sitting in some other section and I figured what the hell.

I think Manufacturers were probably hesitant to get on board until they knew the score. As is if they would have shipped a Baby Yoda ready for Christmas they'd have probably made insane bank.
 
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Super Mario

Banned
When did they buy it? 9 years ago? and they are still 2 billion away from making a penny profit in the lucasfilm division, and to top it off they have alienated the core fanbase and the next generation doesn't give two shits about Stars Wars.

This time last year Gillette was the go to razor brand...


PS Who the fuck is paying for Disney+ to watch the Mandalorian when the bay and KODI exist? That's right, no one outside of the US. Yet another spectacular fuck up by Bob "I have no idea what I am doing" Iger

I've got the complete 1st series f the Mandalorian sitting on my desk on DVD, here

giggle.gif

You've cracked the code. All film industries should cease from making any new content because MilkyJoe has their number
 

sol_bad

Member
this may be true, but we have to factor in how much they have run the franchise into the ground. SW must be at its lowest point right now. The toys are not selling, the movies are not selling, they have 0 presence in the Chinese market.

Imagine if Avengers 1 bombed and instead of 20 marvel movies Disney made 8 of them. Star Wars was supposed to be Marvel 2.0 with movies every year making 1 to 1.5 billion. It was also supposed to be a trojan horse into the the chinese market. Now its essentially dead with dead toy sales and dead box office.

..........
But they have been making 1-1.5 billion apart from Solo.

And why do the naysayers keep bringing up China? Star Wars has never been a thing there.
 

cryptoadam

Banned
..........
But they have been making 1-1.5 billion apart from Solo.

And why do the naysayers keep bringing up China? Star Wars has never been a thing there.

Solo was the last stand alone and now Disney is going to take a "break" from Star Wars, so no upcoming Billion dollar movies until this break is over. Could you imagine Disney taking a "break" from Marvel and not releasing Marvel movies for 2 or 3 years.

The original plan was to have spin offs every year and main line the other years. Once 9 was done RJ was supposed to have his trilogy ready to go. Well instead they moved these spin offs to Disney+ because of Solo bombing.

As far as China goes, its the 2nd biggest movie market, soon to be first. Star Wars was never a thing there, but you don't think Disney wants that Yuen? They paid 4 Billion to be locked out of one of the biggest markets in the world. And thats not accounting for toys and videogames and all other merchandise they could shove down the chinese throats. Disney loves China Yuen. I highly doubt they are happy that the IP has no value there. And consider TFA made 140 Million, to be down to something like 20 million at the end of the franchise is horrible. Not only did they not grow the brand, they started from a high and then destroyed it.
 

sol_bad

Member
Solo was the last stand alone and now Disney is going to take a "break" from Star Wars, so no upcoming Billion dollar movies until this break is over. Could you imagine Disney taking a "break" from Marvel and not releasing Marvel movies for 2 or 3 years.

The original plan was to have spin offs every year and main line the other years. Once 9 was done RJ was supposed to have his trilogy ready to go. Well instead they moved these spin offs to Disney+ because of Solo bombing.

As far as China goes, its the 2nd biggest movie market, soon to be first. Star Wars was never a thing there, but you don't think Disney wants that Yuen? They paid 4 Billion to be locked out of one of the biggest markets in the world. And thats not accounting for toys and videogames and all other merchandise they could shove down the chinese throats. Disney loves China Yuen. I highly doubt they are happy that the IP has no value there. And consider TFA made 140 Million, to be down to something like 20 million at the end of the franchise is horrible. Not only did they not grow the brand, they started from a high and then destroyed it.

Solo was just a film that nobody asked for unfortunately, it's hard for people to accept a different actor in a famous role.
It was very clear that Lucasfilm was going to concentrate on familiar stuff for their side stories with Rogue One and Solo. Neither film is bad and both are well made and engaging. The actors are all great across both films. Characters were so-so in Rogue One but were great in Solo. I'm personally still annoyed that Solo bombed because it's highly entertaining and I would have loved to have seen a sequel with the same characters and actors.

