Sci-fi has seen a resurgence in the past decade mostly due to the recent fame that the comic book movies have received from the people. Back in the 80s and before that, there were many iconic Sci-fi movies like the Alien Franchise, Predator, Blade Runner, E.T, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and The Thing among many others. This was considered the golden age of sci-fi flicks.
From the 90s till 2010 there were some Sci-fi films here and there but there wasn’t any breakthrough stuff like the one made in the 80s. However, it was post-2010 that Marvel Studios breathed a new life into the dying Sci-fi genre and made films that had a mass appeal to the audience.
Now if we talk about the biggest Sci-fi franchises the first thing that might come to our minds might be Marvel or for DC fanboys it might be the DC franchise. However, both of these theories are wrong because when good Sci-fi films were scarce post-80s there was only one franchise that was carrying the entire Sci-fi genre on its shoulders, and that was the Star Wars franchise. Stars Wars is a franchise that stemmed from a movie series unlike Marvel or DC which stemmed a movie franchise out of a comic book series. Star Wars was in the movie business since the 70s, a time when Marvel and DC were just busy printing out comics.
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Criticism Directed Towards Star Wars
This pure dedication to the original source material and films is what made Star Wars the biggest Sci-fi franchise of all time. Although it is often criticized as being a plagiarized version of Star Trek that came before it, it is an utterly ignorant claim made by critics who haven’t watched either of the franchises. While some don’t consider Star Wars as a part of the Sci-fi genre in the first place, which is also incredibly ridiculous. It is one of the most loved sci-fi franchises of all time.
The Disney Connection
At the moment Star Wars has also successfully transitioned into TV series, and now original shows are being developed based on Star Wars characters for Disney+. The most recent success of this formula can be seen through the show Obi-Wan Kenobi, which some experts predict had a higher watch count than Stranger Things Season 4. Plus all other Star Wars flicks are available to stream on Disney+ since Disney’s acquisition of the franchise from Lucas films.
You can catch the complete Star Wars saga on Dinsey+ but for that make sure that you have a good internet connection because there are a lot of films and TV shows making binge-watching an incredibly long journey. In terms of the internet, you can go with Cox communications and select a good deal for the internet that will suffice all your binge-watching needs, while Spanish customers have the option to contact Cox en Español Servicio al Cliente, for any assistance regarding the services in Spanish.
Revenue Made by Star Wars
The claim that Star Wars is the biggest franchise isn’t just a claim. This shows in the numbers as well. The criteria on which any film or media is judged is based upon its revenue. The franchise with the most revenue takes the cake of being the biggest, and in this case of Sci-fi franchises, it’s Star Wars. The total revenue of Star Wars has been 69.4 billion dollars, to this date which makes it the highest-grossing Sci-fi franchise, however, that’s not from movies alone. In fact, there are countless avenues that Star Wars have pursued to reach this big chunk of money. We break down every revenue stream of the Star Wars franchise below.
Different Revenue Streams in Star Wars Franchise
Breaking it down into separate revenue chunks. The biggest share of 42 billion has been generated from the sale of merchandise, which made up 60 percent of the entire revenue. Then at second number is the box office collection from the movies which stands at 10.3 Billion, a contribution of almost 15 percent, on the thing here to note is that this is the collective total made by all live-action and animated films released in theaters. 9 Billion is the share of home media sales, which makes it stand at 13 percent. Then 5 billion is of video games sales, a 7 percent share. 1.8 billion was made through the sale of books, a 2 percent share of the revenue. Lastly, 950 million came from TV shows, a mere 1 percent contribution.
The thing here to note is that Stars Wars TV shows have recently come into the limelight with the release of the Mandalorian in 2019 on Dinsey+ before that, it majorly consisted of animated shows and cartoons that made little to no money. But with Disney+ heavily investing in Star Wars TV shows and surely after a period of time Stars Wars TV shows will be majorly contributing to their overall revenue
What Does This Revenue Breakdown Means?
This goes to show that you can build an entire franchise or original source material, this is what Star Wars did. It built its base on movies and then expanded into a franchise, unlike Marvel or DC. And even though it started from movies the major revenue chunk that made Star Wars a global phenomenon came from its merchandise sale. I mean who doesn’t remember playing with lightsabers or having a Darth Vader figurine in their childhood. This was the reason behind the Success of Star War that even though it was an original concept on which some movies were based it never stopped there and always experimented with new categories.
Now they are the biggest franchise in Sci-fi and just behind other iconic characters like Mickey Mouse, Hello Kitty, and Pokemon. While all these other characters targeted children, Star Wars grew into something whose content can cater to all age groups.
Conclusion
Through this article we tried to explain how Star Wars achieved this global fame and how it is the biggest Sci-fi franchise today, creating a niche out of the shadows of what DC and Marvel mediocrity that we see today. However, how it reached this point and what were the decisions and people that contributed to its success is a story for another day.
