With the upcoming theatrical
release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, along with the game Star Wars
Battlefront and an entire toy line, Disney is poised to make a massive profit
off of the love for Star Wars. It is clear that Disney is due for a big pay day,
but just how big will it be with only the influence of the Star Wars brand?
Shelling out $4 billion for a property means that Disney will need a big hit,
but industry analysts believe that the marketing campaign that has been
brewing lately will drive up big sales for Disney.
The recent “Force Friday” event,
when new toys from Episode VII became available for purchase, sent Disney
stocks soaring. According to Hazel Sheffield of the Independent, “The selling
frenzy could earn Disney up to $3 billion by the end of the year (Gensler para 2).” Then there is the highly anticipated video game Star Wars:
Battlefront, which is being developed by Veteran Developer DICE and is being
published by Electronic Arts. DICE has a history of developing critically
acclaimed shooters such as their flagship Battlefield franchise, and a recent
public BETA test proved that the new game is coming along very well. A recent
post from publisher EA says that pre-orders are “Extremely strong” and the
company is expecting to sell around 13 million copies of the game. Then there
is the film itself, which sold out opening night tickets in thousands of
locations the minute tickets became available. The buzz around the movie is
crazy, with each trailer online racking up over 50 million views each.
It is no surprise that Star Wars is
about to make a ton of money for Disney, and it will be interesting to see how
much cash it brings in, and if the movie lives up to the hype.
By: Vincent Kania
"Box Office History for Star Wars Movies." Star Wars Franchise Box Office History. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Nov. 2015.
Gensler, Lauren. "The Force Is With Them: Three Companies That Will Make Big Money From Star Wars." Forbes. Forbes Magazine, 3 Sept. 2015. Web. 08 Nov. 2015.
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