I think there were rumours of a Boba Fett film and an Obi-Wan film, all the same-same stuff and I think they realised that they need to diversify their side stories more for theatrical releases. People want to see new and amazing things. It makes sense to take time off and rethink their strategy. And it's only a 2 year "break" that they are having, it's not long.

It's also unfair to compare Star Wars to the MCU. The Star Wars universe and comic universe are very different beasts. In the comics, characters have always interacted with each other and all the books are linked together, it's a connected universe and it's easy to transplant that to the big screen. Yes, It's genius that Feige was able to pull it off but anyone that reads comics has always dreamed of the movies all being connected together, it's really not rocket science. There are so many good characters in the in the Marvel comics universe, easily over 100 and so it's very easy to have continual new characters introduced with new movies.

Star Wars on the other hand, both in the movies and the Legends cannon do not have a "huge universe" of "things" to pick from. It's extremely condensed compared to Marvel. Many comics and books stick to characters from the films. Many comics and books (over half) stick to the OT time frame. Many comics and books (over half) stick to the struggle against the Empire. Many comics and books stick to locations that we already know about from the Films.
As for characters, new and original characters are very slim from the Legends EU. I'd say that Thrawn and Jaina Solo are probably the 2 most popular and note worthy characters. Even if Disney kept the Legends EU as cannon (which would be impossible) there would still be slim pickings for good films.
Think about that, there are 30+ years worth of Legends EU content and it primarily sticks to the same stuff. That's crazy.

Lucasfilm could still take the Marvel approach in a way. With the MCU films, they take characters and ideas from the comics but they don't transplant the exact same story to the screen. As an example, both the Civil War and Age of Ultron films are entirely different to the comics, they just take inspiration from it. Lucasfilm could take ideas from the Legends cannon, shift things and reinterpret them for the big screen to make new ideas.
But honestly, who knows how the crazy Star Wars fans will react to this. Where as the majority of Marvel fans have loved and embraced what Marvel Studios have done, Star Wars fans might get extremely angry because their precious EU was messed with.

As for China..........
Yeah, of course Disney want that money from that nation. All the movie studios want that money.
But Star Wars has done fine in the past without China and it's doing fine now basically without China.
 

cryptoadam

Banned
Solo was just a film that nobody asked for unfortunately, it's hard for people to accept a different actor in a famous role.
It was very clear that Lucasfilm was going to concentrate on familiar stuff for their side stories with Rogue One and Solo. Neither film is bad and both are well made and engaging. The actors are all great across both films. Characters were so-so in Rogue One but were great in Solo. I'm personally still annoyed that Solo bombed because it's highly entertaining and I would have loved to have seen a sequel with the same characters and actors.

I think there were rumours of a Boba Fett film and an Obi-Wan film, all the same-same stuff and I think they realised that they need to diversify their side stories more for theatrical releases. People want to see new and amazing things. It makes sense to take time off and rethink their strategy. And it's only a 2 year "break" that they are having, it's not long.

It's also unfair to compare Star Wars to the MCU. The Star Wars universe and comic universe are very different beasts. In the comics, characters have always interacted with each other and all the books are linked together, it's a connected universe and it's easy to transplant that to the big screen. Yes, It's genius that Feige was able to pull it off but anyone that reads comics has always dreamed of the movies all being connected together, it's really not rocket science. There are so many good characters in the in the Marvel comics universe, easily over 100 and so it's very easy to have continual new characters introduced with new movies.

Star Wars on the other hand, both in the movies and the Legends cannon do not have a "huge universe" of "things" to pick from. It's extremely condensed compared to Marvel. Many comics and books stick to characters from the films. Many comics and books (over half) stick to the OT time frame. Many comics and books (over half) stick to the struggle against the Empire. Many comics and books stick to locations that we already know about from the Films.
As for characters, new and original characters are very slim from the Legends EU. I'd say that Thrawn and Jaina Solo are probably the 2 most popular and note worthy characters. Even if Disney kept the Legends EU as cannon (which would be impossible) there would still be slim pickings for good films.
Think about that, there are 30+ years worth of Legends EU content and it primarily sticks to the same stuff. That's crazy.

