There is a growing concern about the future of the “Star Wars” franchise, especially in countries other than the United States.
Back in 2012, Disney purchased the “Star Wars” franchise for $4 billion dollars. Now Disney is showing concern about the declining ticket and toys revenue for the beloved franchise.
“The Last Jedi” was one of 2017’s most successful movies. It received $1.3 billion in global box office, the most of any movie during that year, and was the No. 9 movie of all time. Despite all this commercial success, however, “The Last Jedi” has fallen short of Wall Street’s expectations due to a faster than expected drop in box office sales, a decline in toy sales and a poorly received performance in China. Although the movie performed well overall, with a franchise as popular as “Star Wars,” any signs of a declining fanbase does not bode well for its future. According to B. Riley FBR analyst Barton Crockett, “Disney started off with an incredible touch with Star Wars, but now it’s looking a little less magic.”
In the end, the film “The Last Jedi” is projected to earn around $625 million in the U.S and Canada, which is about $200 million short of what Wall Street analysts predicted. This is only about two-thirds of the $937 million that “The Force Awakens” made back in 2015. The film started strong with multiple positive reviews and an A-audience rating according to CinemaScore. However, after the initial release, by mid-January the film was grossing by half as much each day as “The Force Awakens” did during the same time period. Dave Hollis, Disney theatrical distribution chief, did not seem overly concerned during an interview when he stated that the box office returns have been “the result we were expecting.”
It is important for Disney to reestablish its fan base as they plan to continue to create sequel movies that follow the Skywalker saga. To do this Disney rehired J.J. Abrams to direct the ninth movie in the saga. In a radio interview, Abrams stated, “I feel like we need to approach this with the same excitement that we had when we were kids loving what these movies were and, at the same time, we have to take them places that they haven’t gone, and that’s sort of our responsibility.” Hopefully Abrams will be able to respark the love of adventure and excitement that brought people to Star Wars in the first place.
