Most valuable movie franchise

According to research carried out by Fortune magazine, the total value of the Star Wars franchise stood at $41.98 billion (£28.26 billion) as of 24 December 2015. Of this, box-office revenue from the eight theatrically released films in the series accounts for only $7.30 billion (£5.03 billion) when adjusted for inflation. Total home video and digital sales of the films bring in a further $5.75 billion (£4 billion) while the total value of the series’ toys and merchandise is estimated at $17 billion (£11.7 billion), with a further $4.28 billion (£2.95 billion) for the 100+ videogames based on the series, and $3.65 billion (£2.51 billion) covering additional revenue from books, licensing and TV series. A further $4 billion (£2.76 billion) has been added to the total to reflect the "intellectual property" value of the series, as established by Disney’s record-breaking 2012 deal to purchase ownership of the franchise from George Lucas.

According to these estimates, the value of Star Wars dwarfs that of its nearest movie rivals (the combined total of the Harry Potter and James Bond franchises is estimated to stand at around $33 billion (£22.73 billion)), and exceeds the Gross Domestic Product of countries such as Jordan and Paraguay.