Lucasfilm could still take the Marvel approach in a way. With the MCU films, they take characters and ideas from the comics but they don't transplant the exact same story to the screen. As an example, both the Civil War and Age of Ultron films are entirely different to the comics, they just take inspiration from it. Lucasfilm could take ideas from the Legends cannon, shift things and reinterpret them for the big screen to make new ideas.
But honestly, who knows how the crazy Star Wars fans will react to this. Where as the majority of Marvel fans have loved and embraced what Marvel Studios have done, Star Wars fans might get extremely angry because their precious EU was messed with.

As for China..........
Yeah, of course Disney want that money from that nation. All the movie studios want that money.
But Star Wars has done fine in the past without China and it's doing fine now basically without China.

This is pretty much exactly what KK said, are you her secretary or something?

I know its hard, but maybe those hacks in Hollywood should try and come up with new and creative ideas instead of relying on comic books and novels etc... And TBH its a cop out to say SW doesn't have a lot to pick from, there are countless comics and books and video games. KOTOR probably could provide dozens of stories on its own. And if that fails make new characters and stories in the world.

If Solo made a billion and TLJ didn't have huge backlash then Disney wouldn't of needed to take a break and shift focus onto cheaper streaming shows. They didn't chose to stop making feature films out of the goodness of their hearts or to give fans a break. They did it because they saw that they were damaging the brand, especially at the box office. The fact that TROS is going to make less than TLJ and barely more than RO is a testemant to that.

Star Wars isn't really doing fine without China, the fact that they lost 120 Million in BO revenue from TFA to TROS shows that. Not only did they not grow the brand, they lost money in China. An extra 100 million sure would help TROS BO. And its not just about today its about the future. Its why everyone wants to get into china because its a huge market that could represent millions if not billions. Not being able to get a foot hold in China with Star Wars is an epic fail on someones part at Disney. Especially when it started out so well with TFA.

Star Wars will do well on Disney+, in a few years a new movie will come out and there will be hype and it will probably make money. But for now the brand is pretty damaged. Across the board its down wether its toy sales or BO. And to me that can fall squarly on TLJ, because pre TLJ the brand was looking very good.
 

sol_bad

Member
I think you ignored what I actually typed. There are heaps of comics and books but the majority are set in the OT time frame with the same characters with the same struggle against the Empire. And as far as I know, Lucasfilm is staying away from the EU stuff. It's why the movies are completely different to the EU stuff.

Even looking at the Old Republic stuff. It's still all the same. The setting looks the same. Jedi vs Sither. Bounty Hunters. The only thing that changes is that there are more Sith than 2.
 

BadBurger

Is 'That Pure Potato'
I think they made out just fine. $4bn up front seems really cheap for something like Star Wars. They have movies, TV deals, licensing for everything from socks to video games. George Lucas was so rich from the franchise that he admitted he gave all $4bn away to charity.

Disney made out like bandits.
 
I think you ignored what I actually typed. There are heaps of comics and books but the majority are set in the OT time frame with the same characters with the same struggle against the Empire. And as far as I know, Lucasfilm is staying away from the EU stuff. It's why the movies are completely different to the EU stuff.

Even looking at the Old Republic stuff. It's still all the same. The setting looks the same. Jedi vs Sither. Bounty Hunters. The only thing that changes is that there are more Sith than 2.

It is funny I guess to think back to the old EU stuff and how (almost) every book was revolving around one or more of the OT heroes going on an adventure. They did introduce some new people/characters/etc, but it always seemed to back to the same core group. It's a whole galaxy!

Though, what do old-school fans want? More of the core group. It's what we all said we wanted with the ST. I think SW fans don't know what the hell they want (saying this AS a SW fan).

KOTOR would be great, if done right, I can see a bunch of ways it could go wrong.

Side stuff like the Mandalorian, that is "Core group-adjacent" seems like a solid path. Rebels did this well too.

wait for real?

Literally all four billy?

Yes and no.


Yes, it will all probably be donated at some point. No, insofar as he's not just handing over a check for $4 billion dollars. "George Lucas is donating most of that money towards educational philanthropy." He's opening up a museum/etc.
 
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BadBurger

Is 'That Pure Potato'
wait for real?

Literally all four billy?

Yes he gave it all away for education. Just Google it.

People seem to not realize he was earning billions from licensing. I mean it's fucking Star Wars. $4bn was cheap as fuck. There is no way Disney has not earned at least twice that amount so far.
 
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Yes he gave it all away for education. Just Google it.

People seem to not realize he was earning billions from licensing. I mean it's fucking Star Wars. $4bn was cheap as fuck. There is no way Disney has not earned at least twice that amount so far.

Whoa, sorry I asked

Just had never heard this before my bad

yeesh
 

Hulk_Smash

Banned
MilkyJoe MilkyJoe

So, Disney has alienated their Star Wars audiences but YOU have The Mandalorian on DVD sitting proudly on your desk.

Fucking hypocritical pirate.
 
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badblue

Member
MilkyJoe MilkyJoe

So, Disney has alienated their Star Wars audiences but YOU have The Mandalorian on DVD sitting proudly on your desk.

Fucking hypocritical pirate.


Yes, the Star Wars movies have alienated fans. The TV shows however, are decent.

As far as people pirating The Mandalorian... Disney+ is not currently available in lots of countries. March 31, it will launch across Western Europe, including the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and a number of other countries in the region. Eastern Europe and Latin America as early as October 2020 and Asia anywhere between late 2020 to 2022.

So yeah, MilkyJoe MilkyJoe is right when he says " Who the fuck is paying for Disney+ to watch the Mandalorian when the bay and KODI exist? That's right, no one outside of the US." Because is only available in the US, Canada, The Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand.
 

MilkyJoe

Member
Yes, the Star Wars movies have alienated fans. The TV shows however, are decent.

As far as people pirating The Mandalorian... Disney+ is not currently available in lots of countries. March 31, it will launch across Western Europe, including the UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and a number of other countries in the region. Eastern Europe and Latin America as early as October 2020 and Asia anywhere between late 2020 to 2022.

So yeah, MilkyJoe MilkyJoe is right when he says " Who the fuck is paying for Disney+ to watch the Mandalorian when the bay and KODI exist? That's right, no one outside of the US." Because is only available in the US, Canada, The Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand.

...And on a DVD right here on my desk.

RegularMiserableAmazontreeboa-size_restricted.gif
 

Hulk_Smash

Banned
...And on a DVD right here on my desk.

RegularMiserableAmazontreeboa-size_restricted.gif

I didn’t realize they weren't streaming outside the US. In that case, I apologize for calling you a hypocrite. Any time a company restricts access to other regions for some arbitrary reason, then I can understanding resorting to pirating. Pirate away!
 
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MilkyJoe

Member
I didn’t realize they weren't streaming outside the US. In that case, I apologize for calling you a hypocrite. Any time a company restricts access to other reasons for some arbitrary reason, then I can understanding resorting to pirating. Pirate away!

No worries dude, I didn't even notice you did .

Bob Iger is making so many mistakes that I can only assume fucking up star wars is a deliberate act for offsetting tax somewhere. No one is this fucking daft
 

MilkyJoe

Member
MilkyJoe MilkyJoe

So, Disney has alienated their Star Wars audiences but YOU have The Mandalorian on DVD sitting proudly on your desk.

Fucking hypocritical pirate.


Oh just saw this.

I haven't watched it. A mad star wars fan at work keeps bringing me everything star wars, EVERYTHING, despite me saying I have no interest in Disney Star Wars it keeps coming. DVDs, books. copy of Knights of the Old republic - not Disney, but I don't play RPGs.
 

Nymphae

Banned
A mad star wars fan at work keeps bringing me everything star wars, EVERYTHING, despite me saying I have no interest in Disney Star Wars

I had an internet service call the other day, and I have a Return of the Jedi poster on one of my walls, so when the internet guy came to my place and saw it he assumed I would be interested in hearing his bragging about going to the Star Wars theme park thing (shows me same picture of Millenium Falcon in 2 different locales, he went to both locations - literally says "nerd brag" as he shows me his phone), and how excited he was to build his own saber! (over $200 and has to be like set up in advance before coming to the park or some shit...)

I didn't want to piss him off so I just nodded and humoured him (oh really? cool!), but I really wanted to be like dude....that poster is from a better time and I fucking hate this franchise to my core right now and your enthusiasm for this soulless corporate product is making me sick to my stomach.
 
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Yoda

Member
I'd wager they're close to breaking even, which is a failure when you think had they invested that money in the market, they'd most likely have had doubled it by now.
 

NickFire

Member
They own the IP. Whether they have turned a profit from the purchase yet, is irrelevant IMO. The IP is still strong and will stay strong for at least 10 more years I would guess without any reservations. And realistically, I could see it remaining a strong IP for several more generations if they just keep politics out of it for the most part.
 
I just hope they learn the right lessons from what happened. Mandalorian has been a great success but what will they take away from that. It seems obvious the reason for its success is that it is a more matured story that is respectful to the universe and it's fans and builds on it's lore with good writing, not pandering to modern trends. But is that what they will see or will they think its success is because "duh starwars fans prefer TV shows now and hate movies" or "dur they just love baby yoda lets make more baby versions of other characters" or some other crass conclusion.

When Solo bombed, Disney said there was "Star Wars fatigue."

When TLJ happened, they said "we're done with trilogies."

Don't hold your breath.
 

oagboghi2

Member
..........
But they have been making 1-1.5 billion apart from Solo.

And why do the naysayers keep bringing up China? Star Wars has never been a thing there.
It’s cute that Star Wars is allowed to use that as an excuse.

I don’t know whether or not OP is right or wrong, but he has brought numbers and at least tried to think it through. Way to many people opinion in this thread seem to be boil down to “its Star Wars, so it must be popular. Star Wars can do no wrong.”
 
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oagboghi2

Member
Solo was just a film that nobody asked for unfortunately, it's hard for people to accept a different actor in a famous role.
It was very clear that Lucasfilm was going to concentrate on familiar stuff for their side stories with Rogue One and Solo. Neither film is bad and both are well made and engaging. The actors are all great across both films. Characters were so-so in Rogue One but were great in Solo. I'm personally still annoyed that Solo bombed because it's highly entertaining and I would have loved to have seen a sequel with the same characters and actors.

I think there were rumours of a Boba Fett film and an Obi-Wan film, all the same-same stuff and I think they realised that they need to diversify their side stories more for theatrical releases. People want to see new and amazing things. It makes sense to take time off and rethink their strategy. And it's only a 2 year "break" that they are having, it's not long.

It's also unfair to compare Star Wars to the MCU. The Star Wars universe and comic universe are very different beasts. In the comics, characters have always interacted with each other and all the books are linked together, it's a connected universe and it's easy to transplant that to the big screen. Yes, It's genius that Feige was able to pull it off but anyone that reads comics has always dreamed of the movies all being connected together, it's really not rocket science. There are so many good characters in the in the Marvel comics universe, easily over 100 and so it's very easy to have continual new characters introduced with new movies.

Star Wars on the other hand, both in the movies and the Legends cannon do not have a "huge universe" of "things" to pick from. It's extremely condensed compared to Marvel. Many comics and books stick to characters from the films. Many comics and books (over half) stick to the OT time frame. Many comics and books (over half) stick to the struggle against the Empire. Many comics and books stick to locations that we already know about from the Films.
As for characters, new and original characters are very slim from the Legends EU. I'd say that Thrawn and Jaina Solo are probably the 2 most popular and note worthy characters. Even if Disney kept the Legends EU as cannon (which would be impossible) there would still be slim pickings for good films.
Think about that, there are 30+ years worth of Legends EU content and it primarily sticks to the same stuff. That's crazy.

Lucasfilm could still take the Marvel approach in a way. With the MCU films, they take characters and ideas from the comics but they don't transplant the exact same story to the screen. As an example, both the Civil War and Age of Ultron films are entirely different to the comics, they just take inspiration from it. Lucasfilm could take ideas from the Legends cannon, shift things and reinterpret them for the big screen to make new ideas.
But honestly, who knows how the crazy Star Wars fans will react to this. Where as the majority of Marvel fans have loved and embraced what Marvel Studios have done, Star Wars fans might get extremely angry because their precious EU was messed with.

As for China..........
Yeah, of course Disney want that money from that nation. All the movie studios want that money.
But Star Wars has done fine in the past without China and it's doing fine now basically without China.
The arrogance, the ass-kissing, the passive aggressive disgust for older Star war fans. The constant excuse making.

It’s like you work public relations for Kathleen Kennedy
 

diffusionx

Gold Member
The ROI on this investment has been a lot poorer than I would have thought after the first nu-SW came out and made Avataresque dollars.

They own the IP. Whether they have turned a profit from the purchase yet, is irrelevant IMO. The IP is still strong and will stay strong for at least 10 more years I would guess without any reservations. And realistically, I could see it remaining a strong IP for several more generations if they just keep politics out of it for the most part.

Is the IP actually strong though? I'm not sure. It's still popular although I don't know how many people watched the last one out of a sense of obligation than actually being excited about it. The theme park isn't doing the business they thought it would, and the toys are basically landfill at this point.

And yes it could be a strong IP if Disney didn't screw it up, but the fact is, they did, and are continuing to do so. People move on very quickly.
 
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diffusionx

Gold Member
Solo was just a film that nobody asked for unfortunately, it's hard for people to accept a different actor in a famous role.
It was very clear that Lucasfilm was going to concentrate on familiar stuff for their side stories with Rogue One and Solo. Neither film is bad and both are well made and engaging. The actors are all great across both films. Characters were so-so in Rogue One but were great in Solo. I'm personally still annoyed that Solo bombed because it's highly entertaining and I would have loved to have seen a sequel with the same characters and actors.

I think there were rumours of a Boba Fett film and an Obi-Wan film, all the same-same stuff and I think they realised that they need to diversify their side stories more for theatrical releases. People want to see new and amazing things. It makes sense to take time off and rethink their strategy. And it's only a 2 year "break" that they are having, it's not long.

It's also unfair to compare Star Wars to the MCU. The Star Wars universe and comic universe are very different beasts. In the comics, characters have always interacted with each other and all the books are linked together, it's a connected universe and it's easy to transplant that to the big screen. Yes, It's genius that Feige was able to pull it off but anyone that reads comics has always dreamed of the movies all being connected together, it's really not rocket science. There are so many good characters in the in the Marvel comics universe, easily over 100 and so it's very easy to have continual new characters introduced with new movies.

Star Wars on the other hand, both in the movies and the Legends cannon do not have a "huge universe" of "things" to pick from. It's extremely condensed compared to Marvel. Many comics and books stick to characters from the films. Many comics and books (over half) stick to the OT time frame. Many comics and books (over half) stick to the struggle against the Empire. Many comics and books stick to locations that we already know about from the Films.
As for characters, new and original characters are very slim from the Legends EU. I'd say that Thrawn and Jaina Solo are probably the 2 most popular and note worthy characters. Even if Disney kept the Legends EU as cannon (which would be impossible) there would still be slim pickings for good films.
Think about that, there are 30+ years worth of Legends EU content and it primarily sticks to the same stuff. That's crazy.

Lucasfilm could still take the Marvel approach in a way. With the MCU films, they take characters and ideas from the comics but they don't transplant the exact same story to the screen. As an example, both the Civil War and Age of Ultron films are entirely different to the comics, they just take inspiration from it. Lucasfilm could take ideas from the Legends cannon, shift things and reinterpret them for the big screen to make new ideas.
But honestly, who knows how the crazy Star Wars fans will react to this. Where as the majority of Marvel fans have loved and embraced what Marvel Studios have done, Star Wars fans might get extremely angry because their precious EU was messed with.

As for China..........
Yeah, of course Disney want that money from that nation. All the movie studios want that money.
But Star Wars has done fine in the past without China and it's doing fine now basically without China.

There is no, absolutely no doubt that Disney wanted to turn Star Wars into a CU. It didn't happen because they had an incompetent running the franchise and they released bad movies people didn't like. There would be no MCU if the first movies were as bad as the last few SW movies. Likewise, SW could be thriving IF THE MOVIES WERE GOOD! This isn't difficult and it doesn't take paragraphs of justification. Just make good movies and the rest will follow They couldn't do it.
 
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cryptoadam

Banned
TLJ really killed it.

Solo actually wasn't that horrible. A bit misguided since its taking a fav character and actor and recasting with someone with not even 1/1024th of the charisma. But the movie itself wasn't that bad.

Pre TLJ the toys were selling, the movies were making money. TFA was huge, almost a billion domestic. RO made over a billion for a spin off with no main characters or episode number thats pretty damn good.

And then RJ came in and the force was female and its been downhill since then. Solo bombed, TROS is going to make less than TLJ, toys are filling up garbage dumps. The only saving grace is Mandalorian was a hit and baby Yoda became a thing.

This should be a great history lesson in how to destroy an IP. but don't worry its not KKs fault or Igers fault, its us the toxic man babies who are just to misgoynist and partriachacle to appreciate the intricacies and nuances of Star Wars. We just aren't cultured enough, we are stinky deplorable Walmart shoppers who don't understand the high art that is Star Wars.
 

sol_bad

Member
There is no, absolutely no doubt that Disney wanted to turn Star Wars into a CU. It didn't happen because they had an incompetent running the franchise and they released bad movies people didn't like. There would be no MCU if the first movies were as bad as the last few SW movies. Likewise, SW could be thriving IF THE MOVIES WERE GOOD! This isn't difficult and it doesn't take paragraphs of justification. Just make good movies and the rest will follow They couldn't do it.

This is such a weird thing to read.
The MCU is a success story but Star Wars is struggling?

It took Marvel Studios 10 years to start pushing out constant billion dollar box office hits. Five out of the last six films made over a billion dollars. People know that that is a success.
People didn't say the MCU was starting to fail after the release of Ant-Man 2 which "only" made 622 million.

Meanwhile, four out of the five Star Wars movies by Disney make over a billion dollars.
HOLY SHIT FAILURE.
 

gatti-man

Member
When did they buy it? 9 years ago? and they are still 2 billion away from making a penny profit in the lucasfilm division, and to top it off they have alienated the core fanbase and the next generation doesn't give two shits about Stars Wars.

This time last year Gillette was the go to razor brand...


PS Who the fuck is paying for Disney+ to watch the Mandalorian when the bay and KODI exist? That's right, no one outside of the US. Yet another spectacular fuck up by Bob "I have no idea what I am doing" Iger

I've got the complete 1st series f the Mandalorian sitting on my desk on DVD, here

giggle.gif
This may blow your mind but tons of adults believe in actually paying for the content they view and don’t feel the need to fuel illegal sites to save $8 a month. Crazy I know.


It’s cute that Star Wars is allowed to use that as an excuse.

I don’t know whether or not OP is right or wrong, but he has brought numbers and at least tried to think it through. Way to many people opinion in this thread seem to be boil down to “its Star Wars, so it must be popular. Star Wars can do no wrong.”
It would help if you actually read the posts before posting. The Star Wars defense is basically “we still make billions”. Which is solid and factual. That’s not even counting books toys software and tv spinoffs. So yeah it’s a pretty rock solid defense actually.
 
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diffusionx

Gold Member
This is such a weird thing to read.
The MCU is a success story but Star Wars is struggling?

It took Marvel Studios 10 years to start pushing out constant billion dollar box office hits. Five out of the last six films made over a billion dollars. People know that that is a success.
People didn't say the MCU was starting to fail after the release of Ant-Man 2 which "only" made 622 million.

Meanwhile, four out of the five Star Wars movies by Disney make over a billion dollars.
HOLY SHIT FAILURE.

This is goalpost shifting. If your plan is to make a CU and build a massive SW empire from that, then yes it is a failure when you have to cancel movies, scale back releases, and move away from the CU plan. It's also a failure when your new movie makes half the money as your panned last one, and when your theme park is struggling, and when Rose Tico toys get the ET 2600 treatment.

Your claim that SW is somehow structurally unable to support a CU is hogwash and it's clear Disney execs wouldn't have agreed when they bought it.
 
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